"You make me sound a saint," Katherine said with a sniff. "I assure you I am not."
"Neither are you such a dark sinner," her uncle protested. "Your gift is administration, my dear. You may not always use it to its best advantage, but your heart is in the right place."
She could not seem to let the matter go so easily. "But I interfere with your lives."
"We understand that you do it because you care about us," Constance answered her. "We are quite capable of telling you when you go too far."
"Yes," Katherine said, remembering, "you do that rather well."
"There you have it then," Sir Richard maintained. "Don't see your ability as an evil, Katherine. In fact, if I remember my schooling, the Bible says it is no less than a gift from God."
Katherine stared at him. "Truly?"
"Truly. Perhaps I can find you the reference."
"1 Corinthians 12:28," Constance supplied helpfully.
From off in the distance came the sound of the door knocker.
"Duty," Bixby said. He squeezed her shoulder, then hurried from the room.
Constance, Emma, and Eric encircled her.
"We just wanted you to know how we feel, Miss Katherine," their housekeeper murmured, eyes bright. "Any man would be lucky to have ye, and that's a fact."
"And we are lucky to have you," Constance assured her, giving her a hug.
Katherine laughed through her tears. "And I am lucky to have all of you. Thank you for reminding me of that."
Sir Richard patted her shoulder. "Then let's have no more of these tears. Let us put our energies into discussing this matter with Lord Borin."
Katherine's smile faded as they pulled away. "It is impossible. I closed that door."
"And he slammed it," Eric muttered.
"Then let us open a window," Constance insisted. "There must be some way to reach him."
"We know enough about him," Eric mused. "We must have something we can use."
"Not again," Katherine said. "I'm learning that there are places to apply this so-called gift and places to leave it aside. I will not use any information we gathered about Lord Borin to appeal to him."
"Simply telling him you love him might be sufficient," Constance offered.
"At the very least the man deserves to hear the whole truth," Sir Richard added. "I did not succeed in overhearing everything in that library, but I gather you were not completely candid with the fellow."
Katherine sighed. "No, I let him think I was trying to trap him into marriage for myself. That was wrong of me. I wanted him to see me for myself, but in the end I suspect I simply could not bear him to reject me for myself."
"I shall speak to him," Constance said bravely. "I will tell him the truth. He knows I have no reason to lie."
"I rather think he suspects we all lied to him," Katherine pointed out. "Oh, I made a mull of things!"
Before anyone could comment further, Bixby dashed back into the room, panting. He held out a sealed note to Sir Richard.
"From the War Office," he managed to gasp. "Urgent. That's his nibs' own hand. The fellow who brought it wouldn't wait for a reply."
Frowning, Sir Richard stepped away to break the seal.
Katherine exchanged glances with Constance and Emma. She saw in their gazes that they knew something was wrong as well. "Eric," she said, "why don't you go downstairs with Emma and see if you can find some sweets for tea."
"Aw, I never get to hear the good stuff," he complained, but Emma chuckled, took his hand, and led him out.
Katherine stepped to her uncle with Constance beside her. "Bad news?"
"The worst." He turned to sweep them all with his gaze, and Katherine caught her breath at the concern written there. "Hastings promised to let me know if he had reason to suspect Lord Borin of espionage," her uncle explained. "This note was to tell me that Borin has been called to the War Office for questioning."
Katherine threw up her hands. "They cannot suspect him of this spy business."
Sir Richard met her outraged gaze. "They suspect him," he replied, "of treason."
Chapter Twenty-One
Alex leaned back in the leather-bound armchair of the Marquis of Hastings' private office in Whitehall. He did not dare consult the pocket watch in his tastefully embroidered celestial blue waistcoat. Besides, he was certain that time had stood still since he had received the summons.
Lord Hastings gave him no clue to his thoughts. The marquis' deep brown eyes, however, remained on Alex's face. Alex felt the seconds ticking off. He heard Davis Laughton, who stood guard behind the marquis, shift impatiently in his brown coat.