Audrey almost began to tell him of the diary she had found in the room and the strange words written in it, but she stopped herself. Henry would start to think the women in the Wakefield family were all losing their minds.
“I thought I might tell my mother they are doing a st
udy on older woman and I volunteered her to participate,” she told him. “What do you think of that?”
“That’s plausible.”
“I’m lying to her.” And it made Audrey feel guilty.
As if he sensed her feelings, he told her gently, “You’re protecting her, Audrey.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Am I?”
“You are. You are remarkable.”
“How is that?”
“You are grace under pressure. Strength when needed. I am impressed by you.”
She smirked. “You needn’t butter me up. I said no to the concert.”
He shrugged. “Now you must attend.”
“I must? Why must I?”
“With your mother gone, it could be a nice outing for you and Frances. Bring her along, and I’ll bring my mother. What could be simpler?” He said it as if it were obvious.
Audrey thought about it for a moment. “I will.”
“Excellent.” He grinned.
When they went outside into the street, the sound of horse hooves echoed on the cobblestones.
Henry turned to her. “Don’t overthink this. You’re making the right decision.”
“Thank you, Henry.”
He inclined his head. “It’s my pleasure, Audrey.”
She took a deep breath, bracing herself. “I’ll return home and tell my mother what has been decided.”
Audrey should have been surprised, but she was not. When she explained where her mother would be going and told her of the medical trials she would participate in, Augusta snorted. “I think not.”
“Why not, Mother?”
“If you must know, I didn’t like Dr. Engle. He seemed like an upstart. I don’t like men that use education as an excuse to get ahead and talk down to others,” Augusta said.
“Would you prefer he stayed in the fields like his ancestors before him? Living in the muck and dying at the age of forty?” Audrey retorted.
Augusta narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “When your father chose to send you to college, I thought it a waste. Why did I think that? Because a woman has no need of such frivolities besides knowing the good book and Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Your goal in life is to secure a good husband who will provide you a good home and a good name.”
“I suppose it never occurred to you that I can provide a good home myself,” she countered. “I provide the food in your mouth and the clothes on your back. Does that not escape your attention?”
Augusta grunted. “It’s unseemly. You stalk the halls of the workhouse and teach children and speak to men staff as if they were your friends. I’ve no doubt as to why you don’t wish to find a husband. Your manners are too manly to attract any decent fellow. That’s the truth of it.”
Audrey clenched her fists as her temper began to rise. “Or the truth is you’re jealous of my accomplishments, and rather than say, ‘Well done, Audrey,’ you have to put me down. And if I’m so manly as you seem to say, then I will tell you this. You will go to Dr. Engle’s facility. You will participate in his medical trials, and you will stay there for at least a fortnight.”
Augusta turned away from her daughter and then turned back to face her with her eyes full of worry and fear. “But if I’m not here, Audrey, who will watch out for the shadow man?”