Trenton beckoned to the helpful coachman who was seeing to his horses and asked him to take them to Adelaide’s house before he handed Ursula aboard. Once she was seated he studied her pale complexion across the narrow confines of the conveyance and drew her into a tender embrace.
“I don’t wish to add to your burden, darling, but there is something I think you should know.”
Ursula looked up at him and knew from the cautious look in his eye that she wasn’t going to like what he was about to tell her.
“I think there are a lot of things you haven’t told me,” she declared quietly, pushing out of his arms as the memory of last night at the theatre rose between them.
Trenton nodded. “I know, but first things first. Your father has arrived from Yorkshire; just as I left Adelaide’s house to come and find you in fact.”
She closed her eyes and wondered just how much worse the day could get. Not only had she been abducted, scared witless, and come face to face with her mystery ‘admirer’, but she suspected that Trenton wanted to discuss what had happened at the theatre last night. Now, to cap it all, her father was undoubtedly pacing up and down in Adelaide’s sitting room, waiting to escort her back to Yorkshire.
“We had better get back then,” she murmured and sat back in her seat to stare moodily out of the window.
“It will be alright, you know,” he assured her quietly when she didn’t seem inclined to speak.
“Will it?” She frowned at him. “What was Alfred talking about when he said that his mother had overheard Adelaide discussing my inheritance? What inheritance, and why haven’t you told me about it?”
Trenton sighed. “I think that the news had better come from your father. I don’t know enough details to be able to tell you much with any degree of certainty. It is family business and given I am not family as yet it needs to remain within the family. I just know that when you reach five and twenty, you inherit quite a large sum of money off an ancestor. Your father will tell you more because I don’t know which ancestor. I am surprised that he hasn’t mentioned it already. He should have told you because he has known about it for a long time, I think.” Trenton glanced at her. “He told me before I followed you to London.”
“He hasn’t said a word to me,” she declared quietly. “Neither of you have.”
Trenton sighed. “He didn’t go into details, and I didn’t ask.” He glanced out of the window and judged they had a few minutes before they would arrive back at Adelaide’s house. “He just said he wanted you to decide whether you wanted to marry before you received your fortune.”
Unsure what to say, Ursula turned her attention to the floor beneath her feet. Her mind raced with questions but she wasn’t sure where to start.
“I am sorry,” Trenton declared when he couldn’t stand the silence a moment longer.
She stared at him. “Whatever for? You have saved my life this morning.”
“I am sorry for last night. I hadn’t planned to go to the theatre. It is just that when I got home last night my good friend, Hugo, was waiting for me. His sister, Serena, has had significant issues with controlling the amount of alcohol she consumes. Whenever she goes out she tends to get drunk and then throws herself at any man within arm’s reach.”
“Was that why she was leaning against you at the ball the other week?”
Trenton nodded. “She was in her cups again. I propped her up and sent someone to find Hugo so he could take her home. She has been practically under house arrest since then. She has made her displeasure over her confinement known to Hugo to such an extent that that he just couldn’t stand it any longer. He asked me if I would accompany his mistress and Serena to the theatre, and make up a foursome. I agreed on the condition that he agreed to help me find out as much as possible about the Sinnertons. Although we left before the interval, I used the time to ask a few acquaintances about them.”
He looked her square in the eye and tapped on the roof of the carriage. He dropped the window and leaned out, asking the driver to go to the Sinnerton’s address first. “I found out where they live purely from a chance conversation with someone at White’s. I followed one lead that led me to another and another, and so on.”
Ursula stared at him and watched rows upon rows of houses creep slowly past. A sense of unease rippled through her at the unfamiliar streets. Although she hadn’t seen all of London, she saw enough to realise that they were entering one of the poorest parts of the city.
“Where are we?” she asked, trying not to worry.
“This is it,” Trenton murmured when the carriage pulled to a stop. “This is where the Sinnertons live. They owe money to their landlady, Mrs Appleby, although I don’t suppose she will get it now.”
Ursula leaned forward to look out of the window and shuddered. “Are you sure?”
Trenton nodded. “I spoke to their landlady, and watched the Sinnertons go in there myself.”
“So they really are destitute,” she whispered in horror. It wasn’t a question.
“I think prison would be better than living here,” Trenton agreed. “At least in jail they will get food and a roof over their heads. Here, they are not likely to even manage that.”
“How awful,” Ursula whispered. “And all because of one person’s selfishness.”
“I know from Hugo’s sister just how badly vices can take away a person’s logic and reasoning.” Trenton leaned out of the window. “Thank you,” he called to the coachman and gave him Adelaide’s address.
Rather than resume his seat, he slid along the seat to sit beside her, and took her hand in his. “I have seen first-hand with Hugo’s sister just how difficult vices can be to live with. I think that Hugo needs to get his sister some help from somewhere and have suggested that he should send her to live in the country so she is able to leave temptation behind. He has agreed, and is currently making arrangements for her to have a prolonged stay at an aunt’s in Norfolk.”
Ursula nodded. Without thinking, she clasped his hand in return and smiled when he kissed the back of her hand.