The Proud Viscount by Laura Matthews

said.
    “Thank you, but I have a thousand things to do.”
    “I can see that.”
    “This is one of the things I have to do,” she insisted. “I have to spend a little time alone, planning menus and considering which of the laundry maids to promote to dairy maid, and whether the new footman is working out satisfactorily. He’s not learned to protect the lower part of a topboot when he’s working on the top with pumice stone. Really, it’s so elementary I can’t believe he would have to be reminded more than once."
    Rossmere considered the matter with mock gravity. “I tell you what. You can have him take the place of the laundry maid you promote to dairy maid. It will keep him employed and out of harm’s way.”
    Jane tried to match his lighthearted tone. “You really think the laundry is out of harm’s way? He would only manage to ruin all our linens, I daresay. Put blacking in the wash water or some such thing.”
    “How little faith you have! Which reminds me. What was that about Parnham and the book last night?”
    “Oh, nothing to signify. You will note that Parnham takes an interest in my father’s hobby, rather than speaking of amputated goddesses.”
    Her attempt to distract him was not totally successful. He regarded her with intent blue eyes. “Or perhaps it was his wife who remembered your father’s passion while the husband took credit for his thoughtfulness.”
    “I’m certain it’s a book that Papa will enjoy,” was all she replied.
    Rossmere rolled over on his back and locked his fingers over his flat stomach. He didn’t look at Jane. Instead, his gaze was absent, up through the tree to the sky above. “Parnham said some rather interesting things about your sister yesterday when you women left us to our port.”
    “What sort of things?”
    “He spoke of how unsettling childbearing was to a woman. Very kindly, you understand. He intimated that the stress of such an event was sometimes the occasion of a... mmm, shall we say a mild instability? Nothing to be particularly concerned about, he felt sure.”
    Jane clenched her teeth together to prevent herself from saying something truly disagreeable about her brother-in-law. After a while she was able to ask, “How had he come to that conclusion?”
    “Several erratic things she had done, I gather. Let me see. He enumerated them, each time extravagantly excusing such a small but odd occurrence as the product of an overactive fancy. The first occasion he recounted was shortly after his son and heir was born. Nancy announced suddenly, when the infant was in full sight of her, that his hands were on backward. Which they weren’t.”
    Jane recalled that Nancy herself had told her this months ago, as a sort of joke on herself and her fears that something would be wrong with the baby. It was an instance of anxiety and confusion that could easily happen to a woman so soon after lying in. Parnham, of course, might have viewed the matter differently.
    “Then there was the time Parnham found her dressed to go out on an evening when there had been no invitation,” Rossmere continued in an even, deep voice. “On that occasion Nancy insisted that indeed there had been a card, from the Cutfords, and that she had mentioned the matter to him. But she was unable to find any card, and by chance Mr. Cutford, Junior, happened to call in just at that time and Parnham discovered by discreet query that there was no invitation at all.”
    It was hard to know what to make of this tale. Nancy had never mentioned anything of the kind. Jane considered the various possible explanations and frowned. “Go on. What else did he say?”
    “Though he indicated that there were several other instances of that general nature, he did not elaborate on them. He was much more concerned about a recent event that showed a deepening of her... distress. On this occasion, barely a week ago, her delusion was much more serious."
    Jane could feel her heart hammering in her chest.