Seeking Persephone by Eden Sarah M

Author:Eden, Sarah M. [Eden, Sarah M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781608617968
Publisher: Deseret Book Company
Published: 2011-09-05T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

“And Mrs. Adcock grew up in Shropshire as well,” Persephone told Harry as they sat in the sitting room after dinner a week after the Pointers’ visit to Falstone. Harry, though still not entirely his usual energetic self, had recovered sufficiently to join her and Adam for meals and wander from his room during the day.

“You’ve met Mrs. Adcock?” Adam jumped into the conversation. He didn’t sound pleased.

“At the vicarage.” She’d made the three-mile journey twice in the past week. A handful of ladies from the area had been present on her first visit. More than a dozen had greeted her upon her arrival that afternoon. “She extended an invitation to us to take supper with them.”

Adam looked thunderous on the instant.

“She seemed to be expecting me to turn the invitation down,” Persephone quickly added. “So I had little difficulty in doing so.”

He relaxed a trifle.

Persephone tried to keep her disappointment buried. The Lancasters had ofttimes dined with the families in their neighborhood. She missed that interaction, missed knowing that she had friends nearby.

“Who else was at the vicarage?” Harry asked.

Thankful for the approval she heard in his tone, Persephone took up the conversation again. “Mrs. Milston and her daughter. Lady Hettersham.” Adam mumbled something unintelligible at that. At least he was listening, Persephone told herself. “Miss Greenburrough.”

The sitting room door opened, cutting off the list Persephone had only begun to relate. Barton entered with his familiar silver salver bearing a rather thick letter.

From Artemis? Or Papa, perhaps? Persephone watched his entrance with eager anticipation. Barton stopped at Adam’s side.

So not from home, after all. Persephone tried to refocus her mind but found the task nearly impossible in her disappointment. The longer she was away from her family, the more she missed them.

“What did you think of our resident spinster?” Harry asked.

For a moment, Persephone fumbled over the question but then realized he referred to Miss Greenburrough, whom she’d mentioned meeting during her visit that afternoon.

“She was very quiet, so I was not able to form much of an opinion of her.” Miss Greenburrough’s head of gray hair had reminded Persephone so forcefully of her grandmother that she felt certain she would like the lady.

“Persephone.” Adam cut into the conversation. He held his letter out to her.

“It is for me?”

“It is addressed to me,” he answered. “But it will explain the other letter.”

“The other letter?”

Adam all but dropped the letter into Persephone’s lap, at which point she realized that along with a single sheet of high-quality parchment was a second, sealed letter. She began with the opened missive.

Your Grace,

Lord Barham, First Lord of the Admiralty, has relayed to me your inquiries regarding two midshipmen aboard the HMS Triumphant. As captain of the Triumphant, I will make every attempt to provide you with the information you seek.

Midshipman Evander Lancaster, as you have been informed, succumbed to injuries sustained at Trafalgar and, as with most lost at that time, has been buried in a cemetery on Gibraltar alongside his fallen shipmates.

Midshipman Linus Lancaster—

Persephone held her breath.

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