Edith Layton by The Return of the Earl

badly. Dr. Raines said it was because it happened at a melancholy age for a girl, as I was entering womanhood. He said that was when females are particularly emotional. But I think it would have happened however old I was.”
    “And that’s why you haven’t married?”
    Her eyes went wide. “I’m single at an age when many women are married, but I’m not in my dotage.”
    “I know,” he said. “But you’re so lovely and charming it’s strange that you’re still alone. Or am I being stupid? Have you a beau?”
    “No,” she said. She pretended to look around. “My goodness! We’ve walked a long way. We’d better turn back before they begin to worry about where we’ve gone.”
    “Too far, too soon, I suppose,” he mused as he turned in step with her. They went in silence a while before he spoke again. “We’ve talked about where I’ve come from, and what you’ve done, but there’s so much we haven’t touched on. Would you walk out with me again, so we can talk some more?”
    She nodded. “Yes, I’d like that.”
    “Good,” he said. “But before we do, and before we get back to your cousins, would you like to ask me the most important question so we can have it out of the way?”
    She looked at him.
    “Whether or not I’m a thief, of course,” he said mildly.
    She gazed at her toes. “I didn’t know how to ask that,” she whispered.
    “I thought so. Well, I’m not a thief, and neither was my father. You’d expect me to say that, so let me explain. The thought of theft was so far from our minds we didn’t have a defense when we were ‘apprehended,’ as they said then. Think about it. Would you have a ready excuse if you went back to your cousin’s house now and found them confronting you, accusing you of stealing a ring, or pin, or brooch? Of course not. Innocent people can only keep protesting their innocence, they don’t have excuses. Neither did we.
    “My father was a very smart man, Julianne. Other men trusted him to correctly tally their life savings and investments, after all. And what would I want with a silver candlestick?” he asked. “We weren’t rich, but we had everything I wanted. I can’t prove that even now, of course. The man who accused us is long dead. But why we were accused? That’s a different story. I always meant to return and find out. Now that I’m here, I will. I don’t ask you to believe me, but I have to ask you if you’ll try.”
    “Why?” she asked, her eyes searching his. “What does it matter if my testimony in court doesn’t mean anything?”
    “Isn’t it obvious? Julianne, life took a lot of things from me, and from you. I think its time we take back what we can, put things back the way they could and should have been. Don’t you? So I’d like to know now, before more time goes by, will you give me a fair chance?”
    She took a deep breath. “You know why my cousins brought me here?”
    He laughed. “Of course.”
    “And yet you trust me?”
    “As much as you do me. No, more than that, I’m sure.” His smile was warm, intimate, beguiling. “Julianne, I’m only asking you to give me time.”
    She wanted to be as candid with him as he seemed to be with her. She tried to find a way to allow herself this dawning joy. “Why aren’t you married yet?” she finally blurted. “Or are you?”
    “Yes, I am, and with three children,” he said. He laughed at her expression. “Don’t look embarrassed! That’s a good fair question. No, I’m not married. I wasn’t in a position to marry for a long time. Then, when we made our way up in the world, I didn’t find any woman I trusted enough to love with all my heart, much less marry.” He grew serious again. “Women sent to the antipodes aren’t all depraved, some were innocent, too. But not for long. I’m not saying that made them unlikely candidates for love, only that if I loved any, it was never for long. And understand, there aren’t many females there. They’re still so