Sea of Secrets: A Novel of Victorian Romantic Suspense by Amanda DeWees Read Free Book Online Page A

had her own, identified by her coat of arms and teeming with liveried footmen. Newly awed, I made my way to it, followed by a porter who carried my boxes. As I neared it, I could read the motto on the family crest: Esse quam videri. I translated it automatically: “To be, rather than to seem.” A sentiment I admired; I hoped it was an apt one.
    While I was thinking this, Lady Montrose—Aminta—emerged at the top of the steps.
    “Why, good morning!” she exclaimed warmly. “I did not know if we would meet. I was just seeing Aunt and Felicity off.” She swept her voluminous skirts expertly down the steps and came to meet me. “I am glad I was able to see you before you left.”
    “You are not traveling with us?” I felt a dart of disappointment; even though we had only met once before, I had been impressed by Aminta’s calm, pleasant manner and unobtrusive good sense. She made an attractive counterpoint to her more ebullient sister and stepmother, and I would miss her company.
    She smiled and slipped a hand through my arm to give me a reassuring squeeze. “Oh, you needn’t think you’re rid of me for good. Now that we know we have a cousin, Felicity and I won’t be so easily avoided. In any case, my family and I will be coming to Ellsmere for Christmas.”
    “How nice,” I said, thinking how companionable that sounded. I had never known what it was like to have such a family gathering. “How many children do you have?”
    “Two. Freddy is five, a perfect cherub, and India is my two-year-old tempest. But I must let you get settled,” she added, walking me toward the railway carriage; “I’m certain Aunt Gwendolyn is waiting for you, and Felicity will be impatient to ask you all the questions she has thought up in the last three days.”
    Smiling at the likelihood of this, I mounted the narrow steps to the door through which my porter had already disappeared, then stopped as I heard Aminta call out again. “I almost forgot. Do you mind?” She handed up a heavy square package wrapped in paper. “Charles asked me to find some books for him, and I did not remember to give these to Aunt Gwendolyn. If you could take them to him…? Thank you. And give him my love.”
    I promised to deliver both books and love, even as I wondered who Charles was. Perhaps her brother, and my fourth cousin? I would have to ask Felicity. Surely she would not mind if I posed a few questions after having run the gamut of hers. I felt every bit as inquisitive about my new family as Felicity had shown herself to be about me.
    Preoccupied with these thoughts, I entered the car, and was abruptly startled out of my abstraction by its appearance. Could this really be a railway car? The interior looked astonishingly like the duchess’s sitting room. The only thing lacking seemed to be a fireplace: otherwise the interior of the car had the same elegant complement of sofas, chairs, dainty side tables, and mirrors, and was coordinated in soft shades of Wedgwood blue and ivory. The duchess, Felicity, and Miss Yates were enjoying what seemed to be a late breakfast at one of the tables, and as I entered, a footman came briskly up to take my wrap.
    “My dear, there you are!” exclaimed the duchess, waving me to a seat next to her. “I had begun to worry. You had no difficulty in finding us? Good. Do have something hot to drink. How glad I am to leave London behind! For all its lovely shops, no place on earth is so dismal in cold weather.”
    I sat down with them and accepted a cup of tea; the china pattern repeated the blue and ivory of the decor. “Will it take us long to reach Ellsmere?” I ventured.
    “We should arrive in good time to dress for dinner,” said the duchess comfortably. Unaware of the dismay this prospect struck into my heart, she went on, “Since I gather you have no maid at present, I will ask Jane to wait on you, if that is agreeable. She’s a good girl, and knows how to keep quiet about one’s waist