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“I … must be … a fright.”

“You are always beautiful to me.”

“What … about … Lady Trafford?”

“She is following us to settle you in. I have sent word to Mrs. Bigsby to come home.”

Madeline’s lids drifted closed despite her resolve. If she were to never wake up, then her last seconds were the happiest she had ever been within Simon’s powerful embrace.

Madeline scarcely stirred while her lady’s maid undressed and washed her in her bed. At least, that is what Lady Trafford informed Simon of when she reopened the door to the bedchamber.

“Will she recover?”

“It is difficult to say given the quantity of arsenic she consumed, but I believe so.”

“Will her health suffer as a result?”

“Miss Bigsby is young and healthy.” Lady Trafford failed to elaborate past that, and Mrs. Bigsby chose that moment to appear in the doorway.

“What has happened?”

Simon held up a hand, dismissing the lady’s maid from the room and shutting the door behind her. “We have informed the servants that your daughter ate tainted food. Madeline has been too ill to recount the particulars, but she drank tea with my mother who dosed it with arsenic. Lady Trafford is a trained healer who helped relieve her of the contents of her stomach. Now she is resting.”

Mrs. Bigsby firmed her jaw, walking over to the bed to examine Madeline herself for several seconds, leaning over to brush the hair back from her face before straightening with a mixture of grief and anger upon her features.

“I have questions,” she said at last, “but let me begin with, where is Lady Blackwood now?”

Simon swallowed. “She has suffered an overdose of laudanum. The coroner has been summoned to examine the body.”

“Good.”

The simple acknowledgment made Simon wince, and he supposed his mother’s decision to depart this world had been circumspect. Mrs. Bigsby had the appearance of a vengeful angel, and he could picture her tearing the much smaller Isla apart limb by limb with her large hands if she had had the opportunity to do so.

Over the next half an hour, Simon and Mrs. Bigsby discussed what had happened, Simon revealing the details that he knew until the moment arrived for him to express his tremendous regret.

“I beg your forgiveness, Mrs. Bigsby.”

“What for?”

“This … for what my mother did.”

Madeline’s mother rose from her seat, walking over to the window to gaze out over the garden as if she were lost in thought. Simon waited for her reply, the drumming of his fingertips belying any attempt at composure.

“You are not your father, the one who tried to ruin my business. You took steps to rectify that when you gained control of the purse strings.” It was true. When his father’s declining health had forced him to hand over the financial reins, Simon had discreetly placed several large orders with Bigsby’s for the Blackwood estates. It was his way of making amends for any harm his father had caused, which John had concurred was the right thing to do.

“It was the least I could do after he campaigned against your business,” Simon replied quietly.

Mrs. Bigsby nodded. “The gesture was unnecessary, but it was appreciated. And you are not your mother, who … did this.” Her eyes drifted to her pale daughter, lying still on the bed. She shook her head, as though to banish the dark thoughts. Then, turning her gaze back to Simon, she continued, “You are you. I hold you accountable for your own actions. The sins of your parents belong to them alone.”

“That is generous.”

“It is how I would wish to be treated. We all have our own mistakes to answer for, so I cannot hold you responsible for the actions of others. Otherwise, we would never find peace. Thank you for acting so swiftly to ensure Madeline received help. Lady Trafford tells me that the timing was crucial.”

“I was fortunate to catch her when she was leaving.”

“And what would you have done if she had already left?”

Simon paused, considering the events of the day, grateful to Mrs. Bigsby for her generosity despite his cloying sense of shame. “I would have repeated what was done with John. Assisted her to evacuate her stomach while sending someone to summon the viscountess back.”