Chapter Eight
Nell went to bed with her thoughts a jumbled confusion of Seven Dials and Mrs. Harris, the nightmarish journey from Bath, the urgency of Sophia’s letter, Roger and Great Aunt Wrotham and her father, all mixed together. And Mordecai Black. Mordecai Black throwing a stool at the brothel watchman. Mordecai Black asking her to marry him.
She’d thought it would be impossible to sleep, but it wasn’t. She woke to a chambermaid’s knock on her door. Yesterday’s exhaustion was gone. The confusing jumble in her head had distilled to two crystal clear questions: Why on earth did Mordecai Black want to marry her? And—far more importantly—where was Sophia?
Nell dressed with the chambermaid’s help, ate a hasty breakfast, packed her valise, and hurried downstairs. Five o’clock found her s
