Chapter 23

If Natalie played her cards badly, Jonathan played none at all. He looked upon his cousin and loved her, frowned at the notice-boards, sighed and returned to his ball. Only their blood relation prevented the gulf between them from becoming a sea. And once their great-uncle was dead . . . George Stone Ludlow died in his sleep on a starlit midsummer eve, some three months after the dinner at which he had told his two relatives what to expect. Not until the obsequies were over did each of the cousins receive a copy of…