Success, it seems

Breakfast was served on the garden patio. Charlotte nibbled on toasted bread, poached eggs and sausages and sipped on hot chocolate watching the others pick at the rest of the huge spread laid out on the tables. Her aunts ate inside but Charlotte could see them watching the young guests mingle around the small tables through the French doors. Mr. Worthington, Charlotte was relieved to see was nowhere to be seen, nor had Miss Dunning joined the group breaking their fast on the pleasantly sunny morning.

Charlotte did her best as the hostess, but she couldn't relax knowing that at any minute Jason might show up and demand she honour their private arrangement. She could, of course, refuse to have anything to do with the unscrupulous scoundrel, but she had not forgotten his threat to detail just what she had been doing last night when he found her still smelling of sex in her bed.

Breakfast came and went and still Mr. Worthington did not appear. Miss Dunning arrived wearing a gown of gold that complimented her perfect flaxen curls, she was in a particularly good mood and flitted like a goldfinch from table to table barely eating but charming everyone in the room.

It was Priscilla who brought the news that Mr. Worthington was feeling poorly, and that he would join them for lunch. The others expressed polite concerns and well-wishes for their companion - not her, but if anyone noticed this lack of attention to one of her guests, they did not comment on her lack of social graces. Charlotte found she didn't care what they thought, after having seen the darker side of the man, her feelings for Mr. Worthington had hardened like concrete overnight. Furthermore, the longer he sulked in his suite, either hungover or shamed by his actions the less likely that he might be troublesome.

When Jason finally made his appearance for luncheon, impeccably dressed in a dark blue brocade waist-coat and tan sports coat, Charlotte could see the unmistakable indications of the effects of over consumption of ****. She had several concoctions in her pharmacy that would help with the pounding between his ears and the nausea she expected he must be experiencing, but as far as Mr. Worthington was concerned Charlotte was happy to let him suffer.

Later that afternoon when the party took carriages into town to pass the day, Charlotte rode with Misters Bassingford, Wilson and Addings, allowing Priscilla and Beatrice to accompany Jason in his coupe. Only when the whole afternoon came and went and they returned to Marlton Manor in time to change for dinner without a word from Mr. Worthington did Charlotte allow herself to relax.

Her guests would be leaving on the next day, back to the hustle and bustle of London and Charlotte found she would be happy to see them off. She even participated to the best of her ability in the musical activities after dinner although it was hard not to let her mind wander.

What was Mr. Fuller doing now, and would Lieutenant Easton be able to capture Black Brand as she intended?