Josephine finally became too impatient to wait any longer, and went to the garden. Mr. Dominic often smoked his pipe there when visiting, rather than fill up the house with the smell. Tonight nobody would have noticed, but Edward was a creature of habit.

            He wasn’t there, but the scent of his favorite tobacco was, along with traces of the perfume Cordelia had been allowed to wear for tonight. Jo wasn’t angry, merely curious. Her younger sister had made it clear how bored she was by books, and wasn’t the sort to go after someone else’s partner anyway.

            Jo walked about in a circle, hoping to find some traces. Cordelia would call her a begowned tracking hound if she knew. She heard some men talking about a duel. That bothered her greatly. Mr. Dominic knew her views on the subject, which was probably the reason he had not told her anything. If, she added to herself, he is actually involved in one.

            She didn’t find him. However, she heard more about the duel, and that her friend was definitely going to be part of it. Jo re-entered the house by a side-door, the one closest to the stillroom. She quickly prepared a basket with bandages and ointments, and sent a maid upstairs to fetch needle, thread, and a pair of tweezers.

            Once Sally returned, Jo packed the items in her basket, found a satchel to put everything in, then added a small flask of rum—purely for cleaning wounds, of course.

            Just as she walked into the stables, she thought she saw Cordelia.

Click here if she chased after her sister.

Click here if she attempted to saddle a horse by herself.

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