In fact, the young lady seemed to have wrought a miraculous change in Wolf. He smiled more, treated everyone he came across with respect and courtesy, and was just overall a far more pleasant person to be around. There was one incident that caused a bit of a setback, however. A few days after their arrival in Yorkshire, they were granted an audience with Lady Holt. Malvina viewed this meeting as a particularly painful form of torture and to judge by the long faces of Gideon and Wolf, they viewed it the same. The sight of them wearing the same expression would have elicited a grin from Malvina had her own nerves not been bound so tight. Early in the afternoon, they were ushered into a darkened room. Malvina could just barely make out the very small figure of a woman reclining on a chaise lounge by the fireplace. A blanket was thrown over her knees and a small table next to her was littered with bottles of tonics and packets of powders. Malvina turned shocked eyes on her betrothed. “Is your mother an invalid, sir?”
