Rollo sucked in a deep breath.His poor, poor Fitz.“Kit might well have hit upon the reason for the first letter going astray, but that doesn’t explain the others, does it?”
“No.”The earl pursed his lips, his clever mind whirring.“You say Fitzsimmons has not received any of these missives?”
“Not one, my lord.”confirmed Mr Elliot.“And they don’t sound easy to overlook.”
“No,” Rollo’s papa agreed thoughtfully, then switched his attention back to Rollo.“You say Fitzsimmons is a changed man,” he stated in a disbelieving tone.
“Yes, Papa.He is terribly hard on himself.All the pain and destruction and unhappiness he has caused in the past have hurt him deeply.And…and made him fragile, though he doesn’t know it.Nor would he ever admit it.”
The earl’s pale eyes swivelled back to Will.“Is this the description of a man you recognise, Mr Elliot?”
“Always been a good one, my lord.He just forgot for a while.Events of the past got the better of him.”
“And you are friends.”
“Yes.Since we were but lads.I live in one of his cottages rent free, and he pays a village woman to tend to me.I’d like as not be in the poorhouse otherwise.Most days, he comes himself; he reads to me, helps me eat.Digs the vegetables.”
The earl cocked his head on one side.“May I enquire as to why he is so attentive?Why he takes these tasks upon himself?”
“Because we were the best of friends growing up.And his father, the old duke, treated mine something terrible when my mother passed, and I had an accident, leaving me like this.You may ask any of the folks in Goule.They’ll all tell you the same thing.He’s a good man, and he doesn’t leave anyone behind.”
His expression turned mulish.“And that’s why I’m here today.For what it’s worth, I’ve never been out of Norfolk either.”Clumsily, he patted the arm of his chair.“Didn’t imagine I ever would, since being stuck in this thing.But I’m not leaving him behind.I’m not letting him ruin himself over your lad and a pile of lost letters.I’d never forgive myself, and nor would anyone else.”
“He has also built a home for the infirm,” Rollo added.
“Gosh, he is good with his hands.”The earl and Kit exchanged a look.
“In more ways than one, by the sound of things,” Kit murmured with the glimmer of a smile.
“He’s not actually built it himself.What I mean to say is, he’s used the Fitzsimmons name to persuade the church and the council to allow it.And he’s provided half of the funds and overseen the build personally.”
The earl rose from his seat and paced a few steps.“In his absence from society, it seems Lord Lyndon has become a model of morality.How one treats those who can do one absolutely no good is a true measure of a man.”
“Samuel Johnson,” slurred Mr Elliot.
Surprised, the earl looked up.
“Fitzsimmons reads a lot of books to me,” Mr Elliot explained.“In truth, I prefer gothic horror, but as you can see for yourself, I’m a captive audience.Don’t tell him I said so, but he even does the voices.Women too.”
At this, Rollo’s eyes sprang another leak.“His Count Rodolfo is masterful, Papa.”
Willoughby made a choking sound.Rollo gave him a teary glare.
“He’s terribly misunderstood,” he continued.“But goodness shines through him, I promise you.He warned me about Lord Stapleton’s gambling debts, for instance, so I could alert Willoughby to his machinations.”Rollo scrabbled around for more examples, determined to impress on his father how desperate everything was.
“And he prevented me making an absolute cake of myself at a dance.”
The earl paused in his pacing.“Do tell,” he said coolly.
The truth would out sooner or later.Rollo might as well get in first as his father had an uncanny knack of conjuring it from thin air.
“A misdemeanour of the stable boy variety—not actually with a stable boy,” Rollo added quickly.“And the misdemeanour wasn’t…completed, but only because Fitz put a stop to it.There was a local married man, a Mr Hart, who takes the mail from Goule and the surrounding villages up to Norwich.He scrabbles around with all sorts of jobs, actually, according to Fitz.Can’t hold on to anything; he’s a bit of a rogue.I didn’t know any of this at the dance, just as I didn’t know he was married with a family, of course.Fitz gave us both a thorough dressing down, ordered the man to not bring shame on his poor wife, and sent him packing with a flea in his ear.”
“I’m warming to him,” said the earl drily.“Dalliances with one’s own sex are all well and good, but one should maintain discretion.And never more so than if one has a wife.”His gaze narrowed.“And, unless one is paying for the pleasure, one should stay within one’s class, darling.Understood?”
Rollo dabbed away his tears.“Yes, Papa.”
“This chap with whom Fitzsimmons has had a contretemps,” interrupted Kit.“Hart.He takes the local mail up to Norwich, you say?”
