First, he would relay his ridiculous mistake of last evening. Then, he would very boldly request that he and Lady Cordelia step away for a private moment, as he had something very particular to say.
Then, if she accepted, he would seek out the earl and lay out his case.
He planned on being exceedingly generous when it came to pin money and the jointure, beyond what would be expected from the amount of her dowry. He would even settle a small estate in Hampshire on his new bride that she might use as she saw fit. Nothing was entailed and he could do what he liked. What he liked at this moment was to not give the earl one reason to hesitate in condoning the match.
Though, first he must get Lady Cordelia to agree to it. He planned to outline his plans to become a Corinthian. Of course, he could not lay claim to the title at this moment, but he had made a beginning. He had taken steps.
Painful steps that he did not particularly enjoy. But what was that compared to Lady Cordelia’s happiness?
Certainly, she would see that he was on his way to becoming a Corinthian. And in any case, was there not room in his life for both his intellectual pursuits and a sporting life?
Makepeace did not think so, he thought the whole idea a bit of madness. He also was living in terror that Lady Cordelia’s acting troupe would be arriving day and night and examining his sideboard if she agreed to become the mistress of his house.
Percival supposed he could not condemn Makepeace for his very forward opinions. It was not usual that a butler would make comment on his employer’s decisions, especially personal decisions, but then he and Makepeace had grown a friendship from the seeds of intellectual curiosity. And from the seeds of his own household.
Makepeace had seen what he had seen all those years ago. He’d been a footman at the time, forever slipping books out of his father’s library. They had only spoken of it once years later, when he’d hired the investigator to attempt to track down Dora, but it had established an understanding between them. Makepeace would never countenance acting as butler for a man like his father, a man who would casually ruin a young girl and think no more about it. He was satisfied that Percival would never be that man.
Now, as he turned down Portland Place, he felt his stomach tightening. This was the moment that would set the course of his life, for good or ill.
He was surprised to see a farmer’s cart out front. Then he was even more surprised to see a farmer, escorted by a footman, leading Lord Darling to it.
Could the Benningtons really have sold Lord Darling? It did not seem very like them.
The footman stopped short at the sight of him.
Percival reined in but instead of the boy coming to take the reins from him, he’d turned on his heel and raced back through the doors.
He could hear the footman calling for the butler from the front hall.
Percival walked his horse to the cart, just as the farmer picked up Lord Darling and placed him on the hay that padded the cart.
“Did you buy that goat,” he asked.
“Buy ’im?” the farmer said, seeming very amused. “I’m to take him all the way to Somerset. This little lord is to get to his estate at Westmont House, don’t you know.”
Of course, he did not know, but it made sense. Keeping a goat in the house had finally worn the earl down and now it would go to the environment it had belonged in all along.
The butler, Tattleton, came rushing out as if his very hair was on fire. “Lord Harveston!”
The fellow appeared nearly in a panic. Had something happened beyond the goat going to the country?
“Mr. Tattleton, I understood this was the house’s at-home day. Is something amiss? I get the distinct feeling I arrive at an inconvenient time.”
The footman was just at this moment fanning the butler as Tattleton himself mopped his brow.
“Not so much inconvenient, my lord,” he said. “You find us topsy-turvy as the family has recently departed for Somerset.”
They were gone?Shewas gone? Why? Why had they gone?
“A family emergency has called them thither.”
“I see,” he said, though his thoughts were jumbled. “I am sorry to hear it. But Lady Cordelia, she is well?”
“Quite well, my lord.”
“Everybody has gone? Darden too?”
“Yes, my lord, and we expect the duke and duchess and Lord and Lady Baderston to be soon on their way. I have been left behind to close the house.”
