There was no blood though.
“You see, Papa?” Serenity said. “He is perfect, but for the missing leg.”
“He really is so perfect,” Patience said. “Look, when he wags his tail, his tongue hangs out.”
“He gets around just fine,” Winsome said. “We don’t think he even knows he’s one leg short of a set.”
“We had a confidential conversation with the innkeeper,” Serenity said, “and it seems this poor little mite has no home. He just hangs round the inn.” Serenity took that moment to burst into tears. “Hoping for scraps, Papa! Scraps!” she cried.
“All right, all right, settle down, my girl,” the duke said. “No need to go blubbering over a stray dog.”
“But that is just it, Papa,” Verity said. “That is the good news—he is our dog now!”
The duke sighed long and deep. He turned to Mrs. Right. “What is your opinion on this, Mrs. Right? I will be guided by your judgment.”
Mrs. Right considered the matter. She said, “He will need a deal of looking after, but on the other hand, we had seriously considered bringing a pair of stoats into the house. I reckon he will not be as much trouble as that.”
Grace had almost forgotten that Felicity had even gone so far as to read books about stoats after viewing a pair at Lady Albright’s house. They’d not gone forward with the idea only because none of them knew where to locate a pair that might wish to join the household.
“I see,” the duke said. “So it is out with the stoats idea, and in with the three-legged dog.”
This caused a pandemonium that went on for some minutes and involved much kissing of their father’s head and cheeks. The dog seemed relatively unperturbed by the ruckus and spent his time staring at the food on the table.
Serenity, so attuned to others’ feelings, took the dog from Verity and fed him a rasher of bacon and a buttered roll.
“Might I inquire as to what this undersized cur’s name is?” the duke asked.
“His name is Nelson, Papa,” Winsome said. “You know, like poor Lord Nelson who lost his arm.”
Lord Dashlend snorted over it. “Nelson will be very flattered, I’m sure.”
Serenity, Verity, Patience, and Winsome stared at the viscount, as if to communicate to him that they did not find jests at Nelson’s expense at all funny.
“Now you see it, Dashlend,” the duke said. “You see what I have to put up with. I’m trying to get them out of the house and they’re bringing creatures into it.”
Valor emerged from her location under the table and looked warily at Nelson. “Is he going to get bigger? How big? Does he bite?”
Mrs. Right patted her hand. “Do not you fret over it, my dear. Even if he were to chase you, he’d never catch you.”
“Oh I see,” Valor said, “because he’s only got the three legs.”
“That’s right.”
“And also, Valor, he’s blind in one eye,” Serenity said.
“Of course he is,” the duke said. “It’s not enough that you have dragged in a mutt of unknown parentage who lost a leg somewhere or other, but he’s blind in one eye too. I would expect nothing less.”
“Mrs. Wendover does find it reassuring that he’s only got three legs and one working eye,” Valor said.
The duke rose. “Of course she does. Well now, we better get this circus moving. Serenity, you are in charge of that dog—if we leave him behind somewhere, that’s where he stays.”
This appeared to strike terror into the hearts of Serenity, Verity, Patience, and Winsome. “We will all work together,” Winsome said. “We will have eyes on him at all times.”
The other girls nodded their agreement.
“I will pack up some food in a napkin,” Verity said. “It is a well-known fact that dogs will follow who feeds them.”
“We will need a leash, I will go find something we can use,” Patience said, sprinting from the room.
