“I think you are braver than that.”
Patience was silent for a few moments. “Well, I will probably see him this evening at Lord Michael’s rout. I will see how I feel about it.”
Just then, Miss Isabelle Stratton gave the smallest shudder and began screaming bloody murder. Felicity laughed. “The little lady has awakened and wishes to ensure that all the household is aware of this development.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Marcus had fairly dragged himself to Lord Jeffries’ house. As usual, and he really wished it were not the case, the two of them dined alone.
Also as usual, and also he wished it were not the case, Lord Jeffries took the opportunity to wax poetic about Marcus’ father.
“He was a fine man, dignified, just as an earl should be,” Lord Jeffries said.
Marcus did not reply, as there was no reply suitable. His father and dignity had never been well acquainted.
“Not like some we see running round the place these days. I hear the Duke of Pelham is a disgrace and his daughters, well, what can you expect from people raised by a madman?”
Marcus felt his spine stiffening over the comment. “The daughter that is currently out, Lady Patience Nicolet, I have found to be charming.”
Lord Jeffries slurped his soup. “They’ve got nothing wrong in the looks department, at least not those I’ve seen over the past few seasons, it’s all in the head, my dear boy. They do some strange things.”
“I am afraid I must disagree with you, Jeffries. I have got to know the duke and I have been to dine at his house. They are an unconventional family, to be sure. For all that, I admire the familial harmony.”
“Familial harmony?” Lord Jeffries said, clearly taken aback.
“Yes, indeed. Did you know they have a three-legged dog who is blind in one eye? His name is Nelson, and I find it very telling that they adopted him off the streets rather than pay for a bit of a puffball to sit on their laps and look pretty.”
“A cur off the streets is charming now, is it?” Lord Jeffries said with a short laugh. “Your father would not approve of such goings on, I’m sure.”
Lord Jeffries had finally pushed Marcus to the boiling point. All these years, he’d let the fellow drone on and on about his father. The droning would have to come to an end this very night.
“Lord Jeffries, I fear that while you may have respected my father from afar, based on your description of him I must think you did not in fact know him very intimately.”
“Well, now, of course we lived on different sides of the country. I did see him in Town from time to time, though, and there was the occasional letter.”
“As I thought. Let me acquaint you with who my father really was. He was a bully and a wife beater and prone to throw temper tantrums and threaten death to anybody who was nearby, including very often, his countess. I presume the only reason those death threats did not extend to me was that I was the heir.”
Lord Jeffries, rather predictably, looked shocked to his shoes to hear of his illustrious relative spoken of in such a manner.
Marcus went on. “I was but six years old when I mustered up the courage to demand to be moved to the other side of the house so I would not be woken by his shouting and the sounds of breaking glass. I was delighted to be sent to school, and further delighted to spend my time between terms with Lady Monroe, my grandmother’s sister. At one point, I went a full two years without setting eyes on my father, and those were a happy two years. That is the man I knew.”
Marcus fell to silence. Perhaps he should not have said any of it, but he felt a weight lift off his shoulders. He would no longer pretend his father had been anything but what he’d been.
Lord Jeffries stared into his soup. “Good God, my boy. I didn’t know any of it. I really did not know your father very well. I only made a point of saying nice things as I thought it would comfort you to hear them. That was the whole purpose of these dinners, actually. I thought, see here, Jeffries, the boy has lost his father, he’ll wish to hear from someone who knew him. Well, I suppose I got that all wrong!”
Marcus dropped his spoon. It had never once occurred to him that Lord Jeffries thought he was doing a kindness.
Then another idea hit him. It had not occurred to him because he had not been raised in a household where kindnesses had been handed out. There had been no experience, and therefore no reason, to expect it from other quarters.
Lady Monroe had always been kind in her own original way, but he had assumed she was somehow an aberration.
“I find that I wish I had told you all of this sooner,” Marcus said.
“As do I,” Lord Jeffries said. He raised his glass and said, “Now that I have been informed of my cousin’s character, let’s hope he’s with the devil now!”
Marcus raised his glass too. It seemed dinners with Lord Jeffries were to be much more tolerable going forward.
Perhaps there was a lesson in that. Perhaps he ought to just come out and say what was in his mind in all the areas of his life.
