She casually strolled over and had a look.

And then another look. And then another. She could hardly believe her own eyes.

She picked up a particular letter and read it for the third time.

For the eyes of the Duke of Pelham:

Your Grace, I write this anonymously to alert you to a danger. Believe me, if I had the power and standing to reveal myself I would, but I am only a lowly servant who has had the bad luck to observe certain outrages. I donot have the power and riches to speak aloud, but I must speak nonetheless!

It is my understanding that the sad case of a certain Clara Woodrow, a housemaid in the Duke of Mariton’s household, was communicated to you. Your Grace, you have not been told the truth of it! Lord Thorpe was in fact the man who compromised young Clara and then the fifty pounds was used to bribe the local innkeeper to wed her. As these things often are, it was all hushed up.

This was just one of the outrages that Lord Thorpe has visited on his father’s house. Having been a long and close observer of the family, I can tell you that it has been a stain on the nobility that Lord Thorpe is the heir rather than Lord Charles. Beware, Your Grace, of the growing attachment between your daughter and that devil—he is not what he seems!