Leland snorted. “They do accomplish that.”
Other people began to stream into the room. Most of the gentlemen he knew—Stratton, Dashlend, Stanford, Thorpe, and of course Wembly. As for the ladies, he often encountered Lady Felicity and Lady Verity, while the rest he’d met at the wedding.
As they exchanged greetings, one of the footmen reappeared at the door looking as if he had some very bad news to deliver. He was positively pale and whispered, “Lady Marchfield, Your Grace.”
All of the sisters seemed to take this announcement very hard, though Leland could not ascertain why. The rest of the family was gathered, why should it be unusual that the duke’s sister had arrived?
Perhaps it was the lady’s demeanor that set them off. She strode into the room with a look of defiance.
“Lady Misery,” the duke said, “what have I done to cause you to darken my door? Not a good time, in any case. I’m hosting a dinner.”
“As I am well aware,” Lady Marchfield said briskly. She turned to the footman, who was stock-still and staring at her. “Set another place.”
The footman fled the room and Leland was not certain if he’d gone to set a place or simply fled.
Lady Marchfield strode across the room. “Winsome, you look very well.”
“Aunt,” Lady Winsome said with a note of caution in her tone. “We did not know you would come.”
“Of course you did not, as I was not invited.”
“Yes, but how…”
“How did I know? I think you will discover I know quite a bit more than you would imagine.”
Leland could not begin to work out what was happening.
The same footman who had run out of the room ran back into it. “Your Grace,” he said, breathless, “we went to set another place and…”
“And?” the duke asked.
“And it was already set,” the footman said, steadying himself on the doorframe. The young man pointed at Lady Marchfield. “Somebody knew she was coming!”
The duke turned to his sister. “All right, what’s the game, Misery?”
Lady Marchfield put her chin up and said, “I do not play games, as I think you will discover.”
Leland looked back and forth between them. He did not know what went on in this family, but he was beginning to wonder why he’d ever bothered to worry about anything his grandmother might say.
*
Winsome hardly knewwhere to look. Lady Marchfield had inexplicably turned up. She acted so strangely these days. How did she know about the dinner?
And then, were the footmen going mad? What did Charlie mean that a table setting had been added and nobody knew who did it?Certainly Thomas must have done. Or perhaps he’d miscounted in the first place?
The duke interrupted her thoughts. “Well now, I suppose we move this palaver into the dining room. I’ll take in the dowager. Manderbey? Take in Winsome. Misery, I do not know who will take you in nor why you are here.”
Lady Marchfield, inexplicably, did not look at all perturbed to hear it. “I am quite able to walk into a dining room without assistance.”
Lord Manderbey held out his arm. Winsome laid her hand upon it but could not meet his eye. What must he think of all this?
She already knew how the place cards had been set. Her father took the bottom with the dowager to his right. Felicity took the top with Lord Manderbey on her right. Winsome would sit next to Lord Manderbey on his other side. Grace very awkwardly pointed out to their aunt where she was meant to sit, as there was no place card there.
The footmen brought round the wine, but their hands shook and they both stole wary glances at Lady Marchfield.
“Papa?” Valor said loudly.
Winsome pressed her lips together to stop herself from sighing. Loudly. Enough had gone on already, they did not need Valor adding to it with one of her outlandish speeches.
