He nodded in the housekeeper’s direction. “Yes, of course, if that is what you would advise. Naturally I will if you think it best.”
Gracious, he was such an overly agreeable man, as if he were afraid of ever crossing anybody. He was a veritable wet noodle.
“By the by, Mrs. Right,” he said, “I did not catch your connection to the family.”
“I’m the housekeeper,” she said, looking as if she were daring the gentleman to make comment on it.
Winsome did not imagine Lord Landry would challenge that idea or any other idea.
“Oh I see! Yes, of course,” he said. “Yes, I did imagine so. That is, not to say you might not have been a cousin…yes, why not a cousin…is what I say…”
The duke seemed to perceive that the wet noodle was covering himself in uncomfortable sauce and cut him off before he could drown in it any further. “I presume you are on your way to Town for the season, Landry?”
Lord Landry shook his head sadly. “I am afraid so, Your Grace.”
“You’re afraid of Town too?” Valor asked. “Is it the hoi polloi again?”
“I’m afraid of what must happen in the town,” Lord Landry said.
Valor leaned forward. “What? What’s to happen?”
Lord Landry colored. “I ought not say, I ought not have mentioned it.”
“But now you have so you’d better spell it out for us,” the duke said. The waiters had brought in the soup. The duke paused to say to the senior of them, “Tell all your people to gather here at precisely nine o’clock. It’s Captain James Cook Day and we will honor that courageous gentleman with all the respect that he deserves.”
Winsome thought the waiters had a deal of trouble keeping the surprise from their expressions. Or perhaps it was resentment. It was hard to tell.
The doors shut and the duke said, “Well? What’s to happen to you in Town? Afraid the hoi polloi will be in your drawing room?”
Valor laughed hysterically. “Papa, you are so funny. How could they even get there so fast when he just saw them out there, right outside?”
Lord Landry dabbed at his eyes with a napkin. He did seem quite overcome and Winsome was beginning to be afraid of what he was afraid of, though she did not know what it was yet.
“I’ve been pressured from all sides!” he cried. “The whole extended family is against me. They say I must wed and if I do not and there is no heir I will go down in the flames of infamy forevermore! They despise my cousin, you see, and he or one of his sons would take the title. He is very profligate, and they do not care for it.”
The duke appeared a bit confused by the explanation, as was Winsome herself. The duke said, “Come now, man. Everybody has got to do his duty.”
“That’s whattheysay!”
“It’s not as if you’re still wet behind the ears. How old are you, anyway?”
“Twenty-seven,” the lord whispered.
“No wonder they want you to get on with it,” the duke said. “Have you got a decent house and a fair amount of funds?”
“Big house and piles and piles of money, I’m afraid.” He shook his head, looking very much in despair, and muttered, “Nothing ever goes my way.”
“I do not see why a fellow would be afraid of being well set. I also do not see that you should encounter any difficulties securing a lady,” the duke said.
Winsome was not so certain. The poor man appeared frightened of his own shadow.
It occurred to her that since he was a lord of the right generation, he might know Lord Manderbey. That might be a deal more interesting than the lord’s problems with his family. “Lord Landry, do you have a circle in Town? Our Verity wed Lord Wembly last season andwe found him very pleasant. As well, we found his friend, Lord Manderbey, very pleasant. Are you acquainted with those gentlemen?”
She did not suppose the inquiry was done very subtly, especially considering her father held a napkin to his lips to cover his laughter.
“Yes, yes,” Lord Landry said. “I know them both from school. I know Manderbey a bit better as he’s just in the next county over from me. He’s a funny fellow—always complaining that people are dunning him for money.”
Winsome sat back. Lord Manderbey was being dunned for money? She would have never guessed he was in financial straits.
