Chapter Five
As Weston heldout his arm to help Lady Valor over the cushion wall, he wondered if he’d really just heard the duke refer to his sister, a countess and respected matron, as Lady Misery. Lady Valor had not blinked over it. Noting Lady Marchfield’s expression, though, he rather thought he had heard that correctly.
They proceeded into the dining room and the duke steered him to his location. Lady Valor was to his left and Lady Marchfield to his right at the top of the table. He’d been warned by both Lord Ledderbey and Stockton that the duke might have a matchmaking plan up his sleeve. He’d laughed off the idea, imagining he would encounter a version of Lady Letitia. Now he wondered if it really was such an outlandish idea.
After all, a lady like this coming to Town for her first season was not likely to require a second season.
“You see how it is, Misery,” the duke said. “I’ve given you the head of the table, else I’d have to seat you next to me. This way, you are as far away as possible, which will suit us both.”
Lord Ledderbey, who was to Lady Marchfield’s right, seemed very shaken over these sentiments. Lady Marchfield had thoroughly warned them of the duke’s rudeness and taunts, but it was another thing to see it in person. Especially for Lord Ledderbey, who never put a foot out of place when it came to manners.
When they’d dined at Lady Marchfield’s house, she’d outlined all of the duke’s crimes, which Lord Ledderbey had found almost hard tobelieve. Lord Marchfield, on the other hand, had all sorts of conciliatory things to say. According to the lord, one could develop a fondness for the duke if one did not take him seriously and hardly ever saw him. These seemed to be two things beyond Lady Marchfield’s reach. She was still burning over the time, some years ago, that the duke had left her at a cyprian’s party. Apparently, the diabolical housekeeper on the premises had arranged it all.
Everyone had been seated and the two footmen, who seemed far more on the ball than the butler, brought round the wine. Mr. Huberville watched them as if it were the first time he’d seen it done. Weston watched the butler reach for a crystal decanter and then pull his hand away from it as if he was afraid of it.
The duke said, “All my girls together again. Well! We’ve had some jolly times in this room.”
“Val used to give some terrific speeches to start us off,” Lady Felicity said.
“Ah yes,” Mr. Stratton said, “Lady Valor engaged in a spirited and endless war to keep her sisters at home and unmarried.”
“Perhaps those speeches are best forgotten,” Lady Marchfield said through pursed lips. “Among other things.”
Weston turned to Lady Valor. “I do not have brothers and sisters, so I do not know what it is to have them leave the house.”
“It was devastating,” Lady Valor said. “We all were so happy together in the Dales and then we came to London that first time and Felicity left. I was so young I did not even realize it was permanent.”
“That must have come as a shock.”
Lady Valor nodded. “Once I found it out, I became determined to keep the rest of my sisters at home.”
“How though?” Weston asked, rather interested to hear it.
“Oh, I would make a speech pointing out certain things. If that did not work, I might send a letter of some sort. The last was sent to Lord Manderbey. I pretended to be Winsome and broke it off with him. Itwas not the first time I tried it, either.”
Weston laughed. There was a certain amount of daring to such a scheme. “I presume Lord Manderbey figured it out.”
She nodded. “I made the mistake of signing as Winny instead of Winsome. He’d already heard me call her by her nickname.”
“Undone by a nickname. That is bad luck.”
“What do you do all day in Cornwall? Do you collect anything?”
He was momentarily put on the back foot. Lady Letitia had not asked him a single thing outside of if he was staring at her again. “Collect? No, not really. I buy books for Lord Ledderbey for his library when I get the chance.”
“You do not read them yourself, though?”
“Not many of them,” Weston admitted. “I have other things that take up my time.”
As soon as the idea that they must leave for Town had been broached, he’d wondered how much he should say about his nighttime activities. But then, he reasoned that he would be away from Cornwall and the French would no longer be looking for the Mosquito as they were no longer bothered by him. He’d had the boat moved and he’d already decided that when he took up the operation again he would relocate himself well away from Lord Ledderbey’s house. In any case, the last place one would run into a Frenchman was London.
“Other things take up your time? What things?” Lady Valor asked. “You live near the sea, I understand. I suppose you go looking for shells?”
Shells. He could not say he did. He was not certain if Lady Valor would be all that approving of what he did get up to. Though, he did not suppose that once she asked a question she could be easily brushed off. There was a certain intensity to her. “Well, mostly, me and my valet, Stockton, take out my sloop at night and harass any French frigates we are able to find. It is well to know their locations and ourturning up unsettles their crews.”
“Sailing at night? In the sea? Away from land?”
Weston nodded. “Yes, we really can only do it at night so that we can get away into the darkness without being run down.”
