“There is no need, I have my sister and Mrs. Right with me and it is just across the square,” Valor said.
“I did tell Lady Letitia I would, though. I do not like to be a liar.”
“Oh I see,” Valor said.
They bid adieu to Lord Ledderbey, who looked as if he was relieved to get them all out of the house.
As they walked along the paths lined with shrubberies, Valor said, “I presume Lady Letitia is from your neighborhood.”
“Lady Monroe is not five miles off,” Lord Tramondeley said. “Lady Letitia visited her last year.”
“She’s very lively,” Serenity said.
Lord Tramondeley laughed and Valor could not tell if he agreed, or thought it was funny that Serenity should say so.
“Lively is one word for it,” Mrs. Right said.
Lord Tramondeley’s brows raised and Valor was certain he was not used to a housekeeper joining in on a conversation. Of course, he could not know that their dear Mrs. Right was not just a housekeeper. She was a mother of sorts, especially to Valor, who had never known her own mother. She was very much part of the family though otherpeople might think it odd.
“Look!” Serenity cried. “There is Thorpe coming out with Havoc and Nelson.”
Valor looked in that direction to see Lord Thorpe just coming out of his house leading Havoc on one side and their little Nelson on the other.
“You won’t mind, Val?” Serenity said.
“No, go to your husband,” Valor said, laughing.
Serenity picked up her skirts and sprinted down the path.
Lord Tramondeley squinted. “Is that…does that dog, is he missing a leg?”
“That is darling Nelson,” Valor said. “We found him on one of our trips to Town. He was begging for scraps outside an inn and of course we had to have him. He’s blind in one eye as well, so you can imagine what sort of hard life he had. We’ve spoiled him terribly to make up for it.”
“I see. Well I do not suppose your own dog, a pug I think, has suffered too very much.”
“Sir Galahad?” Valor said. “He is lucky to be alive! He was the runt of the litter and a terrible old lord was going to drown him.”
Lord Tramondeley looked at her quizzically, and Valor realized there was quite a large gap in information between Sir Galahad on the verge of being drowned and his now more comfortable situation.
“Lord Thorpe convinced the old gentleman who wished to drown him to hear what I would say about it, and I took the little dog from him and sent him on his way.”
“With a terrible scolding too,” Mrs. Right added.
“Lord Thorpe brought the man and the dog to your house?” Lord Tramondeley asked.
Valor nodded. Though, as she’d got older she’d wondered about it herself. Why hadn’t Lord Thorpe simply taken the dog? How was that earl convinced to come to the house with Sir Galahad? If he really wasso cruel hearted to wish the dog drowned, why was he setting off in a carriage to do it himself? Or why would not he not have done it already? Why had he agreed to hear about it from a young girl he did not even know?
She generally dismissed those questions from her mind, as whatever it was that had happened, it had seemed very real at the time. In those early days when she did not have any questions about it, she’d liberally embellished the encounter. At one point, she even claimed that she’d fetched her father’s gun to drive the fellow off. She had not, but when she’d thought over the encounter later, she had dearly wished she had. She did not claim so anymore, but she did remember her outrage over Sir Galahad’s situation and knew very well she would have been willing to do it if she’d thought of it. When it came to that precious little dog, she could be very brave.
They had come out of the square and crossed over the street. Valor waved to Serenity and Lord Thorpe, who were walking together and laughing with their very enthusiastic dogs.
“Lady Valor, I thank you for the dancing lesson and apologize for Lady Letitia’s interruption.”
“I do not see why you are to apologize,” Valor said. “I do not imagine you could have stopped her.”
Lord Tramondeley laughed. “No, I do not think I could have.”
“Well, she will find you again at Almack’s I suspect.”
