Ah, yes. He had said that was what it was. “It is nothing special really. Just a small party with sketch artists and a violinist and trays of food. Tables for cards and games if anyone wishes to play. Cornwall people are rather straightforward.”
“Oh, the trays coming round. That is something Lady Darlington does at her annual masque. It is not a ball, nor a dinner. Just trays, quiet music, and admiring and voting on the costumes. At least, that is how it’s been described to me, as my sisters go every year.”
“Indeed, I do recall that invitation came to the house.”
“How serendipitous that you should have rented a house on our very square.”
He looked at Lady Valor in surprise. He was on the verge of informing her that he’d not done so, the duke had done it, when that very duke interrupted them.
“Lady Jellerbey,” he said jovially. “Look who I’ve brought with me. My youngest, Lady Valor, the last of that endless string of daughters to be launched out of my house. And here is Lord Tramondeley, my heir, and his friend Lord Ledderbey.”
“You are all very welcome,” Lady Jellerbey said, looking fondly at the duke. “I do hope you will keep an eye on His Grace and ensure he does not set my curtains ablaze again.”
To no surprise to Weston, this fairly staggered Lord Ledderbey. The duke found it hilarious. “You see, I was demonstrating how I once set Lady Vanderwake’s curtains on fire and did it all over again. I probably do not have to say that Lady Jellerbey’s claret is very good.”
No, he probably did not have to say.
“Go on, you devil of a duke,” Lady Jellerbey said merrily, “you willfind an ample supply of that particular drink on my sideboards.”
“God save the King and Queen, and God save Lady Jellerbey’s curtains,” the duke said, laughing, and strolled off.
He really was a strange fellow. People seemed either to find him amusing or enraging. Weston was not yet sure where he would end up landing on the question. Perhaps both, depending on the moment.
As the duke made straight for a sideboard, Weston debated picking up the conversation with Lady Valor regarding the house he currently resided in. He decided to leave it alone. At least for now. If her father had not told her, perhaps he had his reasons.
They made their way forward, Lord Ledderbey squinting at the gloom. None of Lady Jellerbey’s chandeliers were lit. There were candelabras set on every surface and it reminded him of the house in Cornwall. He and Lord Ledderbey could never be bothered to ask a servant to go through the palaver of lowering a chandelier to light it and then hoist it back up again only to lower it again to put out the candles. It was easier to just carry the candelabras around, especially since Lord Ledderbey was in the habit of retiring to his bed with a book on the early side of things and Weston was out for most of the night.
“Lady Valor,” he said, “what can I get for you from the sideboard?”
“I think a glass of hock. My sister Felicity says Lady Jellerbey’s selection of them is very good quality.”
He set off for the sideboard, keeping an eye out for both the count and Lady Letitia. Really, Weston could hardly decide which of them was the bigger annoyance.
For now, he did not see either. Only the duke pouring himself a very liberal glass of claret and talking to some other lord while he pointed at the curtains and laughed. Weston supposed he really ought to keep an eye on Lady Jellerbey’s curtains, considering how proud the duke appeared to have set them alight in the past.
*
Valor stood withLord Ledderbey as Lord Tramondeley had gone off to fetch her a glass of wine.
Quite suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, Lord Ledderbey said, “I know you have only recently become acquainted with us, Lady Valor, but I hope you perceive the worth of Lord Tramondeley. He is a fine young man and it has been my honor to see him through his younger years and into his manhood.”
She was surprisingly touched by that. Of course, she did perceive his worth. It was just that one thing about him, the danger about him, that worried her.
“Lord Ledderbey,” she said boldly, “I am certain Lord Tramondeley is everything my father could have wished for in an heir. He will make a fine duke someday. Assuming he survives. But he does put himself in danger with this mad scheme to chase French frigates under cover of darkness.”
Lord Ledderbey nodded. “I must admit, for many years I knew nothing about it. I like to retire very early, you see, unless there is a particular reason to stay awake. The boy began the project when he was but sixteen. Had I known it then, I might have put a stop to it. However, by the time I found it out he was already a man making his own decisions.”
“Sixteen?” Valor said, though it really came out as a whisper.
Lord Ledderbey nodded. “I must say, I was very cross with his valet. That fellow should have told me, not gone with him and encouraged the business. But then, Stockton was a navy man and those two are as thick as thieves.”
“It’s such a risk,” Valor said quietly. “I really do think that if a person takes a risk over and over again, then eventually…”
“Eventually they will run out of luck and it will end in disaster,” Lord Ledderbey said. “I think the very same and I believe that idea hasbegun to occur to him. I hold every hope that he will give it up.”
Valor felt her spirits soar. Lord Ledderbey thought Lord Tramondeley might give it up. Could it be true? Was it possible?
Lord Tramondeley returned with her glass. “I apologize for the delay. The duke was insistent on introducing me to Lord Gentian, as he witnessed the setting fire of Lady Jellerbey’s curtains some years ago.”
