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“Thank you. Please sit down Mr. Lawrence.”

She saw him start. Lord Napier had only ever called him Lawrence.

“I am new to the position and will lean on your guidance over the years. When we are alone I will address you with respect.”

Lawrence made no reply but bowed as low as possible from his seated position.

“When I received the express, I filed the will with the Chancery Division. I do not expect there to be any issue. If only for the fact that no one can contest the will. As far as it is possible to ascertain, there are no cadet branches of the family since at least the time of the Union of the Crowns. They will inform the Crown that the title has gone extinct.

“May I ask your intentions with regard to mourning?”

“One year of full mourning followed by six months of half mourning. That coincides with Twelfth night at the start of the year ’14. We will communicate through letters all the time during those 18 months and will meet on occasion as well. There will definitely be a meeting at the point my mourning is over.”

“I see. If I may venture to ask, what are your plans?”

“That is the thing Mr. Lawrence, I do not have any plans. Lord Napier and I knew that every day could be his last and so there was no point in making plans for the future. We used Corinthians as our guide. I will be secluded until the end of the summer. I was thinking of learning to ride so that I may venture round the estate. My squad of guards are all former infantry men and will need to learn at the same time. Is that disrespectful, is it too soon?”

She was pleased that he did not immediately agree with her.

“I see the issue. The way to deal with it is not to make it a secret. You want to learn to ride so that you can visit the estate. The tenants will take comfort that the new Mistress is looking to act in the best interest of the estate. I would recommend that you do not venture into Bath.”

“I had that conversation with Lord Napier. I am not going to expose myself to Bath until next year at the earliest. And even then it is likely to be for nothing more than some new books. My one indulgence.”

“You have thought this through. I see no problem with you, and your guards, learning to ride over this summer. The needs of the estate almost demand it. You can decide when to visit Bath or Bristol in the autumn. Is there anything immediate that I can do for you?”

“Yes, there is. I wish you to engage two additional maids. But although they will ostensibly be maids, they will in reality be additional guards. I want two strong, broad shouldered young women. You know the kind, they will have been called big-boned all their life. I wish for them both to be escorted to one of the gunsmiths in town and each of them to be measured for two pistols. The first is to be the largest possible that they can wield, the second a small one that can be tucked away in a reticule or purse.”

Lawrence did not blink at this request.

“Are you going to arm your male guards as well?”

“They are already armed. With the same two kinds of guns. They have something called Artillery pistols which are big. I am sure that Jones would be horrified at that description but they are designed to stop a runaway dray horse. They also have a smaller calibre firearm tucked away inside their jacket.”

“Do you worry that this is necessary?”

“Lord Napier and I talked about it. You know better than anyone that he was significantly wealthier than commonly believed. That fact is in danger of coming to light during the probate process. A £3,000 a year widow is the subject of unwanted advances. I shudder to think how the rogues, rakes and knaves, the impoverished sons of nobility, would act if it became known my actual income was many multiples of that.”

“So you do not believe there is an immediate threat but you are preparing for the worst.”

“A good summation.”

Chapter 14

“Did you meet anyone while out on your walk Georgiana?”

The Countess of Matlock and her niece were in Bath. Miss Georgiana Darcy, more than a year after her lapse of judgement at Ramsgate, was still not recovered. The Countess was allowing her to walk the main streets of Bath, suitably chaperoned, to see if there was any change when she was on her own.

“I saw several people that I recognised but I did not talk to anyone. There were no requests for an introduction”

“Where did you go?”

“I ended up at Arbuthnot’s the booksellers.”

Both Countess and niece smiled at that inevitability.

“It was there that I saw the strangest sight of my little walk.”

“Strangest?”