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Chapter Nine
Matthew flipped throughhis small notebook.He’d talked to all his managers in London, along with Jack Sparling.Confidence in his laborers was the only way he could leave for seven days and be assured he wouldn’t be robbed blind by the time he returned.
Isaac, his valet, stood at the armoire and signaled with a tap on the wood.He showed four fingers.
“Yes, four suits.”Matthew probably wouldn’t wear all four, but he would at least have them.And it was a small way to show Rose he wasn’t an uncivilized bachelor.
Isaac nodded and set to work.He was mute and completely deaf in his right ear; mostly deaf in his left.“Not the brown one,” Matthew said so Isaac could hear him.Matthew couldn’t mutter or turn away from his valet when talking.He’d been Isaac’s caretaker since Matthew was eleven and Isaac was seven, or so.He’d brought Isaac home to his mother, like any other boy would bring home a pet frog, except Matthew had his first understanding of compassion and couldn’t bear to see the little boy suffer on the street with barely threads to cover him.Mother shook her head at first, then brought the boy into her embrace.From then on, Matthew was responsible for him.
In all the years he’d known Isaac, he had no idea about his mother or father or how he’d ended up begging in Cheapside.It was likely because he was mute and mostly deaf that he was abandoned on the streets of London like so many other poor children, and they without a handicap.Isaac also learned at a different pace, but once he learned a repetitive task, there was no stopping him.
It had taken a few years before Matthew had realized the significance of what he’d done, especially as they’d gotten better at communicating.Isaac talked to no one in the house except Matthew and occasionally Raleigh or Mrs.Callis with the simplest of requests.
Isaac pointed to his ring finger, then drew a circle around his face before kissing the tips of his fingers.He was quite taken with Rose Elliston Hardy.
“Yes, I am very lucky.She could have been as plain as a fence.”
Isaac laughed, a series of grunts he’d made since he was a boy.Matthew heard Rose’s footsteps in the room next door; they both heard the slam of her armoire.Isaac’s eyes widened and he moved beside Matthew’s armoire.Rose had been in and out of Matthew’s room three or four times while Isaac had hidden.Anytime she’d grown amorous, Matthew had steered her into her own bedroom and closed the door behind them.
Isaac hadn’t been willing to meet his new mistress, scampering out the hall door at the merest hint of discovery, but he’d been perfectly willing to steal glances.
Her steps moved away again.“You really ought to meet her.One of these days you are going to scare the life from her or her daughters.”
Isaac wagged his finger.He held up two fingers and pointed to his heart.
“You’ve met the girls?”
Isaac nodded, then held up a flat hand.
“Raleigh introduced you to them?”
Isaac put a finger to his lips.
“It’s a secret.You don’t want the duchess to know.”
Another nod.
