AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I understand, Your Grace. I am grateful I didn’t have another appointment when your footman arrived.”
She wanted to add that she didn’t appreciate the duchess taking her availability for granted. But a shilling saved by not paying a hackney helped pay for Robert’s dinner tonight. The imposition rankled, but it was part and parcel of working for the nobility.
“I thought I would give you a tour this morning, and you could give me your thoughts.”
Although Letty had expected to be shown the estate, she never thought that the duchess herself would guide her. Shouldn’t she be in the company of a housekeeper, or a secretary?
She followed the duchess down a long hallway. “It is a beautiful house, Your Grace.” She judged the paintings on the wall to be at least three hundred years old. Impressive indeed.
“It ismagnificent.”
Curiously, the duchess’s voice was flat. Perhaps she was so accustomed to the treasures that surrounded her that she was bored with them.
“Although I wish to transform everything, I decided to start with the private rooms first.”
Letty was disappointed that she wouldn’t have the opportunity yet to work on something more public, where guests would see her talents. But she had to admit it would be easier to start with a sitting room compared to a ballroom. It would give her the time to understand what was expected for the rest of this enormous house.
“I suppose you have no need of a constitutional stroll outdoors when you traverse such distances every day?” Letty asked.
She knew it wasn’t considered good manners to speak first in a duchess’s presence. But the staircase was devoid of any member of thehaut ton, wasn’t it? Besides, the duchess might belong on another social echelon, but she was no better than Letty herself.
The duchess blinked. “In truth, I haven’t taken a walk outside for pleasure since September, when the weather was nicer,” she admitted.
“But we haven’t had any poor weather.”
“I beg to differ, Miss Barrow. There is a decided chill in the air these days. I am not inclined to dwell in it lest I catch a cold.”
“Perhaps it is unwise for the elderly, or the unwell,” Letty allowed. “But a good bit of fresh air can do no harm when one is young and healthy, Your Grace.”
“Are we so young?” she asked, her lips twitching as if to suppress a smile. “I am indeed glad to hear it. My nephew is all of twenty-one, and I think in his eyes I might as well be a crone, though I have only just past my thirty-fourth year.”
Letty chuckled. “My son is much the same age, and I am afraid he has much the same opinion of me at forty-two.”
“Young people think they know everything, don’t they?”
“And what they don’t know surely can’t be of any importance at all.”
The duchess laughed. The sound was airy and charming, and to Letty’s surprise, it transformed her. Instead of an untouchable statue, the duchess came to life beside her. It was a subtle difference. Her posture relaxed by a fraction, and her lips curved up by a hairsbreadth. But Letty had trained herself to notice the minute differences in measurements, and to her it was a startling change.
“I suppose we must resign ourselves to being old and old-fashioned.”
“Now, that’s a bold-faced lie if I ever heard one. Neither of us are old in the least, and no one could accuse you of being unfashionable,” Letty said. “Your Grace,” she added.
“My mother-in-law would consider me sadly lacking in proper ducal fashion today. I believe her opinion is that one should wear the diadems as often as one can. Or at the very least, carry a scepter more than once in a great while.”
“I have always wondered what occasions might require a scepter,” Letty said with a smile. “Do feel free to wave one about, if only for my benefit.”
After the argument with Robert this morning, the easy conversation soothed her. The duchess hadn’t censured her for speaking out of turn. Perhaps she wasn’t quite like the rest of the nobility.
Letty followed the duchess into a cavernous room at the top of the stairs, filled with ornate furniture and gloomy colors.
“This is the duke’s suite,” she announced. “Now that Hawthorne has returned to England, no stone must be left unturned to welcome our dear duke back to these hallowed halls. You are to take as much time as you need.” The duchess’s hands clenched into fists, and her jaw was set as hard as granite.
Letty nodded. If the duke had inherited the title while he was away, then presumably these rooms had not been touched since his father’s time. It was natural that Hawthorne would wish to change things to avoid painful memories. The hint of strain on the duchess’s face must reflect her sympathy for her husband’s needs.
Starting in the duke’s bedchamber must be symbolic. Letty glanced at the bed. Most likely the duke had returned to beget himself an heir.
“Is there anything specific that the duke would like to see in these rooms?”
