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“Really? I’m so sorry to hear that.” Louisa said, looking defeated.
I know that she had hoped to spend more time with me, just as I had with her.
I glanced up at Richard, who was frowning deeply.
“When will you depart?” He asked, making eye contact.
“In just a day or two’s time. We will head back to Lady Radcliffe’s estate. We will have to pass through Devonshire, of course. I will send my best greetings to Uncle Thomas if I am able, though I’m not sure we will stop there.”
The road to Cornwall went straight through Devonshire, past Rosehill and the village my father’s family was from. My other uncle still resided there with his wife and children.
“If I may ask, Amelia,” Louisa said, biting her lip. “What sort of scandal would produce such an immediate reaction? Is Miss Radcliffe involved?”
“Louisa…” Richard growled, interpreting her question as rude.
“It’s fine,” I said, smiling. “And no, luckily not. Miss Radcliffe is fine, for the most part. The scandal actually involved the sister of the man courting her, which is why it upset Lady Radcliffe so deeply.”
“Oh, indeed. A lover’s quarrel?”
I shrugged.
“More or less. It was the doing of a rake. You may have heard of him… the Lord Marsden, of Rosehill.”
It felt strange to speak of Lord Marsden to my family in such formal terms, but of course, my Uncle and cousins had no idea that we were ever friends, despite my upbringing at his estate.
Uncle Nicholas sighed, shaking his head.
“Ah. The new Viscount, I presume? His father passed, I believe, some years ago.”
I nodded.
“Well,” my uncle continued, “I am not necessarily surprised he has produced a scandal. I do not like to gossip, but his parents were no stranger to scandal themselves if I recall correctly.”
I was intrigued.
“Did you know his parents, sir?” I asked.
Had I ever met Lord Marsden’s parents? I honestly couldn’t remember.
He paused.
“No. But I have heard the village gossip. It is a sad tale, to be sure.”
A sad tale? I knew that Lord Marsden’s father had died, bequeathing him the title of Viscount. But what else had happened?
Nicholas noticed my interest and grimaced.
“The late Viscount passed from drink… or so the story goes. The rumors say that his mother met the same fate.”
I froze.
Had Lord Marsden’s parents really died from liquor?
When he’d run into me on Gracechurch Street, I had smelled the liquor on his breath…
I had seen the way he traced his fingers around the outline of the flask in his pocket, like it was a lifeline…
They said such vices ran in families, did they not?
