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“Service?” repeated Jack.
“Well, that is how I see it. Tending the land and the people it supports, as well as the future.”
He raised his eyebrows, inviting her to go on. He was finding her perspective on this subject fascinating.
“You are, I believe, the ninth Earl of Ferrington.”
“Seemingly,” he replied.
“So your people have been here for centuries.” The duchess gestured at the ceiling. “The beams in a house like this last that long. But eventually, some will need to be replaced. And so you plant oak trees to be ready when that time comes.”
Jack was speechless at the thought of such a span.
“And there’s something else. What do you do with the money you make with your shipping business?”
“I live on it,” he replied.
“And the surplus? Perhaps you make charitable donations?”
“Not as many as I might have,” he admitted.
The duchess nodded as if she understood. “It is another thing to think of. I know Harriet is interested in several charitable causes.”
“Is she?” That was interesting information.
“She will be bringing a goodly sum to the estate. I’m sure she’d like to have some say in how it is used.”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t she?”
This earned Jack his first look of total approval from the formidable Duchess of Tereford.
***
“Did your instructional session go well?” the duke asked his wife later that day as they strolled arm in arm through the unkempt gardens of Ferrington Hall.
“Yes,” was the absent reply.
“Ferrington was willing to listen to you?”
“Quite. He is an apt pupil.”
“Then why aren’t you smug with success?” he inquired.
“I beg your pardon?”
He smiled down at her. “Now I have your full attention.”
“And you are smug with success.”
“Completely.”
The duchess shook her head but returned the smile.
“Something is nagging at you,” observed her husband. “I don’t think I can be the cause, because I have been excessively accommodating.”
“Excessively?”
“I have given a near stranger my clothes, along with the services of my valet. Which Ferrington does not value as he should, by the by. I have not complained…”
