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“You are right, Your Grace, of course,” Edward sighed. “I fear Miss Clara and I have been…” He paused to search for appropriate words, wishing neither to mislead the Duke nor overawe him with too much candour. “Well, ours was a romance in its nascent stages. But it is finished now. Utterly and completely, I can assure you.”
Christopher continued with his foray into adult mannerisms, clucking his tongue as he shook his head sadly. Lord, does he learn that from looking at me? Edward wondered idly. Or did Helena rub off on him more than I’d realized?
“It is frightfully silly, Edward,” said Christopher. “You are two grown adults, and here you are acting like lovesick children. I remember Helena behaving exactly the same way when some boy she liked had turned her down, or she had turned him down or whatever it was. Judith was the same way. I do hope I do not act so foolish when I fall in love one day. Whatever the problem is, why don’t you just apologize and reconcile with her?”
“And just why are you so sure it is for me to apologize?” Edward asked, more curious than affronted.
The Duke smiled. “Father did not always have time for paternal advice, but that was one I remember, from when things got quite bad between him and Mother. ‘No matter with whom the fault lies, and even if it lies with no one, the responsibility is the man’s to apologize,’ he said.”
Blushing, Edward muttered, “I seem to recall receiving the same advice from the Duke myself, once. Never thought it would come in useful, somehow.”
Christopher leaned forward expectantly, his schoolwork now completely forgotten. “So I ask you again: why do you not simply apologize and make things right?”
“Your Grace, I…” Edward attempted to match Christopher’s self-possession with a worldly laugh and a pat on the shoulder. “Well, it’s not as simple as all that.”
From Christopher’s arched eyebrow—That he learned from Helena, of that I have no doubt—it was immediately apparent that Edward could not bluff his way out of this conversation.
“Do not misuse your position by deluding me in these matters, please,” Christopher said confidently, jostling his shoulder free of Edward’s grasp. “You love her, do you not?”
Yes!
“I…do not know, Your Grace,” Edward said haltingly. “I think so.”
“And she loves you as you do her,” he continued.
“I—”
“I am not asking, Edward, thank you. I have seen the way she looks your way, and how she looks for you when you are not present. If she is not mad about you, then she is putting on a very good imitation of such, and that seems even less likely.”
Edward swallowed, rubbing his chin in disbelief. His embarrassment over being discovered in his devotion was momentarily stamped out by a realization: She really does care for me that much?
“Edward, do you know what Mr Svenungsson tells me when I make him repeat a question more than once?”
He nodded gamely. “Something about how it is a poor student who does not make use of his teacher’s time and expertise?”
Christopher smiled. “So for the final time, I ask you: why do you not simply do what needs to be done? Apologize, reconcile with Clara, and then you can go ahead and marry and I can go back to my studies instead of watching my guardian mooning about.”
For a moment Edward could feel only his shame at having his predicament noticed and derided so accurately. But he forced himself to answer the Duke’s question before he lost whatever was left of his sense in this worry.
“You see, Your Grace, there’s…” Edward began, then stopped himself. He blinked, so overwhelmed by Christopher’s summation of the situation that he could not recall why he could not do exactly what the young man suggested. Clearly being worried about being distracted is a problem whether I am with Clara or not, he realized with a start.
“Well, there’s the matter of social standing,” Edward explained. “I know it must seem quite silly and arbitrary to a young man just reaching adulthood—”
“It does.”
“But these matters are of great importance in London society. Clara’s father may have been a Duke, but she was born amid scandal.” Edward’s eyes hardened, considering the gravity of things. “It would be ruinous to my reputation, such as it is. And to yours and your family’s as well, I fear. The scion of a wealthy family marrying a woman who was once a maid? Such things…well, they simply aren’t done, I’m afraid.”
Edward felt a veil of sadness drape over him at this proclamation, his limbs heavy as he recalled the hopelessness of their situation. The world suddenly felt a very cruel place, that there was no chance of love between two people from such different worlds.
“Hogwash.”
“I beg your pardon?” Edward asked, blinking.
“I said that’s hogwash, Edward. Rubbish, if you prefer.”
Though Edward would normally be able to dismiss such a claim as a young man’s arrogance, there was a frenetic certainty to Christopher’s gaze that he found strangely convincing.
“There was something else Father used to say quite often. I wonder if you remember it,” Christopher said, leaning his slim frame back in his chair and looking off into the distance. “He mostly directed it to Helena and Judith, but I got the impression the advice was meant for me as well. He would say, ‘No amount of money can buy good breeding.’”
