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His penmanship was bold, commanding and it marched full tilt across the page.
She was aware of him watching her read. Watching intently, as if her opinion of his words mattered greatly.
Again, she was struck by how little he matched the picture she’d painted of him in her mind, before she met him.
An arrogant duke wouldn’t care what the governess thought.
She folded the speech and set it back on the table. “It’s a very eloquent speech, Your Grace. I can feel how deeply you care for your subject.”
“But...” he prompted.
“If I offered a friendly criticism, I’d say it lacks a certain... passion. Instead of dwelling so heavily upon figures and profits, and the interchange of commerce and manufacturing supplies, you might mention some of the more altruistic and noble benefits of such a system of travel.”
“The Whigs won’t want to hear about the benefits to commoners. There’s always fierce objection to any tidal shift in power.” He separated two of the yellow slices to one side of the platter. “The stagecoaches opposed the canal boats.” He moved the yellow slices close to what looked like a large slice of melon, though she couldn’t be sure because she’d never seen one of such a vibrant red hue.
“They both oppose the railway.” He arranged grapes in a row on either side of the melon slice. “And my fellow landowners with pleasure estates don’t want their lands carved by the rails or commoners to travel their hallowed ground.” He added more grapes. “And the parish fire brigades are mired in the past, married to their old, inadequate methods.”
She studied his culinary map, placing several strawberries atop the melon. “Yes, but the railways will provide inexpensive and expeditious travel for people of all classes. And your fire engines will save countless lives.”
“And the railway I help finance will provide much needed access to more inexpensive coal and medicines for people living in hard-to-reach areas. Children, especially.”
“Couldn’t you explain this to the gentlemen, Your Grace? Wouldn’t they listen?”
“They don’t care about the plight of the common man. They fear the railway as a threat to their way of life. A blow against tradition.”
She ate a strawberry, ruminating on his words. She liked that he appeared to be one of the rare noblemen who cared about the plight of the common man. He certainly cared about his illegitimate children.
“I’ve found that telling a story can sometimes be more effective than more pontificating, didactic methods of communication,” she said.
“My pride will be quite deflated by the end of this day, Miss Perkins. First Michel accuses me of being a boring milksop and now I’m a didactic pontificator?”
She nearly choked on the strawberry. “How do you know what Michel said?”
He gave her a guilty look. “Ah... I may have been listening at the door this evening, as you put the children to bed.”
He’d been watching? She tried to recall the details of her conversation with the children. Had she said anything incriminating about her childhood? She couldn’t risk him learning she’d been raised in a charity school and was unfit by society’s standards to be his governess. “It seemsyou’rethe spy in the household, Your Grace. Lurking about doorways.”
He made a slight bow from the waist. “Touché, Miss Perkins. It’s true, the gentlemen at my club take pontification to a whole new level,” he said. “It’s difficult to squeeze a word in edgewise.”
“But they still have hearts. And children. What you need to do is hit them square in the chest. Tell them the story of an actual child living in the countryside who died from lack of medicine. I knew such a girl.” She blinked her eyes, staving off the sudden tears that always threatened to spill over when she thought of how easily Helena could have been saved.
“Was she your sister?”
“Bosom friend.”
“And she could have been saved?”
“She had typhoid fever. The medicine from London didn’t reach her in time.”
“It’s a shame they don’t allow females at my club, Miss Perkins. If you gave the speech, their hearts would be moved.”
When he smiled, the ice in his gaze cracked and spread into appealing crinkles at the edges of his eyes.
“I can tell that after only one brief day, the children are beginning to thaw toward you as well,” he continued. “It was very clever of you to give them that elixir. I had no idea they are so very homesick for France.”
“And for their nurse, a woman named Amina. We wrote a letter to her today. I think it would mean so much to them to receive a reply.”
He nodded. “Another excellent idea.”
