by Fanny Finch
He turned back to the boy. “The scar I bear today is a symbol to remind me that there is more to accomplish. If God had meant to take me then, he would have. But with this scar, I know he has put me here for a purpose.”
“Why did you get mean, my lord?”
The boy was persistent with his questions.
“I do not feel I am necessarily mean,” the Duke of Thornwall tried to keep his voice light when he answered. “I have been going through sad times. I do not want to be thought of as mean. Will you make a deal with me, Joshua the Great?”
Joshua grinned from ear to ear. “Oh, yes, my lord! I do like games.”
“I am glad. I will give you something if you will go around town and tell people that they are always welcome to visit the castle and courtyard. I feel secluded there all alone. I would like some visitors.”
“You are not alone, my lord. Lady Agatha is there with you.”
And Lady Elizabeth, he thought.
He nodded. “Yes, you are right. But look at the castle.”
He turned his body, crouching down next to the boy and looking out at the castle standing tall and majestic in the distance. “Do you see the castle?”
“I see it, my lord. I look at it every day. I wonder what it must look like inside.”
“Well, it is not very far away and you are welcome to come and visit. Bring your family with you. That castle is where I live, Joshua. Think about your home. Do you have brothers and sisters?”
“Yes, I have two brothers and a sister.” Joshua confirmed in a confident voice.
“Do you live in a home as big as that castle you see?”
Joshua’s eyes widened. He shook his head. “Oh no, sir. We have a regular size house.”
“Picture in your mind that castle up there but only you and your mama live there.”
Joshua scanned the castle, a look of understanding crossing his small face. He glanced at the Duke of Thornwall, nodding as though he had just closed a major business deal.
“I see what you mean, Your Grace.”
“So you go and tell everyone about me and I will gladly invite you and anyone else you want to bring along. I will have a party, just for townsfolk. Do you think that is a good idea?”
Joshua grinned from ear to ear. “I do! Everyone loves a party!”
“You are right, my young friend. So you will do that for me?”
“Yes, my lord. I will do that for you.”
He patted the boy on the head, ruffling his hair. “You are a good young man. Your father must be very proud of you.”
Joshua grinned again, spun around on his heel, and ran off with the energy only a little boy like him could have.
The Duke of Thornwall walked to the coach and got in, wondering if he was really as stern and harsh as the townspeople thought he was. If the child had heard such wonderful stories told about him, what stories made him into a cruel man?
His staff did not treat him as if they feared him. They stood up for him.
But the longer he looked at the faces of the townspeople, the more he realized Lady Elizabeth had been right. Not all of the townsfolk disliked him.
But he could tell a great deal of them did.
He reached the small Inn where he knew the Duke of Argyle would be staying after another ten minutes in the coach. The driver stopped and got down to open the door for him.
He got out of the coach, stepping down on the dry, rocky path that led up to the Inn.
He looked up at the two-story building in front of him. When the Duke of Argyle traveled, he always traveled with everything and everyone he thought he might ever need. The Duke of Thornwall had been surprised the man did not bring every stitch of clothing he owned on the trips he took.
Once upon a time, it had been a joke between himself and Lady Sophia.
It did not seem as funny now, without her to laugh about it with.
The Duke of Thornwall reached up and knocked on the front door of the inn. It was opened quickly by an older man the Duke of Thornwall recognized as one of the men he had pulled out of the fire. He was certain it was the butler.
“Hello. I am sorry, I do not recall your name.”
“You are the Duke of Thornwall,” the man said in a confident voice.
“Yes, that is correct.”
The man stepped back, swinging the door open wide. “Please enter, Your Grace. I will let the Duke of Argyle know you are here.”
“Thank you.”
He realized when the man turned away he still had not given him his name.
He did not press the point.
“Please wait here, my lord. I will see where he is.”
“Thank you.”
The Duke of Thornwall looked around him. The walls were a dull gray with a dark wooden trim around the floors and doors. The windows were covered with matching yellow curtains. The furniture in the lobby was the same dull gray as the walls.
If that was the case, the Duke of Thornwall thought they had an excellent way of showing it.
The butler returned, bowing to the Duke of Thornwall. “The Duke of Argyle is in the study, my lord. I will take you to him now.”
“Thank you.”
“You are most welcome, sir. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask. I still tell everyone to this day how you saved my life, the cook, the maid, even Jacob! You risked your life for Jacob!”
The Duke of Thornwall just grinned softly and nodded. He had received many compliments four years ago when it was still fresh in everyone’s mind. But now, the only thing people remembered about the house fire was that it claimed the life of a beautiful soul.
The Duke of Thornwall stepped into the study, where the Duke of Argyle was waiting for him. The older man was standing up, holding a book in one hand. He clutched the book against his chest, holding the place with one finger and held the other hand out to the Duke of Thornwall.
They bowed to each other, shaking hands at the same time.
“Thornwall,” the Duke of Argyle said. The Duke of Thornwall could hear the tension in his voice.
“Sir,” he responded, coolly.
“I trust you have had time to rethink your situation?”
“I am thinking about it, Your Grace. But I came to speak with you. I do not wish for my sister to be unhappy. She will be if I send Lady Elizabeth away. I also do not want any of my townspeople in debtor’s prison. There must be a compromise we can make.”
“I do not see why I should compromise. I have made my case clear to you.”
The Duke of Thornwall struggled to hold his temper, exercising as much patience as he could.
“My lord, it does not seem fair that you are willing to risk the unhappiness of so many so that you can continue to make me unhappy.”
The Duke of Argyle frowned. “If you have come only to beg for forgiveness, you may spare what you have in your lungs. I have no interest in hearing any more apologies.”
“My lord, why must you be so stubborn? I can do nothing to bring Lady Sophia back.”
“You still love her, Thornwall. Try to tell me you do not whilst staring me in the eye.”
The Duke of Thornwall frowned. “It is not a matter of whether I love her, Sir. The matter is that she is no longer with us and those who are must suffer because of your bitterness toward me. I beg of you to think of the townspeople and their children, the ones who will be alone if you put their parents in debtor’s prison.”
“They are of no concern to me,” the Duke of Argyle said dismissively. “This is not my village and they are not my people.”
The Duke of Thornwall was shocked by the man’s response. This was not the man he thought he was gaining as a second father. This man was brutal. He understood his pain all too well but he was the one the townspeople should be calling cruel and harsh.
“They may not be people from your town or from London, Your Grace. But they are still people, my people.”
The Duke of Argyle snorted. “That is not what
I have heard. The word of the townspeople is that you are cruel and distant.”
The Duke of Thornwall had enough of the banter. He stood up. “If we cannot have a civil conversation, I will take my leave.”
The Duke of Argyle lifted both hands. “I did not mean to offend you, Thornwall. I am only speaking the truth.”
“I have heard these lies before,” the Duke of Thornwall said, blocking out the unfortunate fact that it was most likely true. “I do not wish to hear them again.”
“I speak no lies,” the Duke of Argyle’s voice raised some as he spoke. “You would do well not to call me a liar, Thornwall.”
The Duke of Thornwall stared at him, shaking his head. “That was not my intention. Please forgive me.”
“You know of your reputation in town, do you not?”
The Duke of Thornwall nodded. “I do, yes.”
The Duke of Argyle nodded his large head. He had finally dropped into a large chair, which shifted in position when he put all his weight in it. “You should not care what happens to these people. They do not like you and would not help you if you were suffering.”
The Duke of Thornwall frowned. It was one thing to insult him but to insult the entire village? He felt anger slice through him.
“You are a terribly indecisive man, Thornwall,” the Duke of Argyle said in a snickering voice. “Are you staying? Are you going? What will you do?”
The Duke of Thornwall was offended. The old man was taunting him, baiting him, trying to make him angry.
He refused to give in to the older man’s banter.
“You must not insult the people of my town, Sir. They have done nothing to you and you do not know them well. They are all good people.”
“Yes, I am sure they are. They still do not have enough money to pay off those they owe it to, though. That is very important, would you say?”
“Good people deserve a rest. You do not need the money. You would only be calling the note to hurt those families and hurt me through them.”
The Duke of Argyle stood up and confronted the Duke of Thornwall, stepping close enough so the Duke of Thornwall could smell the scent of brandy on his breath. He took a step back.
“You will suffer until I say you are done, Thornwall,” the Duke of Argyle said in a deep, angry voice. “Do you see? I will make you suffer until I have had enough.”
The Duke of Thornwall frowned. “My lord, please. We were friends. I would never…”
“You waste your breath with these hollow words, Thornwall. Please do not bother yourself.”
The Duke of Thornwall spun on his heel and marched to the door. Once there, he turned back.
“Lady Elizabeth is a fine young woman. If I were to be with anyone, I firmly believe Lady Sophia would approve of her.”
“You do not know what my daughter would have approved!” The Duke of Argyle cried out, his face angry. The Duke of Thornwall opened the door and hurried through it before the big man could come barreling toward him.
“I will be returning to my land in a few days!” He heard the Duke of Argyle yelling after him. “If I do not hear from you again, the debts will be called and you will be banished from Argyle estate!”
He boarded his coach, looking out over the horizon just in time to see a faraway coach heading up the mountain path toward his castle.
He frowned.
More visitors?
Chapter 44
Lady Elizabeth walked through the gardens, conscious of the fact that Lady Agatha was walking beside her with no trouble. She had regained all her strength and was prospering more than ever. She was proud of her friend, having made it through such a terrible ordeal without once losing her sense of dignity and humor.
“You must tell me what happened last night after I left the table, Lizzie,” Lady Agatha said, her voice subtly excited. “Did you two talk? About the future?”
Lady Elizabeth sighed softly. “Oh, Aggie, I do not know if this is going to work between me and your brother.”
Lady Agatha frowned. She stopped walking and turned to look at Lady Elizabeth. “Oh dear. What has happened now?”
“Surely you noticed how quiet the Duke of Thornwall was during dinner.”
Lady Agatha appeared to think back to the night before. “I suppose he was a bit quiet. But he had a visit from the Duke of Argyle. I did not think it would affect his time with you. Did you not go for a walk in the garden?”
“We did. How did you know?”
“Ursula helped me dress this morning. She told me.”
“Then she must have told you it did not go well.”
“She said she did not hear much of what was said. She did speak with Malcolm afterward, though, in the library.”
Lady Elizabeth’s interest was piqued. “Oh?”
Lady Agatha grinned at her friend. “I knew you were interested in Malcolm.”
Lady Elizabeth pursed her lips. “I did not say I was not interested, Aggie. My misgivings come from his behavior. I do not think he is ready yet to pursue a committed relationship.”
“It has been long enough. He needs to see what is good for him. You are good for him. You are right in front of him, at his side, ready to commit. Does he not see that?” A level of frustration came through Lady Agatha’s voice.
“I am surprised at you, Aggie,” Lady Elizabeth said. “You are his staunch supporter.”
“I am becoming irritated by his constant moodiness.”
Lady Elizabeth grinned softly. It was his moodiness that attracted Lady Elizabeth to the Duke of Thornwall. She did not know what she would do if he was not the man he was, wearing his emotions on his sleeve, unabashedly dealing with his pain on his own, not wanting anyone to be affected by it.
“I do not want you to give up on him, Lizzie,” Lady Agatha said vehemently. “I know you two will be a wonderful couple. I have known it since I returned here. After I returned and saw how lonely he was, I knew you would be the perfect light of sunshine in his life.”
Lady Elizabeth was flattered. She had never been called a ray of sunshine before. It made her feel good. “Thank you, my friend. That is a kind thing to say.”
“I speak the truth. I want you to be my sister and my brother needs to cooperate or I will have something to say to him about it.”
Lady Elizabeth had to laugh. If she knew Lady Agatha the way she thought she did, her friend would tell her brother exactly what she thought of his distant behavior.
Not wanting him to get in trouble with his sister, Lady Elizabeth restrained the disturbing effect he had on her the night before.
“I do not want to replace the memory of a woman he once loved,” she remarked softly. “Do you think that is what he is doing?”
Lady Agatha raised her eyebrows. “Replacing her? I do not think anyone will replace Lady Sophia, Lizzie. I am not sure that is even what my brother wants. He does not need a replacement. He needs something new.”
“I wish we had talked about our future, Aggie. But it seemed he was stuck in the past all day. He was happy when we were in the reading room, was he not?”
“He was.”
“It was not until after the visit from the Duke of Argyle that he was made to feel bad again. I am dismayed that the Duke of Argyle would have such an effect on him.”
“As am I. But it is not within our power to keep them apart. They have been friends for as long as he was with Lady Sophia. The Duke of Argyle approved of my brother right away. He never had any negative thoughts about Malcolm.”
Lady Elizabeth wondered if Lady Agatha really knew what the Duke of Argyle wanted. The man had lost his daughter. Four years later, he was still visiting the man who would have become his son-in-law. Their common loss had probably brought them closer but when he took his leave, he left behind a very depressed and quiet Duke of Thornwall.
Something did not seem right about that. The Duke of Argyle’s visit was not one to encourage or heal. It seemed to be one aimed at breaking the Duke of Thornwall down, rip
ping him from any newfound happiness he might have. She thought perhaps the Duke of Argyle was not a happy influence in the Duke of Thornwall’s life.
Lady Elizabeth quietly directed Lady Agatha back toward the house, though they still had a length of garden to go through before they would leave the area. The Duke of Thornwall had told her he was visiting the town this morning. She did not know how long he would be staying there.
