Page 39 of Her Bear of a Duke
"I would prefer to keep that to myself, if that is all right with you."
The parish priest, thankfully, did not question him further.
"There is a lot to read, Your Grace. Might you have a name, so that I can search for it for you?"
"All I have is the name Elizabeth. She died around December seventeenth, three years ago."
The parish priest searched in a large book of records, finding the date and looking around it.
"There is one Elizabeth here," he explained. "A baroness. She died at the age of four-and-sixty. Could that be her?"
Morgan shook his head. It was highly unlikely that a woman of that age would have a child, but even if that had happened it was known to him that the lady he was looking for wished to marry Thomas. Therefore, it was impossible that she had been married to another man.
"That is all that I can find," he explained. "Might you know where she lived?"
"No, though that would have made all of this much easier," he sighed. "Perhaps I will have to explain this to you after all. You see, this is all because of… of a friend of mine. He had a child out of wedlock, and he has since passed away, and I am trying to find the mother of his child. I know that she has passed, but the child is asking about her."
"I see," he replied, in thought. "That shall be no small feat, Your Grace, given that you do not even know if she has been honest about who she was."
"I know, which is why I was hoping that I would be able to find her here. Are there any young ladies at all written here?"
"Not that I saw, no. Given the circumstances, it is highly likely that her family refused to have her listed. It is not unheard of, after all."
It was yet another difficulty to overcome; there might have been no proof of her existence at all.
"I understand," he sighed. "Thank you for your time, Mister Granville."
"You are most welcome. I must also congratulate you on your wedding. I hope that your marriage is a very happy one indeed."
It could be, he considered, once he stopped lying to her.
There were very few members of thetonthat he could stomach, and Theodore Alanson was one of them. He was a second son, one that was most pleased to be one as it meant that he could shirk all of the responsibility. They used to have that in common, but they no longer did. Fortunately, on the odd occasion that he was in London, they continued to enjoy one another's company.
When they met at White's that night, he hoped that some time with a companion of his would help him think about something other than his situation, but he also knew that he needed help.
"It all sounds difficult," Alanson said after Morgan had explained everything. "I certainly do not envy you. Your brother must have decided to curse you even in death."
"It appears that way," Morgan huffed. "He seems to have always intended to destroy the family name."
"And yet, you have not allowed it. This is simply something to overcome, and then that will be the end of it, will it not?"
"I hope that is the case, but knowing Thomas there will be more to come. It never seems to end with him."
"Ulverston, it is perhaps time to forgive your brother and let him rest. I know that he has done many things that you have not agreed with, but he has been gone for three years now. It is not going to help you if you always think of him as a petulant child that did as he pleased."
"That was precisely who he was. He never felt the need to be responsible, and he was reckless until the day he died. I forgave him long ago for the way that he was, but that does not mean I can forget it, not when the effects of it are still present."
He drank his brandy and slammed the glass down perhaps a little harder than he planned.
"You have not yet found that girl, have you?" he asked.
Morgan had not told his friend the extent of the trouble Thomas had caused, but he had given him a brief explanation when Thomas had died. All he had said was that it was an affair of honor, and it had been because of a young lady. Morgan had planned to find her, so that he could at least try to make amendswith her family, but he faced a single issue and then he never tried again.
At least, not until Catherine had asked him.
"No, and I do not know how I ever will. There is no proof that she was ever even named Elizabeth. What is one supposed to do with that?"
"Well, have you considered finding the man that brought Catherine to you? He seemed to know your brother."
