For the next several moments, there was no sound in the room but the scratching of Evelyn’s pen. “Done,” she finally announced.
“Read it out,” the Duchess directed. “Then I shall have my son deliver it. I cannot think that she would refuse her promised husband.”
After a few adjustments, the letter was judged fit to send, and a footman dispatched to request the Duke’s presence at tea.
When the Duke put in an appearance, it was clear that he was in a distempered mood.
“What did you say to her?” he grumbled at his mother. “You know she is of a nervous disposition. My creditors know it, too. At the slightest sign that she might cry off, they begin circling like vultures over a battlefield.”
“Do you not wish for her to cry off?” his mother demanded. “I’ve seen the tension between the two of you, and it is not one that presages a happily wedded couple. But as to that, I have a plan to mend my connections with your intended and her parents. Would you be so kind as to carry a letter for me? Tendering my apologies?”
The Duke’s expression softened. “You would do this for me, Mother?”
The Duchess scowled at him. “Actually, I am doing it for myself. While Lavinia has no more brains than a goose, she will nurture a grudge as if she were hatching eggs. Given enough time, she will grow my error into a fabrication of plot sufficient to blanket the entire kingdom. Bird-witted though she is, she and I were school chums, and I have few enough living friends that I am loath to lose another.”
The Duke laughed. “Very well, Mother. I will carry your letter for you, and wait for an answer. Perhaps I will have a chance to exchange a few words with Blanche while I wait. I am curious. What did Dr. Alton say was her difficulty?”
“He could not say for certain, but he believes she is being slowly poisoned by the paint and powder she wears. And that her condition might be aggravated with belladonna eye drops and some sort of health tonic.”
“Her physician is collaborating in her slow death?” the Duke looked scandalized.
“It would seem possible. However, it is equally possible that she is dosing herself with something she has purchased from an apothecary. London abounds in them, and more than half are pure charlatans. It is no less daunting to discover that one might be the author of one’s own troubles than to find that your physician is, at best, only human.”
“And what did you learn about yours, dearest Mother?” he asked.
“That he is unlikely to ever launch a career as a diplomat,” the Duchess said, somewhat bitterly. “However, if he is correct, your promised wife needs to stop painting her face and cease taking any vile concoctions she is currently dosing herself with. I know it is all the fashion to look pale and interesting, but there comes a time when one must make a choice between fashion and good health.”
“What choice did you make, Mother?” needled her son.
The Duchess flapped a dismissive hand at him. “At the age your Blanche has reached, I had been a mother for two years. I had no time for fripperies, and no desire for them. George liked me just as I was, and was happy to indulge my every whim. Despite it all, you were the only child. Goodness knows what damage Blanche has already done to her system. If you wish to beget an heir with her, all this foolishness must stop.”
“Mother, you send the most curious mixed messages. Just what is it you want?”
“Your happiness, my dearest boy. My friendship with Lavinia to continue. Good health for Blanche, whether she weds you or not. There. Is that motive enough for you?”
The Duke settled himself on one of the spindly occasional chairs that were placed near the Duchess, casually resting one ankle over the opposite knee.
“So you chose to have her examined by Dr. Alton, who has the worst bedside manner of any army surgeon I have ever encountered. One does wonder what he said to the men in the medical tents. Perhaps,‘Well, there, soldier, we shall have to take off that toe, but you do not need it to pull a trigger. What? Visited a whore did you? A little mercury will cure you of the pox you have managed to pick up.’And more like that, no doubt.”
“Mind your language, Darrius! There is no need to be crude. Dr. Alton might be blunt, but he has never displayed such poor taste as that. Moreover, since following his regimen, my health has improved daily.”
“That is observable, Mother. Moreover, it does you credit that you should wish to share his expertise. But even you must admit that he is blunt to a fault. Yet, his ability is not in doubt. Therefore, I will carry your letter and act as an ambassador besides. Hopefully, this is merely a tempest in a teapot, and will quickly blow over. I doubt if Lady Carletane wishes to lose your friendship either, especially since it helps puff up her prestige.”
“Darrius! How can you speak so?”
“Easily, Mother. I suspect that your paid companion is a better friend to you than is the Lady Carleton. All the same, I understand and endorse your desire to mend fences. I will carry your letter.”
“Thank you, Darrius. Will you take tea before you go?”
“I would. Goodness knows in what mood I shall find Blanche and her mother. They may well throw me and the letter out before I get a chance to even open my mouth.”
Evelyn sat quietly, making a fair copy of the approved version of the letter.
It would be good for both of them if Lady Carleton and Miss Notley relent, but I fear that such might not be the case. I will say a quiet prayer for them all before I sleep tonight. And perhaps one for Mayson and I as well.
Chapter 27
Mr. Sparks sat by his daughter’s kitchen fire. He was supposed to be watching the roast, but he kept nodding off.
