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Duncan beckoned to them. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s go, while the food is still warm.”

They made their way down the gentle slope of the grounds, away from Earlington Manor, until eventually they came to a flat stretch of grass. Here, Duncan laid out the cloth he had been carrying over his arm. He sat down and began to unpack bread, meat, cheese, and wine from his basket.

Thomas and Lady Earlington sat down beside him. As Duncan opened the bottle of wine, Thomas took the knife his friend had brought along and began to cut the bread into slices.

“I’m glad you were able to join us today,” Duncan said. “Sitting around the house does tend to get boring.”

“I can imagine,” Thomas said. He knew very well that his friend was not the sort to sit around the house in the ordinary course of things. Usually, Duncan would spend his days in town, walking through the park or taking in the sights, and in the evenings he would retire to the pub. He must be staying close to home for the sake of his cousin.

Now he handed her some bread and cheese, and they all began to eat. “Have you seen anything of Henry?” Duncan asked.

“No,” Thomas said. “Not since the dinner party, actually. But I’m a little nervous about speaking to him, if you want to know the truth.”

“Nervous?” Duncan said. “Why?”

“I caused such a scene in his home,” Thomas explained. “He may be upset with me.”

“No, I don’t think he is,” Duncan said placidly. “You know as well as I do that he didn’t like Lord Milton either. He was just as happy to see him thrown out as the rest of us were, even if it was a bit…dramatic.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” Lady Valeria begged. “I don’t even want to think about that awful man anymore.”

Thomas nodded. He could sympathize. “How have you been, Lady Valeria?”

“Much better lately, thank you,” she said. “I’ve been less troubled by thoughts of Richard. It’s been easier to put him from my mind.”

“That’s wonderful to hear,” Thomas said. “I trust you’re finding happiness, then, here with your aunt and cousin?”

“Oh, yes,” Lady Valeria said. “Aunt Alberta and Duncan have been most welcoming, and already treat me as part of the family. It’s just wonderful knowing that I have someone to whom I belong, in the midst of all this hardship.”

“Yes, Lady Earlington is a wonderful person to know,” Thomas agreed, reaching for a piece of meat. “She’s always been very welcoming to me, as long as I’ve known Duncan. And I know Henry—Lord Harlston, that is—would say the same.”

“She’s just glad to know I have friends who will keep me out of trouble.” Duncan bit into an apple and grinned. “Not that either of you can exactly be depended on for that.”

“When have I ever gotten you into trouble?” Thomas demanded.

“What about the night we got thrown out of the pub?”

“That wasn’tmyfault,” Thomas said. “That was—”

But he cut himself off quickly, remembering whose fault that had been. He couldn’t say it. Not in front of Lady Valeria.

But it was she who spoke. “It was Richard, wasn’t it?” she said. “I know he used to visit the pubs with you when we came to visit. He was the one who got you thrown out.”

Thomas glanced at Duncan, unsure of what he should say. Would it be all right to confide this story to Lady Valeria?

“He started a fight,” Duncan said. Thomas heard the uncertainty in his friend’s voice and knew that he, too, was wondering whether it was a good idea to relate this story.

But Lady Valeria merely sighed. “I thought so,” she said. “It is the kind of thing he would do. He thought himself better than everyone else, more important than everyone else, and he was always so quick to anger. His temper was very… difficult to live with.”

Her eyes were far away as she said this, and Thomas found himself wondering how many times she had been on the receiving end of that temper.

Suddenly, he found himself wanting to open up to her, to make her feel more comfortable.

“I’ve experienced something similar, actually,” he said.

Duncan darted a surprised look at him, but said nothing.

“You have?” Lady Valeria asked with a frown.