A Secret Affair

Chapter 18

THE DUKE OF MORELAND was at breakfast in his London home on Cavendish Square when he was informed that her grace, the Duchess of Dunbarton, and the Earl of Merton were in the visitors’ parlor, requesting a moment of his time on a matter of some urgency. His duchess had joined him only a few moments before.

It was early. The duke was due at the House of Lords later and always liked to spend an hour with his secretary, discussing the business of the day, before he went. The duchess was still being dragged from her bed at an unholy hour each morning by a ravenous eight-month-old son, who had not yet learned that there were far more civilized hours at which to demand his breakfast.

They both appeared in the visitors’ parlor long before Ha

“Stephen,” the duchess said, hugging her brother warmly, though she did look at him and then glance at Ha

“Duchess? Stephen? Good morning.” The duke looked keenly from one to the other of them.

Ha

“You must help Constantine,” she said, taking a few steps closer to the duke. “Please. You must.”

“Con?” The duke’s eyes came fully to rest on her—blue eyes in a narrow, dark-complexioned face with an austere, autocratic expression. So like Constantine and yet so unlike. “Must I, ma’am?”

“Constantine?” the duchess said at the same time. “Is he in some trouble?”

“A man is going to be hanged in Gloucestershire,” Ha

It all seemed perfectly clear to her.

“Elliott,” the Earl of Merton began, but the duke held up a staying hand.

“Vanessa,” he said without taking his eyes off Ha

“I will have some toast fetched too,” his duchess said as she left the room.

The duke took Ha

“Tell me about the man who is to be hanged, ma’am,” he said. “And his co

What had she said already? Probably not nearly enough. She had wanted to be as brief as possible so that he could be on his way to Ainsley Park without delay.

“He stole some chickens,” she said, “because he was afraid Constantine would be disappointed in him for leaving the door of the coop unlatched and letting the fox in, but he did not really understand that he was stealing until it was explained to him, and then he apologized and took the chickens back, and they were paid for too, but some stupid judge thought he should be made an example of and sentenced him to hang. Oh, will you go and stop it?”

And where was the controlled, articulate Duchess of Dunbarton just when she was most needed?

The duke’s eyes moved to the earl at the same moment as he surprised Ha

“Stephen?” he said.

The duchess came back into the room.

“The property Con purchased in Gloucestershire,” the earl said, “was apparently bought at Jonathan’s urging, Elliott, to house unwed mothers and their children. Since it began, it has expanded to include handicapped people—both physically and mentally—and other people who find themselves rejected by society. I gather they are trained to find meaningful work elsewhere. The man in question is mentally handicapped and is inordinately fond of Con by the sound of it. He was responsible for losing some chickens to a fox, so he went and took some other chickens from a neighbor to replace them. It probably seemed logical to him. But he was arrested, and even the return of the chickens and a money payment in addition and an abject apology have been unable to save him from being sentenced to death.”

“Is it possible?” the Duchess of Moreland asked, her eyes wide with shock. “Can a man hang for something so trivial?”

“The law is not often applied as strictly as it might be,” the duke said. “But sometimes it is, and the judge is quite within his rights.”

Why were they all wasting time talking?

Ha

“Constantine loves those people,” she said. “He has devoted much of his adult life to them. If this man should be hanged, he would surely be destroyed. He would find a way of blaming himself. I know he would. Though I am sure he would tell you that he does not matter at the moment but only this poor condemned man. You have a quarrel with Constantine, Duke, and he with you. But quarrels are petty things at such a time. A man’s life is at stake. Your influence can save him. I am convinced it can. I know my duke’s influence would have saved him, and in many ways you remind me of him. You have a presence, as he had. Will you please, please go to Ainsley Park?”

He looked steadily at her.

“I ca

“But the sentence for such a crime is discretionary,” she said. “You said so yourself a few moments ago in so many words. The sentence could change. He does not have to die for taking a few chickens, especially when he did not even fully realize that he was stealing.”

“I would imagine any judge’s argument might be,” he said, “that a man who can steal without even realizing it is a dangerous man who is very likely to reoffend, perhaps even to hurt someone in the process.”

“He did it because he loves Constantine,” she said, “because he could not bear to disappoint him over the incident with the fox. Can you tell me he deserves to die?”

“I am quite sure he does not, ma’am,” he said. “But—”

“Will you not go for Constantine’s sake?” she asked him. “He is your cousin. He was your friend until, as he put it, you behaved like a pompous ass and he behaved like a stubborn mule.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I should be thankful,” he said, “that he paints himself in as unflattering a light as he paints me.”

“Elliott,” his wife said, coming across the room to lay a hand on his arm, “you must go. You know you must. If you do not, then I will, and you know very well that if I go I will have to take Richard with me so that he does not starve to death, poor baby, and Belle and Sam will need to come too so that they will not feel abandoned by their own mother. Besides, my influence would be of no more account than the Duchess of Dunbarton’s. Less, indeed. She has a far more forceful character than I have.”

“My love,” the duke said, taking her hand and raising it to his lips, “you are being absurd. But you have made your point. Con needs me at last, and I will go to him. Doubtless he will punch me in the nose for my pains and we will end up looking even more alike.”

“I’ll go with you, Elliott,” the Earl of Merton said.

Ha

“Cass insisted even before I had a chance to ask if she would mind terribly much if I went,” he explained.

Ha