Page 38 of The Duke and His Cinderella
She started away, but before she could so much as turn her back on them, another pair came over and joined them. Eleanor saw, much to her shock and horror, that she was face to face with two of the people she wanted least in the world to see right now—the Dowager Duchess of Nightingale and Lady Hannah. It was obvious to her that the dowager had brought Lady Hannah over specifically to enable her to speak to the duke, perhaps even to interrupt the duke’s conversation with Eleanor. It mustn’t have looked very good from across the room, and if Eleanor was honest, she couldn’t even claim that that was a misunderstanding. Anyone who was engaged to the duke would be right not to like the look of this, and they would be right to mistrust her. She needed to get out of here, and quickly.
She couldn’t run away right now, though, with the dowager duchess approaching her. “Lady Eleanor,” she said. “You’re Lady Marina’s younger sister, I believe.”
“That’s right,” Eleanor said cautiously. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace.”
“Indeed,” the dowager duchess said with a pinched expression. She turned to her son. “Nicholas, Lady Hannah tells me that she hasn’t been able to find you all evening. It’s not very kind of you to make her search for you.”
“We’re not discussing this right now, Mother,” the duke said. “I won’t have this sort of disrespect. Remember the dignity you owe to my title, please, if nothing else.”
The dowager looked wounded. “I merely told the poor girl that I would help her find you, since she was having trouble doing that on her own. You can’t be angry with me for that.”
“Lady Hannah, perhaps you and I ought to have a conversation,” the duke said. He shot a look at his mother. “Privately.”
Lady Hannah beamed. “Of course,” she agreed. “I would be happy to have a private conversation with you, Your Grace.”
Eleanor also thought it was probably for the best. She didn’t want to stand here and be a part of this conflict any longer. The duke took Lady Hannah by the arm and walked away, and Eleanor turned to leave as well.
But the dowager duchess reached out and caught her by the arm, stopping her from leaving. More surprised than angry, Eleanor turned to look at her and saw that Phineas had already walked away too. The pair of them were alone.
“I’m not sure what you want with my son,” the dowager duchess said, her eyes narrowed in dislike. “But you ought to know that he’s promised to marry Lady Hannah, so whatever you hope to achieve by charming him here, it’s not going to work.”
“I wasn’t trying to charm him, Your Grace,” Eleanor said, wide-eyed with genuine surprise. “Lord Farlong is a dear friend of mine and his brother is to marry my sister. . The duke and I were only having a moment of polite conversation because they had been together when Lord Farlong came to speak to me. I was about to excuse myself.”
“Good,” the dowager duchess said firmly. “That’s a good instinct, and one I would follow if I were you.”
She released Eleanor’s wrist and stalked away. Eleanor stared after her wondering what could have angered this lady so intensely.
She was more certain than ever, now, that staying well away from the duke was the only proper course of action if she wished to keep out of trouble.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Later that evening, all the gentlemen gathered in the sitting room to play cards. A few of the ladies were present as well—many of them had retired for the evening or had gone out to the garden, but some still lingered beside the fire warming their hands and watching the card games.
Nicholas was seated around a table with Lord Crestley, Phineas, and Lord Codfield. The two older gentlemen had had a few drinks and had begun to speak more openly than Nicholas thought they might otherwise have done, but he himself was still quite sober. Phineas didn’t look as if he had had much to drink either. He was sitting quietly, his eyes on the game, adding almost nothing to the conversation.
“I do feel that sometimes the best thing we can do as men of business is to make sure that those working for us know their place,” Lord Crestley said. “After all, they’re so much happier under those circumstances, aren’t they? Some men are born to give orders, and others are meant to obey, and no man can be happy unless he knows which role is rightly his.”
“Quite so,” Lord Codfield said. “There is no one more unhappy than a rebellious servant—that’s something I’ve often said and always believed. My household is a happy one because those in my employ have no decisions to make. The same holds true for those I do business with. I tell them what I expect of them, and their job is then not to make decisions about what should be done, but simply to meet my expectations. It’s a kindness on our part, doing what we can to make their lives easier in this way.”
Lord Crestley nodded. “I agree with you completely,” he said. “I think it’s not often stated what the responsibilities of a gentleman are—at least, not in this specific regard. We have so much to do when it comes to looking out for the interests of those beneath us.”
They both turned to Nicholas.
He had feared they might solicit his opinion on this question. He could give it, but he didn’t think they were going to like it. He didn’t want to cause controversy, but he also wasn’t willing to be dishonest about his feelings on this subject.
“I don’t know that I agree fully,” he said mildly.
The two older gentlemen frowned. “You don’t believe that, as gentlemen of rank and status, we have a duty to lead those beneath us?”
“I believe we have a duty toguide, perhaps,” he said. “A duty to help. But you speak as though men who aren’t of noble birthhave nothing to contribute—as though the only worthwhile thing they can do is to listen to us and do our bidding.”
“Do you not grant that we possess both knowledge and wisdom that such men lack?” Lord Crestley asked. “I’m sure you’ll admit to that, if nothing else. How much could a commoner really know about the ways of the world?”
“I daresay there are things he could know that I couldn’t,” Nicholas said. “I’ve seen plenty in my life, but of course we all know that I’ve seen only my own corner of the world. A man who grew up in a different corner of society would have a wealth of different experiences that I could never hope to replicate.”
“Well, who would want to replicate them?” Lord Codfield laughed. “I know you’re not suggesting that the experiences of commoners are so valuable that they ought to affect our decisions? Next you’ll be telling me that you listen to ladies when making decisions of business.”
Nicholas nodded. “I don’t consider myself too important to listen to anybody,” he said. “No one makes my decisions for me. No one controls my choices. But a wise man is one who gathers all information, no matter what the source. It’s a foolish man who disregards an opinion offered to him just because of who is offering it. I hope I will never be considered such a fool as that.”
