Page 26 of Lady Charlotte and the Lending Library
“I’m sorry, Father. I’m just a little tired.” She smiled tightly at her brother. “William, how did you spend your day?”
Her brother replied enthusiastically, “At Tattersall’s and the club. My friend Buchanan purchased a matched pair of bays for his new high perch phaeton.”
Their father was interested in hearing about the horseflesh on offer at the bloodstock auctioneer. Charlotte merely sipped her tea and made conversation with her mother until William mentioned he had to leave for an evening engagement.
She excused herself when her brother left the room, catching up to him in the corridor.
“William, may I speak to you in private a moment?”
“Of course, Charlotte.” He waved a hand towards the doorway to the parlor.
She entered the room, and he followed her.
“Please close the door,” she said quietly.
He raised a brow but complied as Charlotte took a seat on the edge of a stuffed chair. William sat across from her on a rolled arm sopha as she hesitated as to how to begin the conversation.
“What is this all about?” her brother asked with a frown.
She replied in a rush, “It has come to my attention that there is gossip about your time at Eton. That you played pranks on others.”
Although William’s frown disappeared, his expression was now wary. “Did Lord Ashford say something to you?”
She felt a moment of unease at his high-pitched response. “No, he did not. If you must know, Edith heard about the rumors from Louisa. What would Lord Ashford have to tell me, William?”
Her brother blew out a breath and his features visibly relaxed. “It was nothing. I was intimidated into playing a few pranks, but they never amounted to much. Lord Ashford helped me out of a sticky situation, and I never allowed myself to be put in that position again.”
She squinted at her brother, searching his face. He looked at her, a weak smile on his countenance, and she wanted to believe there was nothing more to the story than what he’d told her.
“I am glad to hear it.” Their parents were quite liberal in allowing their children to live their own lives. If unsavory rumors involving William got back to her father, that might change.
“All that is in the past.” William quickly got to his feet. “I must be off. I’m to meet a friend for cards. Goodnight, dear sister.”
He didn’t wait for her response but opened the door to the room and hurried away.
Charlotte really did hope there wasn’t more to the rumors at Eton. She must think of a way to see Lord Ashford, to find out what her brother had been up to whilst at school. It had nothing to do with the marquess’s attractiveness or the dizzy feeling that came over her whenever he was near. She merely wanted to help her brother.
* * * * *
Ashford had enough time to visit Hoby, the bootmaker’s shop in Piccadilly, before afternoon sessions. He was happy enough to be measured by an assistant rather than George Hoby himself, as the man often put on airs and had been known to treat his underlings in a mean fashion.
When Ashford left the shop, he strolled west along the pavement toward his carriage. Although the day was sunny, there was a chill in the air, the weather in April this year colder and wetter than in recent years.
A shabbily dressed man walking toward him did not make eye contact. The man wore a coat that had been mended in several places, and one of his trouser legs had a visible hole at the knee. As with Bones, this man looked strangely familiar.
“Corporal Higgins,” he called out, coming to a halt when he was nearly abreast of the man. The corporal had traveled in many of the same areas as Ashford during the Peninsular War.
The other man stopped walking. He squinted at Ashford, and a smile came to his lips. “Lord Ashford! As I live and breathe. How are you, my lord?”
“I’m no longer with the Foreign Office.” He paused. “I was sorry to hear the 95th Foot disbanded.”
“We weren’t needed anymore. Sgt. Maj. Hutton passed recently from apoplexy, I heard it was. He was a fine man.” Higgins sounded genuinely distraught over the death of his former superior.
“I didn’t know. He was a good leader. How have you fared since coming home?” Ashford didn’t know why he asked the man such a personal question. He hadn’t known the corporal well, but Higgins was a hard worker and good with horses.
“It’s been difficult for most of the enlisted men, my lord.” Higgins stroked a hand through the short beard on his chin. “I’ve just been to the registry office to check for work. No luck today. I have no injuries from the war and didn’t serve long enough to earn a pension.”
“You were a dab hand with horseflesh as I recall,” he said lightly.
