Page 62 of A Feud with the Duke

“You were snooping about my house earlier? That was where you went?”

“Yes. And I thought it a fool’s errand when Ruth suggested it. Stumbled on a man packing his bags and once he realized what I was looking for, well, he couldn’t tell me enough.”

Harold felt as though a noose was closing about his throat.

I will kill that blackguard, Harris. I will thrash him the length of the street and toss him into the river with the rest of the city’s effluvia.

“You would not risk making his accusations public. It would destroy Alice.”

“Yes, it would. And you do not want that to happen, I know. She would spend her life a spinster at Lindley Manor. Alone and unwanted.”

“Not alone and not unwanted,” Harold said.

“Yes, there is always you,” Gordon said brightly. “And Simon may well require a token marriage, in name only, to protect his sister’s honor. But, I am not Simon. What he would ask for when he finds out is not what Ruth and I will ask for.”

“So, not one, but two blackmailers, is it?” Harold demanded.

He turned away from Gordon, sickened by the man’s falsely jovial attitude.

“And what is that?” Harold asked.

“You will not attempt to contact Alice in any way. Until you have heard from either Ruth or Simon. You will provide me with a promissory note for three hundred pounds before I leave. That will compensate for your despoiling of Alice.”

Harold gave a roar of rage and seized Gordon by the throat, lifting him and slamming him onto the billiard table.

“Beat me if you will,” Gordon said in a strangled voice. “And Alice’s shame will be known to the Ton by nightfall.”

CHAPTER38

Two weeks and no word. Three letters dispatched to Middleton Street in London. No reply. Three sent to Redwood Manor. No reply. Was what passed between us in London nothing but a dream? Is Harold the man my brother and sister would have me believe he is? Have I been used?

“Why the long face, Alice?” Simon said breezily as he strode through the door of Lindley Hall.

He was carrying his walking stick and there was mud on his boots. A waft of damp, green air came in through the door before he closed it behind him. Alice was preparing to go in the opposite direction, tying her bonnet under her chin.

“Why the happy face, Simon?” Alice replied tartly. “I did not see much of it in London.”

Her response did not seem to dent his good humor much. It darkened Alice’s mood, making her feel resentful.

“We have passed through the dark times and are now experiencing better fortunes,” Simon said, handing his Ulster to a servant along with his hat, gloves, and stick. “Would you join me for tea, I am parched.”

“As you can see, I am just on my way out for my own constitution. What good fortune have we experienced? Ruth was very candid with me in London and there was nothing of good fortune in what she told me.”

That struck home and Alice immediately felt guilty as Simon frowned.

I have no right to lash out at my own family for the behavior of a man they warned me about from the beginning.

“I’m sorry, Simon,” Alice said, taking his hands. “I am just feeling…under the weather. Perhaps it is the quiet of the country after the excitement of London. I’m glad you are feeling better. I did worry so about you.”

Simon smiled, his good humor seeming to return. “An investment has brought about a return and it has assuaged the problems that I know Ruth told you about. Those worries are now a long way off and hopefully will never return. Are you sure you won’t join me for tea? Tell me of your own woes perhaps.”

Alice shook her head. “I need to become reacquainted with Ardwenshire. Remind myself why I love this land so much. A walk will blow away all the London cobwebs.”

She forced a happy tone into her voice to reassure Simon. At the same time, she wondered what precisely the investment was that had brought about such a reversal of the family fortunes.

Should I test the newfound honesty which Ruth committed to and ask? No. Best to let sleeping dogs lie. If Simon is not going to press me on the subject of Harold Clauder, then I will not press him.

“Well, do not walk too far and join me for lunch later. We have a visitor joining us that I would like you to meet.”

---