Chapter Two #2
Only the duke appeared unaffected by the idea of murderers lurking nearby. He laughed and said, “Perhaps enough macabre talk for one evening. Landry, I suppose you are aware that it is Captain James Cook Day?”
“No, I had not known,” Lord Landry said. “Captain James Cook Day. Is it widely celebrated?”
Winsome bit her lip. Any hope that the duke would skip the Captain Cook Day gambit had gone up in smoke.
“Captain Cook was a Yorkshire man, so we take it very seriously up there,” the duke said.
“Yes, I imagine you would,” Lord Landry said.
“Courageous fellow, must be honored,” the duke said.
Valor was snorting to herself. Then she shouted, “Wait until nine o’clock, you’ll see!”
“See? What will I see?” Lord Landry asked, concern drifting over his features.
“Never mind it, Lord Landry,” Mrs. Right said.
He nodded in the housekeeper’s direction. “Yes, of course, if that is what you would advise. Naturally I will if you think it best.”
Gracious, he was such an overly agreeable man, as if he were afraid of ever crossing anybody. He was a veritable wet noodle.
“By the by, Mrs. Right,” he said, “I did not catch your connection to the family.”
“I’m the housekeeper,” she said, looking as if she were daring the gentleman to make comment on it.
Winsome did not imagine Lord Landry would challenge that idea or any other idea.
“Oh I see! Yes, of course,” he said. “Yes, I did imagine so. That is, not to say you might not have been a cousin…yes, why not a cousin…is what I say…”
The duke seemed to perceive that the wet noodle was covering himself in uncomfortable sauce and cut him off before he could drown in it any further. “I presume you are on your way to Town for the season, Landry?”
Lord Landry shook his head sadly. “I am afraid so, Your Grace.”
“You’re afraid of Town too?” Valor asked. “Is it the hoi polloi again?”
“I’m afraid of what must happen in the town,” Lord Landry said.
Valor leaned forward. “What? What’s to happen?”
Lord Landry colored. “I ought not say, I ought not have mentioned it.”
“But now you have so you’d better spell it out for us,” the duke said.
The waiters had brought in the soup. The duke paused to say to the senior of them, “Tell all your people to gather here at precisely nine o’clock.
It’s Captain James Cook Day and we will honor that courageous gentleman with all the respect that he deserves. ”
Winsome thought the waiters had a deal of trouble keeping the surprise from their expressions. Or perhaps it was resentment. It was hard to tell.
The doors shut and the duke said, “Well? What’s to happen to you in Town? Afraid the hoi polloi will be in your drawing room?”
Valor laughed hysterically. “Papa, you are so funny. How could they even get there so fast when he just saw them out there, right outside?”
Lord Landry dabbed at his eyes with a napkin. He did seem quite overcome and Winsome was beginning to be afraid of what he was afraid of, though she did not know what it was yet.
“I’ve been pressured from all sides!” he cried.
“The whole extended family is against me. They say I must wed and if I do not and there is no heir I will go down in the flames of infamy forevermore! They despise my cousin, you see, and he or one of his sons would take the title. He is very profligate, and they do not care for it.”
The duke appeared a bit confused by the explanation, as was Winsome herself. The duke said, “Come now, man. Everybody has got to do his duty.”
“That’s what they say!”
“It’s not as if you’re still wet behind the ears. How old are you, anyway?”
“Twenty-seven,” the lord whispered.
“No wonder they want you to get on with it,” the duke said. “Have you got a decent house and a fair amount of funds?”
“Big house and piles and piles of money, I’m afraid.” He shook his head, looking very much in despair, and muttered, “Nothing ever goes my way.”
“I do not see why a fellow would be afraid of being well set. I also do not see that you should encounter any difficulties securing a lady,” the duke said.
Winsome was not so certain. The poor man appeared frightened of his own shadow.
It occurred to her that since he was a lord of the right generation, he might know Lord Manderbey.
That might be a deal more interesting than the lord’s problems with his family.
“Lord Landry, do you have a circle in Town? Our Verity wed Lord Wembly last season and we found him very pleasant. As well, we found his friend, Lord Manderbey, very pleasant. Are you acquainted with those gentlemen?”
She did not suppose the inquiry was done very subtly, especially considering her father held a napkin to his lips to cover his laughter.
“Yes, yes,” Lord Landry said. “I know them both from school. I know Manderbey a bit better as he’s just in the next county over from me. He’s a funny fellow—always complaining that people are dunning him for money.”
Winsome sat back. Lord Manderbey was being dunned for money? She would have never guessed he was in financial straits.
She suppressed a sigh. That was the problem with gentlemen—you never really knew. She supposed if he did not hide the idea then he could not be roguish. Having problems of the money variety was no shame and could happen for no end of reasons.
But if he did hide it from the wider world, specifically from any ladies he might encounter, well that would make him a rogue.
If he hid it, the cause was likely gambling and the reason would probably be to secure a large dowry before anybody knew he had need of it.
She’d seen it a dozen times in her novels.
She’d even heard of it once in real life.
The problem with that was the lady would not be loved, she would just be necessary.
And she also supposed the why of it mattered too.
If it were something like gambling, where he threw it all away, that was something to know about a person.
That person was careless and would likely be careless of a wife.
How was she to find it out? If she asked him, would he admit to being in financial straits? Or would he fail to mention that he was dunned? Could she ask him? How did one bring up such a thing?
Winsome reminded herself that it was unlikely she would have the opportunity to have that conversation. Then she remembered something else that might make the question moot.
“Lord Landry, I suppose Lord Manderbey is married by now?”
“Is he?” the lord said with surprise. “I had not even heard of an engagement.”
“Oh, perhaps I am mistaken,” Winsome said, feeling very pleased with his response.
She should not feel as pleased as she did, as a very large question had been posed.
She felt she should be very on her guard with Lord Manderbey, even though he was unlikely to give her a second look.
She had really felt he had given her a second look at Verity’s wedding breakfast, but her rational mind reminded her that he was likely only being kind to a younger sister.
The servants of the inn, and the innkeeper himself, filed into the room. Winsome presumed it must be nine o’clock.
The duke rose, and Lord Landry followed suit. “Hand over heart,” the duke said.
Everyone did as directed, though Valor was heaving in silent laughter into Sir Galahad’s fur.
In a very grave tone, her father said, “He sailed the oceans for king and queen; He kept sailing until he was no longer seen. At the Sandwich Islands he met with a lance; He should have turned back when he had the chance. Oh Bering Sea blocking the way with ice, sending him back to Sandwich was not very nice.”
Good heavens, he’d even added to it. There had been no mention of the Bering Sea until now.
Lord Landry nodded. “God bless Captain Cook. Very moving, Your Grace. Very moving, indeed.”
“Was it?” the duke asked. “Hah! I made the whole thing up! The whole thing, even the Captain Cook Day! I don’t know how everybody falls for it—he was not even killed with a lance.”
Lord Landry sank down into his seat. The innkeeper turned on his heel and stalked out.
One of the waiters unceremoniously dropped a tray onto a sideboard with a crash and followed the innkeeper out the door.
The rest of them just shook their heads.
Later, when the duke wished for port to be brought in, he had to go out and find somebody.
Winsome suspected this was yet another inn that would bar the doors against the Nicolets.