Chapter Twenty-Three
“Mr. Cross said you are going out, my lord,” his wife remarked with a question in her tone.
“I have ordered my horse for now and the coach for half past ten,” Navan told her without looking up from the note he was signing.
“I simply must call on my local man of business. Then we will be off to Duncan’s for the day.
Tomorrow we are to call upon Smithfield House.
Did you send someone to Dutton Hall to claim your wardrobe left at your brother’s house? ”
“Yes, though I asked someone to do so previously, it was left to the wayside. Mrs. Mayo has insisted on doing it herself. She says Mr. Glenstorm can be quite the stickler in such matters.”
“Likely Mrs. Mayo simply wishes for the opportunity to speak to Glenstorm. They share a few relatives.” He stood then and circled the desk to kiss her. “I promise not to be too long.”
“Is the election and a new Parliament because of Spencer Perceval’s assassination?” she asked. “I had hoped you would have time to travel to either your estate in Ireland or Shaw Manor. You have had no real time to relax.”
“I would not be relaxing at either,” he assured.
“There is much to do at both. Thankfully, I have a good steward in place at each. Moreover, Parliament customarily only steps away from London from mid-July to early-November. As to the new session, Liverpool will easily replace Perceval, but it must be executed properly according to British law. Obviously, beyond men in my position, meaning those in Ireland and Scotland, the House of Lords remains very much the same men, except for the occasional passing of a peer and his heir claiming his place. The House of Commons is more fluid, but even there, one finds some consistency. The Parliament, therefore, sits for somewhere between six and eight years before a new election is necessary.”
His wife’s features screwed up in a frown, as well as another question. “So, if an area is represented by a miserable flake of manhood, said man can be in office long enough to exact real harm on the people he serves?”
“I adore your strong sense of both responsibility and pity, and, yes, the British government is far from perfect, but it is better than the alternatives.”
“Even so, I would not wish to live under that particular person’s care,” she countered.
“You sound a bit like Lady Emma in your beliefs,” he teased as he playfully flicked her nose. “Tell me I have not also married a woman who believes in the rights of all the downtrodden, including women, as does Richard’s wife.”
“I cannot say with confidence, my lord,” she said with a sassy lift of her chin, “but perhaps Lady Orson should become my most favored acquaintance.”
He kissed her lips tenderly. “I will carry your banner forward, my girl. As to living under the heavy thumb of another, such will never happen. I promise to assist you in exposing those who harm both English and Irish citizens. Now, I must hurry or we will be late calling on Duncan, and Duncan does not well tolerate tardiness. I shan’t be long. ”
With a lingering kiss, he left her to her tasks and rode across town to Mr. Marvin Devon’s office, where he was admitted immediately.
“How might I serve you, my lord?” Devon asked.
“I have several minor items of which I wish you to attend.”
“Absolutely, my lord.”
“I have just returned from my grandmother’s estate in Ireland, where I instructed my man of business there to contact you if there are issues with the new land steward I installed. I believe you briefly met Mr. Liam and sent him to my estate in Staffordshire.”
“Yes, sir. It was only afterwards that I learned you were in Ireland and had recently married,” Devon shared.
“It was all very quick, for we suspect my grandmother’s days are numbered, and I wished for her ladyship to know I was well settled.
Her estate will, I hope, pass to one of my younger sons, if I am so blessed,” he said as an image of Annalise in his bed flashed across his memory.
“As for the marriage, I intended to wait until the spring to present the lady with my proposal, but it was necessary to execute it faster than I expected. We married on Lord Graham’s southern estate and left immediately for Lady Klare’s estate.
As you might have expected, my wife is Marksman’s sister,” Navan explained.
“Felicitations, my lord,” Devon said dutifully.
“In that manner, I assume you received a note for payment for the gowns my wife ordered recently from Madame Emmeline.”
“I did, and I sent a note around to Mr. Cross to confirm,” Devon disclosed. “Madame Emmeline has been paid, my lord.”
“There will be a few other accounts to be established going forward for her ladyship,” Navan explained. “One for the bookstore owned by Mr. Manfried. I will send over a note as is necessary until you are able to know which are legitimate accounts and such.”
Devon nodded his understanding.
“Such brings me to today’s business.” Beaufort reached into an inside pocket and removed the two notes he had written earlier. He handed them to Mr. Devon. “The one addressed to Mrs. Dove-Lyon should be accompanied by a hundred pounds.”
Devon’s eyebrow rose in curiosity, but Navan provided no information.
He wanted Mrs. Dove-Lyon to know how valuable Annalise was in his opinion.
“As to the other, I would prefer you deliver it personally. Miss Baldwin has dared to accost my wife in a public park. Lady Beaufort knew nothing of Julia Baldwin’s presence in my life, and I prefer to keep her ladyship from harm.
Miss Baldwin has broken our contractual agreement.
By the end of a fortnight, I want her out of the house I have provided her for several years.
You are to go through the jewelry and present her with only what the original document declares.
Anything beyond what that contract states is to be considered a loan, not a gift. ”
Devon’s mouth tightened. “And the disposition of what else I should examine?”
“She may keep her gowns and her perfumes and toiletries. I have no need for them and neither does Lady Beaufort, who is beautiful as she is. Her ladyship requires no adornments. If Miss Baldwin wishes to stay in the house and is able to discover another benefactor, said gentleman must purchase the house from me. If not, she is to be evicted in a fortnight, starting today, and the house placed up for sale. No rentals.”
“Is that all, my lord.”
“Anything I have to say to Miss Baldwin is in the note. Everything beyond the jewelry, I will leave to your discretion. Yet, warn her. If she thinks ever again to approach me or Lady Beaufort or any of my family, she will greatly regret the thought. I will not have her ladyship harassed by a woman of Miss Baldwin’s nature. ”
“In case I have not told you,” his wife said as their coach pulled to the side before Duncan Place, “I do not regret our marriage in any way. As long as you are with me, I will know happiness.”
“From where did those sentiments come?” Navan asked.
“I do not know, but I thought it important to say the words, especially before we face my brother’s accusations and then the curiosity of the Smithfields.
I am well aware you are doing all this for me.
Alexander shall not like the idea of our maternal relations seeking me out when they once had refused his overtures,” she explained.
“I think much of that came from the former viscount, for his plans to marry your mother off to someone willing to assist with your grandfather’s debts were thwarted by the marriage of your parents.
Lord Jonathan Dutton, your paternal grandfather, was not willing to assist the Smithfields, as had been your mother’s intended.
Moreover, when Alexander first approached the Smithfields with his return to Marksman Abbey, he was still aligned with the Marksman’s earldom, a dynasty which had brought the Smithfields, as you will know them, to their knees after your parents’ elopement.
When the Smithfields sought redress from Lord Jonathan Dutton, his lordship refused.
The Smithfields suffered greatly for many years due to the scandal associated with the elopement and the loss of the promised funds from your mother’s intended family.
In fact, they would have had to pay the man reparations for her breaking the engagement. ”
“I had no idea,” Annalise said in pure amazement.
“Naturally, you would not.” He paused before adding, “I know something of which even your brother is not likely aware. I overheard Duncan speaking on Alexander’s birth to two of the men the government hired to bring Alexander to the earldom.
Your brother followed me in the order of those Duncan took under his care, and I was not supposed to be in the room, but I was hiding behind the drapes when the discussion occurred.
I had gone into Duncan’s study to claim one of the hard sugar clove candies he keeps in his desk drawer. ”
“Why does Alexander not know what you do?” she asked in concern.
“Because Duncan initially feared it might deny Alexander the earldom until Duncan could prove what all suspected,” he told her as his footman climbed down from the carriage, sending it rocking slightly.
“Tell me,” she instructed.
Navan purposely left the door latched on the inside until they finished their discussion.
“Unlike with Aaran, who was legitimate only after Duncan convinced a Scottish court that the previous Lord Graham and a woman known as Maude Bell were married, for they had stood before an inn full of patrons and claimed to be husband and wife… Such is legal in Scotland, by the way, but England requires an actual marriage before a clergy of the Church of England. Like us, your parents also married in a Scottish church, and it was one ordained by the Church of England. The thing that was different was that six months later, Alexander was born.”