Chapter 25 #2
Moments later, Miriam joined them. “Thank you for your assistance,” She dismissed the footman and came to sit next to the dowager.
Lord Chilcott’s low chuckle came from behind Lavender. “I didn’t think Lord Gilfordshire would ever finish his port tonight. Our delay even helped your mother to find sleep.”
The dowager duchess startled and put a hand up to her ear.
“What was that?” The elderly lady’s eyes clouded with confusion.
“I don’t know why my ability to find sheep helps anyone.
Not in London anyway. And ladies shouldn’t be following after sheep in the country either.
” She looked at Lavender. “If you have any trouble telling your mother that, just send word. I’ll set her straight. ”
Lavender pinched her lips between her teeth. The dowager’s acting skills were quite superb. “I’ll do that, thank you.” She dropped her eyes to her lap.
The dowager stood from the sofa. “I’ll be finding the powder room, if you’ll excuse me.” She walked slowly from the room.
Lavender noticed the duke and duchess exchange glances, their lips pursed tight.
“Society is quite tiresome.” Lord Chilcott tugged at the lapels of his jacket. “Save for your mother, Gilfordshire. I like having her around. It keeps things interesting.”
Samuel sat down and swung one leg over the other, the picture of ease. “I do adore her. Now, how goes the search for Fenleigh?”
Lord Chilcott’s face lit. “I feel like we are on the verge of evidence.”
“Oh, have you found a witness?”
Lord Chilcott’s brows pulled low. “No, although that would be the perfect evidence, wouldn’t it?”
Samuel tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling. “I think that might be the only evidence strong enough to implicate the man. The crown won’t throw a duke into jail on mere suspicions.”
Miriam clapped her hands. “I, for one, am tired of the whole thing. Let’s divert our attention to something more amusing, shall we?”
“Certainly,” Lord Chilcott answered. “Do you care for a game of whist?”
Lavender forced herself to engage in the conversation. “That sounds fun. Lord Chilcott, would you be embarrassed to have me as your partner? I’m afraid that although I do enjoy playing, I am not particularly skilled.”
“I would partner you any time, my lady.”
Lavender hadn’t meant for her words to come out quite so forward, but she’d achieved her purpose of turning the baron’s attention to herself.
They arranged themselves around the table, and after a couple games, Samuel stood and stretched his back. “I’m afraid I need to excuse myself for a moment. I’ll return shortly.”
Lavender gathered the cards before her and shuffled them together. “Would you like to try to build a card tower?”
Miriam stood and smiled at the two of them. “I believe I am going to take a note from my mother-in-law and rest my eyes for a moment. Daniel was up half the night with a stomachache.” She walked across the room and sunk into a stuffed chair close to the fire.
Lord Chilcott leaned closer to Lavender. “How kind of them to give us a few moments of privacy.” He winked at her.
Lavender felt heat rush to her cheeks. This was the plan all along, but her playacting was not as practiced as the dowager’s. Speaking with Lord Chilcott about topics of a sensitive nature was not easy for her. “As much privacy as one can pretend with someone else in the room listening in.”
“I heard that,” Miriam said from across the room. “My eyes may be closed, but I am nothing if not a diligent chaperone for my dear friend.”
Lord Chilcott laughed. “Touché.” He dropped his voice a little lower. “I fear we left each other at odds the last time I saw you.”
He was referring to their search of the lost duke’s estate, and he was correct. “All is forgiven, my lord.”
“I hope you understand my desire for our opinions on the matter of Fenleigh to be aligned.”
“You might need to explain. I have never met the man. I have no qualms against him. You, however, must have some significant history with him to be so set on defaming his name.”
Lord Chilcott’s face slowly turned a mottled red. “The history between Fenleigh and myself is quite complicated.”
“Naturally,” Lavender agreed as she tried to balance two cards against each other on the table.
“I wouldn’t presume you would choose to make someone’s life miserable without a good reason to.
But I do not understand it in the least. What are your arguments against him?
” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “I am of a logical mind, my lord. If I am to be convinced, I need to understand the details of your relationship. It is against my nature to judge someone based on rumor alone.”
“I should have guessed as much, with all the books you hoard.”
Lavender smiled. “My sister, Bluebell, believes I hoard books like a dragon hoards gold.”
He reached a hand across the table between them and squeezed her fingers. “I hope you might understand, then, why I have at times been stupid enough to lie to you. I wanted only to improve your opinion of me that day at Gunter’s Tea Shop. I fear the opposite was accomplished.”
She only nodded her agreement. “But you can be honest with me now. Why is it you hate the lost duke so much?”
“He has everything I want,” Lord Chilcott answered simply.
“Oh, and what is that, precisely?” Lavender encouraged him.
He let go of her hand and leaned back in his seat with a heavy sigh. “Fenleigh and I are cousins. Yet, he can get away with anything he wants, and the entire populace would sing his praises. I have no such luxury.”
Lavender stifled a smile. “Certainly you know that is not true. The Duke of Fenleigh doesn’t have half as many friends as you do.
I might not have been here, but I’ve heard what they all say about him.
He keeps mostly to himself, and he has a propensity for drinking.
But other than that, the man seems unaccountably less presumptuous than almost any other peer I know of. ”
She could see the confusion cross Lord Chilcott’s face. He was likely trying to sort out if she had handed him a compliment or if she was challenging his relationship with the lost duke.
“Does his lack of friends not speak volumes? A person of high standing and a good reputation ought to have people flocking around him.” Lord Chilcott began trying to balance his own cards together.
“Do you believe that I am not of high standing or of a good reputation?”
Lord Chilcott shook his head, and an annoyed look crossed his face. “You know I didn’t mean that.”
“I do not have friends flocking around me, and yet, I fit quite nicely into the box you have painted the lost duke into. What is the difference?” As confrontational as their conversation was turning out to be, it was the first conversation Lavender had actually enjoyed with the baron.
“The difference is that Fenleigh ruined things for me. Before his father died, we were close. Friends even, if you can believe it. But as soon as he took over the dukedom, he cut me and my family off. I was rejected at school and in public because of his disdain for me.”
Lavender leaned back in her own chair. “What were his reasons?”
“I don’t know,” he said with obvious discomfort. “Either way, he now has a dukedom and position and wealth I do not. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Lavender couldn’t help but think of him like a three-year-old boy throwing a tantrum over something of no significance. “You are a baron. Wealthy. With a massive following of friends. You are simply annoyed that he might have a little more of it than you do?”
“When you say it like that, I sound petty.”
She raised her eyebrows at him. “I fear it does sound that way. Have you never considered just how the vast majority of the people in this country live in comparison with yourself?”
His gaze narrowed at her. “I do despise how you make me feel small, Lady Lavender.”
“I do not mean to do so. But I think there is value in having perspective beyond ourselves. I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do.
No one has experienced your life the way you have.
But I have always been raised to see others around me, and if I were to complain, I would be a selfish creature, indeed. ”
“What are you arguing about?” Samuel asked as he let himself back into the room.
Miriam stood from across the room and looked around. “Oh, don’t bother them. They’re finally dispatching with niceties.” She looked around. “Where has your mother gone to?”
Lavender looked up and met eyes with her friend. The dowager duchess disappearing was not a part of their plan.