Page 24 of Three Rules to Wed a Duke

“What’s going on out here?” the butcher said, sticking his head out of the shop window and wiping his hands on his blood-spattered apron.

“Yer boy is holdin’ up the line. We’ve got work to do, but we can’t be leavin’ our orders for him takin’ too long!”

“Juliet, we should go. You don’t want Thomas in trouble with his father,” Frances urged her, growing unnerved by the grumblings in the crowd.

“Is that you again?” the butcher shouted out the window to Juliet. “I thought I told ya to keep away from here. My boy’s got work to do, and we sure don’t need any trouble from any high and mighty noblemen who don’t take kindly to their girls comin’ round. Move along now!”

“Da, please,” Thomas said over his shoulder, but the butcher only glared at him.

“It’s all right. I’m going,” Juliet whispered mournfully.

Frances mumbled an apology to Thomas and to the butcher and hurried away, practically dragging Juliet by the arm as she went. When they were far enough away from the crowd, she looked down at her cousin and wiped at her tears.

“You forgot to mention that Thomas’ parents don’t approve,” she said slowly. “I suppose I just assumed they’d be pleased.”

“No,” Juliet said sadly, shaking her head. Her shoulders began to tremble with her quiet sobs. “They think I’m not serious, that their son is reaching too far above his place. But what does any of that matter? Thomas is going to do great things! I know it! Andif he should fail, I won’t care if I’m only the wife of a clerk, or if I can only hope that my husband becomes a solicitor. I love him, and other people’s opinions matter not to me!”

Frances put an arm around Juliet’s shoulders and held her tightly as they walked away from the market, trying to console her. Their combined misery only enraged her. Why should this kind of heartache be their lot in life? Frances having to marry a stranger with unusual ways, Juliet denied the man she loves because they come from two different parts of the same world. How was any of that right?

Suddenly, Frances was gripped by an overwhelming feeling of fear.

“Juliet! Where’s the list?” she asked, hoping the girl had taken it.

“What list? Do you mean, the one I made?” she asked, clearly frightened now.

“Yes, that one,” Frances moaned, stopping in the street and closing her eyes. “I don’t have it. I was hoping you did!”

“Oh no, this is terrible! What if the butcher has it and thinks it’s a real order? Mother and Father will find out everything when they refuse to pay for it! What do we do?”

“I’ll have to go back and explain it to Thomas. You wait here, and don’t go anywhere. I shall be only a few moments.”

Frances raced back to the butcher shop, scanning the ground as she went in hopes of finding the paper dropped somewhere along the way. There was no sign of it, though, nor did she see any white scraps on the ground around the table where they’d been standing. Her heart sank when she realized that it must have been brought inside already.

I can only hope that Thomas has it and knows not to fill the order. The cost would be a year’s wages for a laborer, and too costly to go ignored by either the butcher or the household!Frances thought desperately.

There was nothing to be done but go inside the shop and inquire. Frances prayed that the butcher wouldn’t recognize her, having seen her for only a minute while he was scolding Juliet. To her surprise, neither the butcher nor Thomas was inside the shop when she entered.

“Is anyone here?” Frances called out, despairing of preventing the order from being placed.

There was no reply.

Frances looked around the shop and tried to peer through the doors off to the sides, but she didn’t see any sign of people. She thought to go out once more and inspect the rear of the shop, hoping someone could direct her to the butcher.

“How many times have I told ya?” a man shouted as Frances reached the corner of the low building. She jumped, wondering briefly who could be speaking to her this way.

“But Da, I’ve already said it. I plan to study. David will be your apprentice, he’s already told me as much.”

“What good will he do me? He’s half yer age and as lazy as a stump. I can’t be trainin’ him up in this business and tryin’ to feed our family as well. It won’t work out. Yer just gonna have to forget that addled-minded girl and work for me.”

“Da, it’s not just about that girl. I want to better myself—”

“Oh, there’s somethin’ wrong with being just a butcher now, is there?”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Thomas said, sighing in frustration and regret. Frances’ heart went out to him, for anything he said would be taken for an insult.

“As I said, yer done pinin’ over that girl. Her father can cause us barrels o’ trouble, and I’m not goin’ to stand for it. You put a stop to it right now, a-fore someone accuses you of havin’ yer way with her.”

“I beg your pardon!” Frances shouted before she could stop herself.

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