Page 82 of His Duchess' Mischief

“Do not look so chagrined, Your Grace. I did not mean that nonsense about the trial. We have a wager at Gentleman Jackson’s—if you recall—that you could win three bouts against me.” George flexed a hand at his side. “But I may cry off. We are not as young as we once were.”

“No, indeed,” Seth said. “I would not win in any case.”

George looked satisfied with that answer, both of them knowing full well that he was by far the superior boxer between the two of them.

“So, what brings you here today?”

Seth reached into his inner pocket and pulled out the letter. George took it eagerly, looking at it with interest.

“My God, my handwriting was not fit to be seen.”

“I found it at the bottom of a locked chest in my house. I was wondering if you could explain the line I have marked for you.”

George’s frown deepened as he read the letter. “My, my, I hardly know.”

Seth watched him carefully. “You have no recollection of the ‘business’ you were referring to?”

His heart sank. It had been a fool’s hope, but he had wondered whether George’s excellent memory would come through for him.

George stroked his chin, leaning back in his chair. “Well… I remember there was a lady. But then, with Fernside, there generally was. This one seemed more important than the others, however. Her father’s debts had landed them in trouble.”

His pale blue eyes flicked up to the ceiling, then closed as he tried to recall more.

“That was it,” he said, crumpling the letter a little as he sat forward in his seat. “Her father wanted her to marry a man much older than her. Fernside was desperate to help.”

Seth shook his head. “He never told me.”

George’s eyes turned sad. “No, well, he might not have wanted you involved. The lady’s father was a blaggard, uncompromising and ruthless.”

A spark of excitement flared in Seth’s gut.

Could the father have found out about the tryst?

“You are sure?”

“Oh, certainly. Fernside only told me when he was deep in his cups. I was the cox for the rowing team if you remember. I think it was at an event of some kind, but he was rambling, talking about how much he cared for her. He was worried he wouldn’t be able to help, that her father would discover his plans.”

“Was Gordon thinking of eloping with her?” Seth asked, genuinely shocked at the thought.

His strait-laced friend was not someone who would usually have gone against tradition in such a way.

George shrugged, handing back the letter. “Who knows? What fools we are when we are young and innocent. I do not think he would have gone through with it. There was some suggestion of a rival. Someone else had offered to help her. Popular girl! Fernside was rather cut up about it all.”

“And he did not tell you who it was?” Seth asked, suspicions growing in his mind with every turn the tale took.

“No. Just that he hopedsomeonecould save her, even if it meant his heart was broken in the process.” George’s intelligent eyes were fixed on him now. “Do you think it could be linked to his death? We were all silly boys—I cannot believe it is relevant.”

“I do not know. I have been searching for the truth for so long, I wonder if I have compromised my own reality. For a longtime, I believed I could never discover it. But lately, I’ve been determined to be done with this. If he slipped and fell—I shall never know for sure. But if someone did him harm,thatI hope to discover.”

George nodded sagely. “And what does your lady wife think of it all?”

Seth’s throat tightened. “She does not know.”

“About any of it?”

“Indeed.”

George’s kind eyes softened, and he smiled knowingly. “But you wish to tell her?”

---