Page 53 of The Heiress Gets a Duke
“What lovely children,” August said politely. She could not have missed how their clothing was worn, the leather of their shoes nearly cloth-like in its texture.
“Where is your older boy? Alfred, isn’t it?” Evan asked.
“Off to York. Our young want the city life.”
“Indeed.” He did not need to point out that it was notwantso much asneedthat had likely sent the boy to a factory position. Young people were leaving for the cities in droves.
They spoke about mundane things for a few minutes—the weather, the harvest—before Evan bade him goodbye and led August back toward the river. He hardly dared to look at her, knowing that her eyes would reflect her disappointment and condemnation of him. Who was he to live like a... well, like a duke, when the people in his care were barely surviving?
“Why did you bring me here?” she asked when they were far enough away no one would hear them.
The censure he expected in her voice was not present. It was quiet and pensive, instead. Her face was still, and when he met her gaze, it was unreadable.
“We made a deal. One week. I wanted you to know what you would be walking away from.”
***
August rode in silence for a few moments as she absorbed what Rothschild had revealed to her. Her emotions ran the gamut from anger that he would try to manipulate her into accepting him to grateful appreciation that he was willing to show her unpleasant things about the estate and its troubles. Perhaps not everything, but at least this. She could not stop from thinking about the children in that family. Did they even know how to read?
Deciding that it was best to know, she asked, “Can you tell me more about the farmers? Their plight?”
He gave a curt nod. “Their plight? Yes, I should be happy to. Several years ago, before his death, my brother, William, got it into his head that the farms were faltering. I do not know if he had met with the estate manager or if it was simply observation, but he urged me to take his side in convincing Father to modernize. I did.” He glanced at her then, revealing the mischievous glint in his eye along with the self-deprecating smile. “Do not let that excite you. It was no high-minded gesture on my part. I took his side because it meant not taking Father’s. No more and no less.”
She smiled in spite of herself. “Yes, I could tell you were the obstinate type immediately after meeting you.”
Grinning more naturally now, he continued. “William was a scholar. He generally spent his days studying Latin and Greek philosophy, but he set his mind to farming for whatever reason and determined that the world was moving on without us. Did you see the ridges in the grazing fields you passed on your journey here?”
She had.
“Yes. It is called ridge and furrow and is a remnant ofthe Middle Ages. It is caused by the method employed to plow the same patch of land every year.” When he saw her confusion, he added, “They only cultivate the soil on one side of the plow per pass. Over time, those mounds result as the soil is built up. Our farmers were still employing the use of that plow even though there are more efficient tools that allow better and more thorough tilling. In fact, there are a great many more modern tools that we were not using: scarifiers, rollers, grubbers, clod crushers, reaper-binders.” He paused, giving her a self-effacing grin. “I have learned more about farming than I ever wanted to learn. All are machines built to increase the man power of a single farmer. Nevertheless, it was no use. Father refused any sort of modernization at all, even after William and I provided him with evidence of their efficiency.”
August had no idea what machines he was talking about, but even she could understand the need to modernize farming techniques. “What happened?”
“He simply refused all of our attempts to make him see reason. He believed that the land had supported these people for hundreds of years, and if it was failing them now, then it was their own burden to bear. It was as if he thought they were to blame for it.”
August hadn’t spent a lot of time wondering about Rothschild’s father, but she had instinctively formed a poor opinion of the man. Now that opinion worsened. “But how could he be so callous? They cannot be blamed for market conditions beyond their control.”
“I agree, but he would not be reasoned with. He was very much one of the men who live in the past and refuse to see the benefits of change.”
“You are not one of those men?” She could plainly see that he was not, but she wanted him to elaborate.
“I hope not. I very much hope to give them the tools necessary to lead successful lives. Harold’s son went to York because he would rather slave in a factory than starve on a farm, and I can hardly blame him.”
She had seen all morning how difficult it was for him to visit the estate, but now the bitterness of his wordsconfirmed it. He was embarrassed, and rightfully so. The estate had been mismanaged to the point of negligence from what she could ascertain. “What else would you do differently?”
“Nearly everything. Most of it comes down to educating the farmers. Aside from the mechanized equipment to start, we must embrace the four-course technique in crop rotation, instead of the three-course, which allows for a fallow year. There is no time for years with no harvest, and they cling to it because they fear change and my father so instilled a love of tradition in them. We also must bring in cattle and pigs. No matter how I have stressed the importance of moving from crops, they refuse it.”
“Why do they refuse the animals?”
“I am told that genteel farmers do not dabble in animals. They are unclean and undignified.”
“How unfortunate. Cattle farming is a prosperous industry in America. The railroads have helped to make it so.”
He nodded. “Yes, I have studied your markets, as well as the markets in Britain and all of Europe. If I could get my farmers to cooperate, we could likely move into the nineteenth century before the twentieth century begins.”
He took in a deep breath and looked at her again. His gaze caught hers, and the intensity was so great that she could not look away. She had never once seen him this passionate about anything except courting her, and she found that she rather liked this side of him. “The issue is that I lack the funds for the initial investment to ease their reticence and provide incentive. That is the true reason I brought you here. Yes, this marriage would be for financial gain. It seems only fair that you are able to see firsthand what your money would be funding. As I said before, the marriage is not simply for my own selfish gain. There are other lives at stake. Lives that I am responsible for.
“There are families here, families struggling to eke out a living, and your contribution to our marriage would be for them. There are over two hundred of them on this estate alone.”
