Page 30 of The Truth About Dukes
Constance considered her sister, who’d returned from yesterday’s outing to Crofton Ford quite late and humming Handel. “Have you succeeded in evicting Jack from your mind?”
Althea became fascinated with the dreary shops beyond the coach window. All the bright sunshine in the world could not make York look less medieval.
“I’m doing better lately,” Althea said. “Better at putting the past behind me. I’ve told Nathaniel about a lot of it. About Jack, the begging. The men. I thought telling Nathaniel the particulars would bring it all back, but instead…It’s like I handed over a heavy burden to my intended, and he was able to set it aside for me. There are good people in the world, Constance. Lots of them.”
Sometimes, goodness was not enough. “But where were those good people when Jack Wentworth broke Stephen’s leg? When Jack told us to be nice to his men friends?”
“He hadn’t any friends.”
“You know what I mean. We were children, Thea. Nobody was outraged enoughto do anythingfor us. I can grasp that Jack was broken in his soul, mad somehow, but nobody sent him away where he couldn’t hurt us, did they? Whether we lived or died was of no moment when the alternative was to insult a poor mandown on his luck.”
Rothhaven had also been sacrificed to his father’s fragile arrogance, oddly enough. This discussion helped Constance understand part of why she’d been such a disobedient maid at Soames’s hospital. Why she’d grasped the situation there without anybody having to explain it to her.
“You think Jack was mad?” Althea asked, shifting on the padded bench. “A lunatic?”
“When Stephen was in his worst difficulties, I did some reading regarding the legal aspects of mental competence. One measure of mental fitness is whether a person knows the difference between right and wrong. Jack surely failed that test. Right was whatever benefited him; wrong was whatever annoyed him. No judge would approve of Jack’s definitions in a civilized society, but those same judges would never regard Jack as mad. I conclude that society itself is mad in some respects.”
The neighborhood had improved as the coach rolled along. The houses were grander, the window boxes full of bobbing tulips.
“By your definition,” Althea said, “half the peerage and most of the wealthier cits are legally unfit. Everything under the heavens exists for their pleasure, women especially. I hear you inspired Rothhaven to walk to the orchard yesterday.”
“Subtle, Thea.” Though Constance gladly abandoned the topic of Jack Wentworth and society’s complete indifference to the evil he’d wrought. “The only way you could have heard about our stroll to the orchard is if Nathaniel paid you a visit sometime between moonrise and dawn.” Assuming Rothhaven had told his brother about the outing to the orchard, and had not been spied upon by his own servants at that brother’s request.
“Perhaps Nathaniel sent me a note to read with my morning tea.”
He most assuredly had not. Constance’s room was immediately adjacent to Althea’s. Shortly before midnight, soft voices had drifted from one balcony to the next, and that wasafterthe happy couple had spent the entire day together.
“Aren’t you worried about conceiving a child, Thea? Sorting out the title could take some time.”
“Sorting out the title will be the work of a moment. Quinn’s consequence is a good thing for once. Besides, unless Rothhaven marries, ensuring the succession will fall to Nathaniel and me. Fortunately, all I’ve ever wanted is a family of my own. Tell me about your trip to the orchard.”
Not bloody likely.“Rothhaven would like me to paint his portrait.”
The coach slowed to take a sharp corner, the streets in York lacking the open grandeur of their much younger Mayfair counterparts.
“Are you considering accepting the commission? You need not, not on my account. Rothhaven can be difficult company.”
How little Althea knew. The idea that the ever-competent, never-hesitant older sister was dealing from a paucity of information pleased Constance more than it ought to.
“Rothhaven never asked to be the duke, Thea. Nathaniel promised Robert he would not have to assume those responsibilities when he brought Robert home. Now the ducal title is thrust upon him, in part so you and Nathaniel can spend all of your waking hoursseeing to the succession. Criticize Rothhaven to me at your peril.”
“Robert,” Althea said, making the two syllables distinct. “And you have agreed to paintRobert’sportrait. What are you truly about, Con? Nathaniel says Robert could be declared mentally unfit at some point, and that will be painful enough without you becoming entangled in the situation.”
Why must the coach move at such a sedate crawl?“You are being protective. I am growing impatient with my siblings’ protectiveness. I would also appreciate it if you could close your balcony door when you are entertaining callers in the middle of the night.”
That had the desired effect of shutting Althea’s mouth, at least temporarily. When the coach drew to a halt in the yard of the George and Charlotte, Althea paused before getting out.
“Nathaniel and I mostly talk, you know. He hasn’t had anybody to talk to for years.”
“He’s had his brother.”
“And I have had you, but it’s not the same, Con. I can tell Nathaniel anything. He tells me anything. We are in some way more friends than lovers, but that’s not entirely accurate either. Perhaps we are truly lovers, rather than merely trysting partners. I don’t know how to describe what has bloomed between Nathaniel and me, but I hope someday the same wonderful intimacy befalls you. I feel as if I have found a missing part of my heart.”
The words were painful, so very painful, to hear. “Then I am happy for you, Thea. I will meet you here at noon.”
They parted at the coach, Althea sailing off in the direction of her favorite modiste, two footmen in tow. Constance went the other way, back toward the smaller shops and older houses. When she came to a nearly shabby two-story stone building on a slightly tired side street, she pushed her way inside without knocking.
The sign on the door said simplyINQUIRY AGENT, BY APPOINTMENT ONLY, though Constance had long since passed any need to make an appointment here.
