Page 46 of Lord of Mischief
He took a deep breath before knocking.It was time to grovel.His mind began to race; he had to get back into his father’s good graces in order to access his money.He was going to have to tread very carefully.
As he stepped into his father’s study, he saw Lord Rosemount was hunched over a pile of papers on his desk.The first spark of concern lit in Freddie’s brain when his father failed to acknowledge his presence.
Freddie stood in the middle of the room, hands held loosely by his side, and waited.
Finally, Lord Rosemount folded up the last of the papers and placed it on the top of a nearby pile.He picked up a small bell and rang it.
Within a minute, a footman entered the room.Lord Rosemount handed the papers to the footman who stole several glances at Freddie as the viscount spoke quietly to him.At the end of the short conversation with Lord Rosemount, the footman left the room, taking the papers with him.As he passed Freddie, he averted his gaze.
Lord Rosemount remained at his desk.“Those papers are instructions to all my creditors and merchants with whom I have accounts.The last one was to my banker.That is, of course, if you are the slightest bit interested in matters of the Rosemount estate.Though after what I have to say, you might be very interested.”He rose from his desk and tidied up the remaining pens and items on its surface.He then closed his drawer and locked it.Freddie scowled when, instead of putting the key to the desk in its usual secret place, he put it in his pocket.
Freddie was about to mention to his father he would need the key in order to access letterhead which he used to place orders on the family’s various accounts, but the hard glare on his father’s face stopped him.He made a mental note to remind his father—after he had finished admonishing Freddie for his behavior.
“Before you ask, it was no mistake I kept the key.It’s time you were given a hard lesson in life, my boy,” said Lord Rosemount.
“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you and Mama over the Saunders girl.I did not behave well and I should have spoken to you before I came back to London.I offer you my most humble apologies,” replied Freddie.
His father closed his eyes, and a sad huff escaped his lips.“Oh, Frederick.So little, so late.”
Freddie ground his teeth as his jaw set hard with fear.There was ice in his father’s voice.His father was not a man for great displays of anger.He had never known him to speak much louder than a raised voice.The quiet rage of his father was more powerful than any man who bellowed at the top of his lungs.“I—”
His father shook his head.“The letters which have left the house are instructions to cease extending any form of credit to you.Merchants will not honor any orders for goods or services that you place from today.I am cutting you off for the foreseeable future.”
Freddie swayed on his feet as raw shock took hold.
Cut off.
His brain struggled to register the words.“How … how am I to live?”he stammered.
His father pulled a small money pouch out of his jacket pocket and threw it on the desk.“There is enough money in there to last you and the dog for a good six weeks if you stretch it tight.And when I mean stretch, I mean you are going to have to watch every farthing.”
Freddie shook his head.“You cannot be serious.How are the servants to maintain the house if I do not have funds?”
When his father flinched at the mention of the servants, Freddie saw an opening.He could survive well enough if he cut back on his spending, but the servants couldn’t very well walk around London paying cash for items for the household of Viscount Rosemount.It wasn’t the done thing.
“They won’t be maintaining the house.Those who are normally based at Rosemount Abbey will be travelling back tonight.The rest I have given paid leave for the rest of your six-week banishment.And when I say banishment, I mean it.If things get a little tough for you here, don’t think of getting in a coach and coming home.You are not welcome at the abbey until I say you are.”
No servants meant a cold and lonely house.Freddie’s mind scattered in a thousand different directions.How was he to keep his rooms warm?Who was going to clean his clothes?And, most importantly, who was going to feed him?
His father walked toward the door.“I won’t be staying here.Friends have invited me over for dinner and I shall stay with them overnight.Oh, and don’t bother to write to your mother expecting to find sympathy.She refuses to even hear your name mentioned in her company.In fact, it was her idea to cut you off.”
“But why?”
His father walked over to where Freddie stood and put a hand firmly on his shoulder.
“You are not a wicked man, but from the rumors I have heard about London you have allowed yourself to be led astray.The Frederick Rosemount I know would never have treated a young woman the way you did Evelyn Saunders.He most certainly would not have brought the shame you have on our family.”His grip on Freddie’s shoulder hardened.“You were not there the morning Adelaide Saunders and her daughter left.You were not even man enough to face her and see the pain you had inflicted upon that girl.She was absolutely heartbroken over you.I am ashamed to be your father at this moment.No son of mine would ever be so cruel as to hold out hope of love to a girl and then crush it so mercilessly.But you did.I can only hope that the misery you are about to go through will give you some time to find yourself once more.At this moment I do not know you, Frederick.”
He walked from the room and left Freddie standing in shock.All his plans to celebrate his great victory went with his father.
He turned and took several steps toward the door.For a fleeting moment of madness, he thought to catch up to his father and beg for mercy, to promise whatever it took to stop his father from leaving him destitute.
The echo of his father’s final words stopped him in his tracks.
I do not know you.
Hot tears come to his eyes.His family were not proud of him and all that he had achieved.Instead, they were ashamed.
All the puff and bravado that had filled him the past few weeks went out of him like air from a pair of bellows.His father’s words made him a lesser man.
