Never Kiss a Toad

Chapter Seventy Nine

She smiled, but said, "It is not for me to say what will please or displease Lady Sarah, and I hope you will not insult me by suggesting I defy the duchess's orders."

"No, of course not."

"Will you let me give you some advice, Sir, though I will overstep? For old times' sake?"

"Of course."

"There's nowt you can do about Lady Sarah tonight, and that's a fact, but she's somewhere safe and will not be wed while she is in mourning. Go to see your mother, Your Grace, instead of chasing after Lady Sarah. Her Grace of Wellbridge is without her husband and her son, and it is nearly Christmas. You don't want to deprive your mother of her children at Christmas. Not the first one after he... The firsts are hard, Your Grace, harder than you can imagine. And you are the head of your family and estates now. Go see your mother and be the duke for your people at Wellstone."

For a moment, her eyes were bleak, then she forced a merry smile. "You'll do what's right, I know that. We all knew you'd be a good duke one day, Your Grace, and it has come to pass, so it has."

He gave the housekeeper a kiss on the cheek and said, "Thank you for the advice, my dear. I shall discuss matters with Prince Nikolaus at dinner."

"Very good, Your Grace. You'll be happy you looked after your mother, when all is said and done. The linens are in that chest, Mr. Franks. Dinner will be served in about two hours, at seven o'clock, enough time for a bath or a rest, and I can have a tray sent up, if you'd prefer it to the dining room."

"I am perfectly well tended by Mr. Franks, who can, perhaps, arrange a bath in about an hour? You may expect me at table for dinner, Mrs. Holcum, but for now, I believe I will lie down for a few minutes. It is not as restful a thing as one might imagine, being a duke in pursuit of his lady."

"No, I imagine not." She curtseyed again and left.

***

"Your Highness, Your Grace," Winchester announced himself at the door to the breakfast room, where they were finishing their meal and discussing the day's travel—Etcetera back to London and Toad to Wellstone. "Lord Maddox has arrived. I informed him the family is not in residence, and he suggested he wished to speak to you, Your Grace. I do not know how he divined you are here. I certainly gave no—"

Toad held up a hand. "Please have another place set for breakfast and then see him in. No, Niko, stay. For now. It may be best if neither Maddox nor I assume the upper hand, and your royal countenance works famously for putting the rest of us mortals in our place. You are the host here, not I."

"So says the man ordering extra place settings. I will stay and see how the wind blows, but this is between you and Maddox now. As long as he does not appear set on murder, I shall leave you to it, assuming you will both act like gentlemen."

"I should like to ride out, Toad," Maddox said in the doorway behind Winchester, who jumped. "I've been cooped up in a railway carriage all night and then a post chaise, and the two of us need to find neutral ground somewhere. I told the stables to ready two horses."

Etcetera and Toad both raised to their feet, and all the men made bows of varying heights and degrees of stiffness.

"Do you know where she is?" Toad asked before he bothered with a greeting.

"When we parted, Lady Sarah was disembarking here. I cannot tell you where she might have gone."

"It has been many years since we have seen each other, Lord Maddox," Etcetera interrupted. "I think it must have been my first year at Eton? His Serene Highness Prince Johannes Wilhelm Nikolaus Victor von und zu Elchenberg. Please, we've had a place set for you. Join us for breakfast."