Page 14 of Her Summer Duke

“It is I, Lady Margaret, returned from Saltonbury Park. I bring a response from His Grace. He told me to announce to you that it is a letter of grave importance.”

“One moment.”

Margaret took a deep breath to steady herself, smoothed her skirts down, and opened the door. The footman bowed, and handed her the sealed paper. Her hand shook as she took it.

“Thank you. Good night.”

“Good night, my Lady.”

She closed and locked the door, not wanting to be interrupted, then lit a candle from the low burning fire in her grate, and broke the seal on Saltonbury’s letter.

My dear Lady Margaret,

if I may be so bold to address you as my dear. After an eight-year promise of betrothal, one would believe that there is no harm meant in such an address.

I must tell you that there has been a grave accident and I must bid you adieu. Our previous parting had put me in such bad temper, what with you denying your love for me, that after our most unpleasant quarrel, I had an unfortunate disagreement fuelled, I am ashamed to say, by the fire of a bit too much ale.

The result, my sweet Lady Margaret, is that I must leave England hastily. Had we already been married I would have been able to take you with me, which would have pleased me.

But a life of exile might not have appealed to you – so perhaps it is for the best that you have made this momentous decision.

Nonetheless, in answer to your question – how do I feel about our promise, now – I must say that my feelings have not changed. I came to love the woman you have grown to be, just as much as I cared for the child, if not more. It may not be a love of stirring passion, such as is written of in novels, but it is a solid and enduring emotion.

I would still wish to marry you, and it sorely disappoints me that you will not honour your dear departed father’s fondest wishes. I shall dread every moment without you in my time of exile, my dearest. I shall travel across the sea to the Americas, and seek a life there. Perhaps, one day, things may change, and I will return – but I cannot know for sure. Hence, I feel compelled to ask something of you.

I would see your lovely face one more time before I depart.

Perchance, might you come, tonight, to the bridge where I first saved your precious life, to say good bye? I will be there waiting, my dearest, waiting for you at two hours after midnight, to see your face one more time before I go. This way no one will see you leaving Bradbury Crescent, nor will they see you returning. And no one who might cause difficulties for me, after this most unfortunate incident, will see me.

Yours fondly forever more,

Hugh

Margaret crushed the note into a ball in her palm. Did he honestly believe that she would go traipsing into the night air to bid him adieu? Would she? She should not. But… she did love him – as a friend, as a man she had known for years, as a man who had saved her life. Could she really just let him go, without seeing him again?

She called out for Lucy, whose room connected to hers through the dressing room. Lucy came running,

“Have you had another night terror, my Lady? But wait… you are still wearing the gown you wore this evening. Do you wish to prepare for bed?”

“No, I am quite fine. Set out a comfortable gown, and a suitable pelisse to ward of the chill of the night air.”

“My Lady? It is now one in the morning. Why would you wish to dress as if to go out?”

“Make haste, Lucy, and do not question me.”

Lucy went into the dressing room and began to lay out her mistress’s clothes, but Margaret could tell that, the entire time, Lucy was thinking ‘Lady Margaret is undoubtedly making one of her grave mistakes’. Margaret knew well that her maid was convinced that most of her decisions in life led to mistakes. She pushed the thought aside, annoyed by it.

Lucy asked, her tone very cautious, “You are not going to meet Ensign Chester are you, by any chance? You are not running off, or any such silly thing?”

“No, of course not. I am going to meet His Grace of Saltonbury.”

Lucy gushed, “Oh! You are eloping with him! How romantic!”

“No, we are not. He wants me to meet him to say goodbye. Something dreadful has occurred and he must leave England immediately.”

Lucy began to move more slowly.

“Really? And what might that something dreadful be, my Lady? You do not want to find yourself in the middle of a serious difficulty, now do you?”