by Abby Ayles
“This is beginner’s luck,” Lady Julia said. “Lady Annabelle and I rarely play Cribbage. It is a lovely game, though. We shall have to play more often.”
Lady Annabelle nodded, agreeing with her friend. “Will your friend Mr. Covington be joining us soon?”
The Duke of Cardinal glanced at her. “I must assume he will be here within the next few days. I expected him sooner. It is good that your father is willing to let me stay until he arrives.”
“Does that mean you will be leaving after he assesses the paintings?” Lady Julia asked.
The Duke of Cardinal looked at her, too, his eyes soft. “I cannot stay in the Norrend household forever, Lady Julia. I have a home to return to.”
“And where is that home?” Lord Gilbert asked.
“It is just south of London in a small city called Bainbridge. We have many interesting characters there. I must say, if you want to see the nature of people, going to London is where you will find the best women to study.”
“Oh my,” Lady Julia covered her mouth with one hand, sharing a look with Lady Annabelle
The Duke of Cardinal looked guilty. “Not in a derogatory way, my lady. It is an affectionate term I use for anything innocent that does not realize it is or looks like a fool. I do not hold judgment against these odd people. I feel for them. In my heart.”
Lady Annabelle nodded. “I understand what you mean, my lord. I have often felt that way.”
“What way do you mean?” Lady Julia still had not caught on to their conversation. Lady Annabelle had no trouble following the duke’s line of reasoning.
“When I see someone who is not in a good place in their life. They may do things that to me seem odd and out of place. But to them, they are doing what they can to survive the only way they know how. And to me that makes them innocent, even if they commit unlawful acts or must resort to begging. A man’s pride cannot handle such a thing, in my opinion. Once his pride is taken away, what is left for him to build upon?”
“You do make a good point, Lady Annabelle,” the Duke of Cardinal said. “I was unaware women thought about such things.”
Lady Annabelle and Lady Julia both laughed. “Why would we not think about such things? We are designed to nurture and care for men and children. It is our duty to think about them and see what we might do to make life easier for them.”
“I have never heard a woman say such a thing,” Lord Gilbert said. “And I am surrounded by women.”
The other three looked at him questioningly. He blushed to the roots of his dark hair.
“I did not mean I am surrounded by… what I meant to say was that my brother and I were raised in a home where my mother had her three sisters living with us. We have two sisters of our own and my grandmother also lived with us. We have been surrounded by women throughout our lives. You are the first one to express the need or the desire to care for a man’s desires and needs.”
“I believe we all feel that way,” Lady Annabelle replied. “It is just more difficult for some women to express than others.”
“Most women,” Lord Gilbert grumbled under his breath, looking down at the pieces in front of him. “Women are more likely to win at Cribbage games they own, as well.”
His three companions looked at him questioningly.
“I beg your pardon?” the Duke of Cardinal asked in a low voice.
Lord Gilbert looked at him with a grin. “It is nothing, Your Grace.”
“It sounded as though you were implying Lady Annabelle might be winning because the game belongs to her. Is that not what I heard?”
Lord Gilbert laughed. “It was a joke, my lord. Please forgive me.”
The duke stared at him through hard eyes for a few moments. His eyes moved to Lady Annabelle, who was looking down at her pieces with a red face. It made him angry that Lord Gilbert had tried to shame her.
They played quietly for a few minutes before Lady Annabelle looked up at the Duke of Cardinal and said, “Are you concerned about the portraits my father is offering you, Your Grace?”
The Duke of Cardinal shook his head, taking his turn before answering. “I am not sure if I am concerned or not. It is a difficult thing to say.”
She looked at him with a blank stare. “I do not understand. Please explain what you mean.”
The Duke of Cardinal continued to look down at the Cribbage board as he thought about his answer. Then he looked at her, placing both hands on the armrest of the chair he was sitting in and leaning forward slightly.
“I am not the expert Mr. Covington is, my lady. That is why I called him in. It seems to me a few of the paintings might not be… the genuine article, shall we say?”
Lady Annabelle was shocked. She stared at him in stunned silence, her eyes sliding to Lady Julia, who was equally surprised. “What? That is not possible.”
The Duke of Cardinal lifted one hand and lowered his head. “Now, I am not saying they are not the real thing. I am not the expert here. I have been looking at a lot of paintings for the last four or five years and I have learned a lot. But I am not an expert. Mr. Covington will tell us all we need to know.”
“My father would not try to sell you paintings that were not genuine, my lord,” Lady Annabelle was feeling a bit testy and it came through in her voice. The Duke of Cardinal shook his head.
“Please do not misunderstand me. I have been trained to look for certain things that could indicate that a painting is not genuine. I am not an expert. Please, believe that I have the best of intentions.”
Chapter 8
That evening, the Duke of Cardinal joined the Duke of Norrend, the reverend and the two young men on the porch for a smoke before they retired back to the chapel. Duke Colbourn and Duke Cartwright compared their pipes, noting they both were made of similarly hard wood and had a flattened pearl effect added to the same parts for ease of use.
“Your daughters are fine women, Your Grace,” Lord Leonard said graciously. The Duke of Norrend smiled at him after lighting the pipe.
“Thank you, Mr. Balfour. Only Lady Annabelle and Lady Cecilia are my daughters. The other two are merely friends of the family.”
“Oh?” Lord Leonard said. “How kind of you to take them in.”
The Duke of Cardinal listened to Duke Cartwright describing the women and their general habits. He spoke kindly of them but when it came to his own daughter, he would not hesitate to boast of her skills and her general character. He gave Lord Leonard a short list of the pleasant characteristics of his daughter and her friends before moving the conversation in a more general area, such as politics.
The Duke of Cardinal, not wanting to be in a political conundrum, stared out over the land surrounding the mansion, paying no attention to the remarks being made around him.
He’d found that avoiding political conversation with those he was doing business with was always best. There was a broad spectrum of belief in all of Europe and worldwide. There was no reason to open up political discord without the certainty that everyone would agree.
Chances were, there would be a dissenter and arguments would arise out of debates.
He watched as a young boy led two horses down the road that ran parallel to the house at the bottom of the hill. He was too far away for his age to be discerned but from the looks of him, he was quite young.
The Duke of Cardinal remembered leading horses into the stable, brushing them, cleaning them for inspection by his father. Duke Colbourn was a kind man who held the respect of many. His funeral, alongside his wife, who had died with him, was attended by authority figures from all over England.
When the Duke of Cardinal was a mere boy, his father had taught him to respect everyone and everything around him, large or small, animal or human. Every creature that lived deserved respect in the eyes of the elder Duke Colbourn. And he had passed the trait down to his son.
His thoughts strayed to Lady Annabelle. In his mind, he could hear her strong laughter, he could see her pretty smile.
Th
e look brightened her face to glowing and the sound of her laughter reminded him that she was a strong woman – or that she would be one day. He knew deep in his heart he would do anything to see that smile, to make sure Lady Annabelle was happy.
It was strange to see Lady Annabelle pushing him toward Lady Julia. Surely Lady Annabelle was not rejecting him? She had a reason why she was pushing Lady Julia to him. Without thinking, he said, “I wonder why?” aloud, under his breath.
“What is that?” The Duke of Norrend looked up at him from his seat by the small iron table. The Duke of Cardinal glanced at him.
“I apologize, Your Grace, I was deep in thought. I did not realize I spoke aloud.”
“It is quite all right, my lord, but please, what do you have on your mind, if you do not mind sharing?”
"There are times when thoughts are not appropriate spoken in mixed company, Your Grace,” the Duke of Cardinal replied. He turned to the Balfour brothers. “Are you attached to any ladies, my lords?”
The two brothers looked at each other. It was Gilbert who replied. “No, Your Grace. Right now, I am directed to follow my brother while he does his apprenticeship in a little church in a little unknown town in England.”
The slight jab at the home of his host gave the Duke of Cardinal an uneasy feeling. It was the third time he’d felt such a way when in Lord Gilbert’s presence.
He recalled his snide remark about Lady Annabelle’s Cribbage playing, implying she was cheating somehow but then had laughed as if it was a joke. The Duke of Cardinal thought it was mean and from the look on the women’s faces, they were not amused.
He tried to let the jab slide, as it was not his home, but the older duke caught the barb and did not look happy about it.
“How long do you plan to stay?” he asked in a blank voice, as if he had no intention of telling the boy he was not welcome with a bad attitude and did not want it coming out through his voice.
“I believe I will be here with Lord Leonard for the next three months, is that right?” he looked at his brother for confirmation. Lord Leonard nodded.
“If he lasts that long,” he said, giving the other men a sarcastic look. They smiled uneasily. The Duke of Cardinal moved his eyes to the reverend. How was he feeling about the two men in his care? He had an apologetic look on his face but was saying nothing.
“I find that the more people I meet, the more reason I have to stay,” Lord Leonard replied to his brother. “You have a lovely home, my lord, and your family is equally lovely.”
“Those are kind words, Mr. Balfour. Thank you,” the Duke of Norrend nodded at the young man.
The Duke of Cardinal was unsuccessful in keeping the conversation steered away from politics. It seemed as soon as he stopped speaking, they went back to the original conversation.
Boring of it quickly, he decided to take a walk around the garden, which was lit by torches placed at the top of tall, black poles. The poles almost disappeared in the darkness of the night, making the torches look like flames burning in the middle of the air.
The effect struck the Duke of Cardinal with a sense of the surreal and he stopped for a moment to stare at it.
He moved his eyes around the garden, from one corner to the other, following the lights. It was an oval. In the middle of the oval was a small hill, carved with valleys and tiny “roads” that led up to the very top, which was eye level for him.
At the top was a castle carved out of stone. Tiny flowers and decorations surrounded the castle, the pathways that made a waving circle all the way around the small hill and the stream of water that ran alongside the pathways.
The light from the torches around the garden flickered off the running water, making it sparkle. To his left and his right, paths wound around the garden to different two or three-person white iron benches.
The paths continued on and would lead the person directly back to the beginning and the iron entrance gate no matter where they were in the garden.
It was elaborate and beautiful. He put his hands comfortably behind his back and walked to the left. No matter where you were in the garden, if someone was walking on the other side of the fountain, they could not be seen.
He kept his eyes on the fountain, barely watching where he was going. Several times he strayed from the path into the grass and had to look down in surprise and hop back on the path. He was fascinated by the hill fountain, which it was called by everyone he’d heard talk about it.
Mostly it had been servants, expressing concern for the maintenance of the structure.
“Excuse me,” he heard directly in front of him and came to an immediate halt. He looked down into the eyes of Lady Annabelle. She was amused and smiled at him.
“You were quite lost in thought, my lord,” she said softly. Lady Julia was standing next to her, pretending she was not there. The Duke of Cardinal reached up and scratched the end of his nose self-consciously.
“I do apologize, my lady. I did not see you there.”
“That is because you were not looking where you were going,” Lady Annabelle scolded him in a gentle voice.
“I apologize, my lady.” The Duke of Cardinal stepped to the side. “I was admiring this hill fountain.” He put his hand out, once again taking in the beauty of the object.
Lady Annabelle and Lady Julia shared a look. “Hill fountain,” Lady Annabelle repeated. “You have been speaking with the servants.”
“I have heard them speak of it, yes. I have not had a chance to admire it at night until now. It is truly magnificent in the light of the torches around the garden. How did your father come up with such a wonderful idea?”
“It is my mother who suggested it be put together this way,” Lady Annabelle said, turning to look at the small hill. “She collects miniature objects and wanted a small hill to represent the hill we live on. Much of what you see there is actually on this hillside we live on.”
The Duke of Cardinal raised his eyebrows. “You are making fun.”
Lady Annabelle looked up at him and shook her head. She pointed as she spoke.
“That group of trees there is a representation of those that you see when you are going down the pathway to the main road, which is there.” She moved her hand to where she was indicating.
“And that road is the one that leads from the mansion to the ground. Mother did not want to use a mansion. She chose the castle because she says if she was able to, she would rid herself of the house and build a castle in its place.”
“Castles are known to be cold and damp,” the Duke of Cardinal smiled. “I would not want to live in one. They are nice to visit. But I would not own one.”
They both chuckled. “Thank you for telling me about your mother’s creation, Lady Annabelle. It gives me insight into how you became artistically inclined.”
“I am not,” she protested softly, turning to walk down the path. He followed quickly behind, leaving his hands clasped behind his back. Lady Julia came up behind them, keeping a watchful eye but trying not to listen at the same time. “I cannot draw a stick man, much less paint a beautiful picture.”
“You give yourself no credit, my lady,” the Duke of Cardinal said in a confident voice, taking long strides to catch up and walk beside her. “I saw the painting you did this morning and was amazed by its beauty.”
Lady Annabelle could not tell if he was sincere. Knowing the beach scene she had painted that morning was not a work of art by any means, she decided it was an empty compliment, said only to make her more amiable toward him. She frowned.
“I painted nothing of any excellence this morning, my lord,” she said in a resentful tone. It took him by surprise and he stopped walking for a step. He caught back up when she did not stop and said in a low voice, “I meant no disrespect, my lady, I assure you. I meant to say that when it comes to painting of any kind, I myself cannot draw or paint in any way. I have an eye for the beauty but it is not something I can represent with brushstrokes of my own.”
“I am in th
e same predicament, my lord,” she replied. Had she come down too hard on him? She had assumed he was making fun of her but perhaps it was not the case. It did not seem to be.
Lady Annabelle was so confused. The Duke of Cardinal was bringing someone else to appraise the value of the artwork and she was standing in the garden with him at night talking about how neither of them had any skill in the area.
She should have stayed with her original plan to have him look Lady Julia’s way. She felt as though they’d just had an argument.
They walked back with the Duke of Cardinal to the front porch, where the men were still gathered, chatting now about their historical backgrounds. The Duke of Cardinal said a silent prayer of thanks.