My Last Duchess, стр. 25

Ophelia had made him feel like an inadequate father, but he wasn’t.

His heir, Horatius, advanced two steps, and swept him an exquisite bow. “Your Grace,” he said.

“Horatius, you ass,” he said, “come give me a hug.”

His eldest submitted to an embrace, but reluctantly. Hugo made sure not to crush his cravat, as it had obviously taken a gooddeal of time and starch to achieve such perfect folds.

Then Hugo walked to Joan’s nanny, and with a nod, took his little girl, talking before she had a chance to start crying. “Imissed you, Joanie.” Looking down at the smaller children, he said, “Do you all know what I saw the other day on Bond Street?Something the older boys dearly loved when they were small.”

“What?” Betsy asked.

“Wooden horses!” he said, laughing as he looked down at their excited faces.

“Children’s trinkets,” Horatius said, in as lofty a tone as an eighteen-year-old could manage.

“There was also a shop selling Spanish daggers,” Hugo said. Horatius’s eyes brightened. Joan seemed to have forgotten herfear of her father; she was sucking two fingers and staring with round eyes.

“Louisa,” Hugo said to his twin, raising his voice because Leonidas and Betsy were clinging to his legs, demanding horsesnow. “This is a welcome surprise.”

“My dear, all my London friends have been writing with great excitement because there is to be a Frost Fair on the Thames,and there hasn’t been one since 1740. Obviously, the children couldn’t miss that.”

“I hadn’t heard,” Hugo said.

“And I realized that we couldn’t let you make such a large decision on your own,” his sister said in a lower voice, handing herpelisse to one of the footmen and then kissing Hugo on both cheeks, a habit she picked up on the continent. “I fetched theboys from Eton and Horatius from Oxford and here we are!”

“I shall miss an examination in theology,” Horatius announced.

“Who cares about theology?” Alaric asked. “They’ll give you top marks in absentia for command of supercilious nonsense.”

“Good show of vocabulary,” Louisa said affectionately, ruffling Alaric’s hair. “Horatius, my dear, you know your don promisedthat you may make up any examinations you wish.”

After North’s and Parth’s raucous laughter at the idea of requesting to make up an examination settled, Hugo said, “I am happyto see all of you. I am considering taking a new duchess, children, and that will, of course, affect your lives as well.”

“I told you that had to be it!” Alaric said to Horatius. “You owe me a shilling.”

Hugo grinned as he watched Horatius, punctilious as he was, instantly pull a coin from his pocket and hand it over.

“Didn’t think I’d marry again, did you?” he asked his heir.

“After a divorce? I hoped not,” Horatius said, doing a pretty good job of looking as stern as a bishop.

Louisa slung her arm around Horatius’s shoulder. At the moment they were precisely the same height, though he would likelycontinue growing. “You can rest in your grave, Hugo, assured that your heir will mend your ragged reputation.”

Hugo laughed. “Meanwhile, Horatius, your younger siblings are in need of a mother.”

Horatius looked from his father’s face to Joan’s bright golden hair, and Hugo saw the realization strike him. Joan was stillsucking her fingers, but thankfully, she hadn’t started sobbing.

“Ah,” Horatius said. He bent over and picked up Betsy. “Young ladies don’t sit on the floor,” he told his little sister, butnot unkindly.

The future duke was arrogant and conceited, but his heart was in the right place. He loved his family, no matter how rigidhe was.

“I concur with Aunt Knowe that it is advisable that we assist, to the best of our abilities, in choosing the third duchess,”Horatius announced.

“I was there when Aunt Knowe interviewed the new upstairs maid,” Betsy said importantly.

“I don’t think that would be appropriate,” Horatius told her.

Betsy scowled at him. “I can ask questions too!”

“I hope she won’t be frightened off by this horde,” Louisa said. “I would be, looking at these grimy children. Prism, couldI ask you to stow the varmints under the eaves, and arrange for baths all around, while I have a restorative with His Grace?”

The family butler, who had accompanied her from the country, bowed and turned to their London butler. Between them and a smallcrowd of nursemaids, they began ushering the children upstairs. Hugo handed over Joan, rather proud of the fact that she hadn’tburst out crying.

“You don’t wish to retire to your chamber?” he asked his sister, rather surprised.

“We’ve no time to waste,” Louisa said. “I want to hear everything. I received your letter about Lady Woolhastings.”

With that, she pulled him off to his study. Where he told her everything, because she was his twin. Including the fact thatOphelia had decided not to be his duchess.

“I knew something was wrong,” Louisa pronounced. “I am never mistaken in such things. I could feel it in my gut, but I hadhoped it was just the bother of finding another wife.”

“As I told you, I found one,” Hugo said, feeling very tired. “Lady Woolhastings will make an excellent duchess.”

“I’ve known Edith for years, Hugo.”

Her tone was dangerously even. She didn’t like the woman he’d chosen. Hugo’s heart sank. “I can’t say that I remember her,”he said.

“You wouldn’t,” Louisa said. “You were too busy chasing Marie around the room to notice anyone else, and Edith was alreadya mother when you first appeared in London.”

“She seems very agreeable.”

“She is,” his sister said. “I’ve shared many a recipe for skin cream with her. She’s not the sort to pretend to know nothingabout a new diet regime when in fact she’s eaten only cucumbers for weeks; if it works, Edith tells everyone.”

“Ah,” Hugo said, thinking that didn’t sound very interesting. But “interesting” wasn’t what he was looking for. Presumablyhis daughters would enjoy recipes for cosmetic restoratives. And cucumbers.

“Louisa, you told me to find a woman who would be a good mother and was uninterested in bedding me,” he reminded her.

“So I did. Tell me a bit more about Sir Peter Astley’s