An Orphan for the Duke by Audrey Ashwood

Author:Audrey Ashwood [Ashwood, Audrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781676674801
Published: 2020-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

For the men and women who laboured ceaselessly to keep Hardwick Manor a grand residence and to ensure its reputation for good food, hospitality, and the best services afforded to the duke and his family, there were rules that had to be followed. Rules that everyone who called the gracious estate home had followed for countless generations. All the servants, from the highest-ranking butler and housekeeper, down to the lowest scullery maid and stable boy stayed in their realm, unless their duties required that they work amongst the family they served. This was how life had continued at Hardwick Manor since the first brick of it had been laid. But there was more to this small realm than slavish devotion. The division of duties and the unwritten rules and hierarchies of the servants’ hall and grounds also functioned to ensure the smooth running of the whole, as everyone knew their place, their role and, to a great extent, their identity within the estate.

Isabella was only casually aware that her presence in the vegetable garden was generating a stir amongst the servants, who remained mostly silent as they observed her. She was wandering slowly among the cultivated rows in the vast garden to the south of the kitchen, the largest one of several carefully curated plots and by far the most important. In a house such as Hardwick Manor, vast amounts of food were required for the family and its servants. Autumn had arrived, and with it, the harvest. It was an exciting time of year for the gardeners as they reaped the fruits of the season’s labours. Isabella felt a little like a gardener herself, as she was beginning to feel almost hopeful about her prospects in London, and confident that the work that she and Diana had put into refining her ladylike skills was about to bear fruit.

She poked at this vegetable or that, examining the produce, and humming to herself as nearby, Mr Liddell, head gardener of the estate, stood and rubbed his eyes. He was an old, grizzled man whose face was tanned from too many summers spent in the sun, and whose hands were as gnarled as the crabapple trees that shaded the plot of soil he now stood upon. Valiantly, he tried to hide his pained expression but failed as he looked on, aghast. Isabella suspected he was asking himself, What is she doing in my garden?

Her intention was simple, and she would have replied, if he had asked her (which he dared not). She was bored. Since her afternoon ride with the duke, she had noticed a change in her life at the manor. The duke had forbidden her to ride, even accompanied, and she was no longer permitted to wander as she liked in the grounds. In fact, he had asked her to remain as much as possible in the company of his mother and sister. He had offered nothing in the way of an explanation for his request, other than to

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