Melting Matilda by Jude Knight

Author:Jude Knight [Knight, Jude]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780995145368
Publisher: Jude Knight

7

“Will you give your testimony now, while it is fresh in your mind?” Aldridge asked, and when Charles agreed, Aldridge asked him to wait a moment while he made arrangements.

First, the marquis insisted on his mother and sister retiring to their chambers while he sent for a doctor. Matilda, after she’d spent her tears, went without complaint, though she assured Charles’s mother she would call on her tomorrow for the conversation they had missed today.

The duchess made more difficulty, but Lady Hamner countered every one of her arguments for carrying on, pointing out that Her Grace needed to consider the lacerated feelings of her son, that the other ladies of the Society were well equipped to meet without her, that Lady Hamner herself would report after the meeting so that the duchess knew what had taken place, and that the duchess was not showing much confidence in the abilities of those she herself had appointed.

Defeated, she agreed to see the doctor and to follow his advice.

Charles waited, helping his mother to restore the room to rights before the ladies arrived for the meeting. A footman came to conduct him to Aldridge’s study just in time for him to avoid the first arrivals. He felt far from ready to speak social nothings.

In the study he found the marquis had already produced a lawyer to take Charles’s testimony. Aldridge was not there, but he returned as the lawyer packed up the signed and witnessed statement.

Aldridge showed the lawyer to the door, then crossed to a well-stocked shelf of decanters.

“You’ll be ready for a brandy, Charles. The doctor suggests Mama and Matilda both rest, and he will return to see how they are tomorrow. Bruising, he assures us, and some shock, of course.” His lip twisted in a quick smile. “Mama told him that she has not survived to this age by allowing small inconveniences to overset her.”

“I am sorry,” Charles said. “That business the year before last when His Grace tried to kill Winshire’s sons… It was beginning then?”

Aldridge shook his head. “He has been having… spells of madness on and off for several years. Rarely, and then more often. He used to recover after a few hours, then days, then weeks. This time… It has been three months, and the duchy cannot continue with him at its helm. I have his proxy to do most things, but he can countermand my orders at any time, and I cannot trust that my control will continue to prevail.”

Aldridge sounded almost apologetic. “You are doing the right thing,” Charles assured him. “Today… I was never more shocked. He was… I always looked up to him, Aldridge. He was generous with his time, charming, and so willing to share his knowledge with a boy who succeeded to a title before he was ready.”

Aldridge saluted Charles with his glass. “You saw a different side to him than his wife and children. In public, he was everything you say. En famille, he has always been erratic and tyrannical.

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