Alone With You

Chapter 2: The Duke's Return

     The day that the Duke of Carlyle arrived at Ravenwood House was a wet, gloomy morning at the end of March. The London Season was just beginning to take root, and the town was abuzz with excitement surrounding the absent Duke's return.   

     "I would imagine that the Duke will be in want of a wife," Lady Carlotta Du'Bois was overheard telling the Dowager Duchess over tea a few days before he was due to arrive.

     The Dowager Duchess, who was as secretive as the Duke was mysterious, only smiled.

     It was this smile that caused the mother's of London society to launch themselves into a fury of preparations. Dressmakers were overrun with orders for dresses that were both flattering and reflective of the current fashion. Jewelry makers were made busy with requests to set priceless family jewels into beautiful necklaces and earrings. It was to be a season that was full of more anticipation and production than any other London Season in recent memory. 

     When the Duke of Carlyle finally arrived at Ravenwood, he requested that the staff not greet him outside as was traditional. Instead, Mr. Carver and his valet, who they learned was called Sanders, would handle the Duke's luggage and get him settled. He also would not be having dinner in the formal dining room; instead he would eat with the Dowager Duchess and his sisters in the smaller breakfast room. He would, however, permit some of the staff to serve.

     "I know this has to be the Dowager Countess' doing," Jasper said while preparing for that evening's meal. 

     Rebecca wiped the sweat from her brow. "What do you mean?"

     "The fact that His Grace is eating with the family," he replied. "You know she had something to do with that. He's never done that."

     "I'm sure she's trying to prepare him to welcome guests," Mrs. Bradford, the cook, chimed in. "The poor dear isn't accustomed to company."

     Jasper gave a sarcastic laugh. "Exactly what is so poor about the Duke of Carlyle? He has more money than all of England, maybe even more than Queen Victoria herself." 

     Mrs. Bradford, who had served the Ravenwood family for longer than Maeve had been alive, had seen many things and knew many secrets. She also knew how impossible it was for the young to fully comprehend the consequences of the past. 

     So, the aging cook merely smiled at the footman and replied, "Poverty isn't always measured in pounds and shillings, dear."

     Jasper stared at Mrs. Bradford for a moment, and then decided not to argue with the cook. She was, after all, getting up in years, he thought. She probably wasn't sure what she meant either.

     Both footman and cook went back to work, each thinking that the other was either too young or too old to comprehend what was actually happening at Ravenwood House. Maeve, on the other hand, found herself intrigued by Mrs. Bradford's words. She had been quietly darning some linens that would be used for breakfast the following morning at a small table just off the kitchen that the servants used for such tasks when she heard Joshua bring up the Duke. 

     Despite the fact that she didn't believe any of the outrageous rumors concerning the Duke of Carlyle, she still found that her ears peaked whenever someone mentioned him, as if one day someone might say something that would pull the shroud away and reveal the truth about the mysterious Duke. And, even though she wasn't quite sure what Mrs. Bradford had meant, there was something about the cook's words that seemed to have more truth in them than anything that had been said about the Duke of Carlyle since she had arrived at Ravenwood House.

     Maeve was still musing this over when she heard Jasper ring the dressing gong for dinner.

     "Stop doddling, Maeve, and go assist Lady Kathryn," Mrs. Morrison said sharply.