Lady in Rags

Chapter Thirty Six: Clear Vision

Richard did not see Verity leave, but when his father called him to his office afterwards, he could tell by the sly smile on his face that she would not be coming back. With pride in his cunning, his father told him of the bargain.

"I take it you have some sympathy for the woman," he said to Richard, when Richard expressed no pleasure; indeed, barely succeeding in masking his revulsion. "It is perhaps best that you do. When the child is older, perhaps six or seven, you shall effect a reunion, and persuade her to grant its custody to us. Until then, she might as well raise it. She can do little harm in the early years, and it will not be useful until it is older."

"Then you struck a bargain with her, never intending to keep it?"

"Don't look so shocked. It was scandal enough having Neil's marriage annulled. This way, she will find it in her best interest to keep very quiet about the baby and its father. Perhaps we may even manage to keep anybody from finding out who its mother really is."

Richard watched in cold disgust and disbelief as his father sat down and began writing a letter. He had always known his father to be a rash and cruel man, but in his adoration of Verity, he conceived it impossible that anybody should treat her so ill as his father had. It gave him the spirit, for the first time in his life, to oppose his father to his face, and not just behind his back.

"I won't do it."

His father looked up from the letter. "What do you mean?"

"I won't take her child from her. We've taken enough already."

Slowly, his father laid down the pen. "You have grown arrogant and stupid of late," he said, rising from the chair. He circled the desk and looked down upon Richard. The threat of his bulk made Richard step back hastily. "Should I whip you like when you were a boy? You know there is nothing that matters more to me than the security of our family. Twice, you have challenged that security. The first, by hiding the fact that she was pregnant, and the second, by bringing her here to Neil. Here, the third. You insist you will not take her child. Let her raise the brat. Let one who carries the Armiger blood be raised to speak with a cockney accent, gamble for its living, and call a whore his mother. It is only the chivalrous thing to do!"

His voice rose steadily throughout his speech, and he stepped forward for every step Richard stepped back. Finally, the back of Richard's knees hit a chair, and he fell into it.

"I just mean to say that we cannot be so cruel," he pleaded. "She has lost so much already."

"Pah. And caused us to lose much too." Lord Albroke, seeing he had dominated his son, went back to his desk. "No. I have no pity for her. Now, I tell you, if you attempt to bring her to Neil again, or remind him of her presence, I shall punish you most severely. I doubt Neil will remember her visit, but if he does, you must tell him nothing further. Nothing at all. He is not to be reminded she exists."

His father's eyes were dark with anger, and Richard's rebellion faltered. No. He could not openly oppose his father. He had been dominated by his father's will for thirty-four years. It would take more than one argument and falling in love for him to break away from it so entirely, but the first crack in the bond had appeared.

"Yes, Sir," he said meekly, and left.

Outside his father's office, he had the impulse to take the carriage and warn Verity, but he knew it to be impossible. Any further contact with her now would certainly bring his father's wrath down upon them both if he found out. It was too dangerous. Instead, he went to Neil's room again. The nurse, who was waiting in the sitting room with her mending, gave Richard a suspicious glance.