He hadn’t told her what he did mean to do, and she hadn’t asked.
No one had any idea what he meant to do.
During the time locked up in Harrison’s room, the larcenous trio must have realized they were headed for the gallows. Dove, who’d previously spent most of his time proclaiming his ignorance of all wrong-doing, looked pale. Cook, who’d been truculently unforthcoming, was looking worried. Hoare’s eyes were red with weeping, and he trembled.
“I’ve decided to let you determine your fate,” said Marchmont.
They all looked at one another, then up, though not enough to meet his gaze directly.
“You may continue to assert your innocence,” he continued. “In that case, I shall turn you over to the authorities with the evidence we’ve amassed and let a judge and jury decide the matter. If they find you innocent, you’ll go free. If they find you guilty, you’ll be transported or hanged.” He paused to let this sink in.
The miscreants looked at one another, then at the floor. But not at him.
“The alternative is to admit what you’ve done and give us the names of all your confederates, both in this house and outside of it,” Marchmont went on. “In that case, you’ll be spared criminal proceedings. You will not be spared punishment, however.”
Another pause.
He was aware of Zoe watching him in that intent way she had, as though she’d peer into his soul.Good luck, he thought. He might have one, but he doubted she’d find in it anything worth the trouble of examining.
“You’ll perform ten years’ penance,” he went on. “You will do this in London, where we can keep an eye on you. Each of you will toil for ten years in one of the charitable enterprises I support. You will receive no pay but your room and board and whatever clothing is necessary to perform your duties. Should the enterprise come to an end or the establishment burn down, as often happens, you’ll be assigned another situation. You’ll do penance for a full ten years. Not a day more or less.”
He looked hard at each of them in turn. “That is how long you worked for me and abused my trust. For the allotted time, you’ll do, to the best of your abilities, the work required of you. At the end of this time, if your performance merits it, you’ll receive a letter of commendation bearing my signature.” One last pause. “If you break the terms of our agreement, I shall leave you to the official system of justice.”
The three servants decided against testing the mercy of the English judicial system and accepted the duke’s brand of justice.
This left Marchmont two extremely tedious tasks: First, he must make arrangements for the trio’s dispersal among appropriate charitable establishments. Second, he must fill five crucial positions in the household.
“Here’s responsibility with a vengeance,” he told Zoe after the three were led out of the room. “We’ve no one to supervise the lower servants, no one to prepare the next meal, and most important, no one to dress me.”
“I shall dress you,” said Zoe.
“Do you know a day coat from an evening one?” he said.
“No,” she said.
“Do you know whether a waistcoat for day ought to be embroidered or plain?”
“No.”
“Have you any idea where to find my stockings?”
“No.”
“Come here,” he said. She went to him, and he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the top of her head. “You are the silliest duchess there ever was.”
“I know where you keep yourmembrum virile,” she said against his coat.
“You don’t need to know that, so long as I do,” he said.
“Then find it,” she said, “and let us go to bed and make love and sort these matters out afterwards, when we’re happier and calmer.”
“Make love?” he said. “You want to make love now, while the house is tumbling down about our ears?”
“The house is not falling down,” she said. “We merely need servants. But you’ve been so brave and clever and wise and frighteningly ducal today that I’m on fire with lust. If you don’t wish to go up to bed, then throw those papers and books on the floor and ravish me on the desk.”
There was not another woman like her in all the world, he thought.
“Very well, if it pleases Your Grace,” he said.
