So it was a surprise when she said, “How do you do, Mr Chamberlain? I am the Duchess of Brinshire.”
He sprang to his feet. “Your grace! Forgive me for arriving so unexpectedly, but I do not quite know what is happening here or who this Mr Goodenough might be.”
She smiled, revealing a perfect set of pearl-like teeth. “No one knowsthat, Mr Chamberlain. This is the third time that he has brought a stranger to our doors, quite unsolicited, and for no obvious reason. As you may imagine, it is quite a puzzle. But you will want to settle in, so if you would please follow me…”
“But if I am not required here, I shall leave at once.”
That brought another smile. “Your carriage has left, Mr Chamberlain, and even if it had not, we will not turn you out of doors when you have travelled some distance, I imagine, to reach us. Besides, we all want to hear what you can tell us of Mr Goodenough. Come, follow me.” She glanced at Denny, watching her intently, then at the other lady, waiting patiently for instructions. “Charlotte, will you see to Mr Chamberlain’s man, whose name is…?”
“Pendleton,” Lance said.
“What room for Mr Chamberlain, do you think?”
“The Spider Room is ready,” Miss Charlotte said.
“Good,” the duchess said. “Froggett, send a bath up to the Spider Room as soon as you can. Also a tray of food and a bottle of wine. Come, sir, this way.”
“The Spider Room?” he murmured, as he followed her neat person out of the hall and up broad stairs.
“You will see,” she said, with another little smile.
She showed him to a vast apartment with heavily ornate furniture, and a bed fully hung with curtains and raised on a plinth. The three large windows showed him a fine view over the gardens.
“Do you think you will be comfortable here?” she said, touchingly anxious. In his experience, noble women were not much concerned about the comfort of commoners.
“I should think even the Prince of Wales could not be dissatisfied.”
“Now there you would be wrong,” she said tartly. “That man is never satisfied. He would have the room stripped to the plaster and boards, and redecorated in some ostentatious and excessively vulgar style, at a cost of fifty thousand pounds, at least.”
Lance laughed. “So he would. But where is this spider to be found?”
For answer, she pointed up to the ceiling. Looking up, he saw an elaborate painting, possibly meant to be some classical or religious allegory, but all one could make out was a set of ominously dark clouds which together created the shape of an enormous spider.
“Ah, I see. How dreadful, and that poor maiden looks as if she is about to be ravished by the creature — or possibly eaten, it is hard to tell.”
“Oh! I had never noticed that before. How clever of you to spot it, Mr Chamberlain. Ah, here comes your luggage and your man. I shall leave you to settle in. Dinner at five precisely, and the duke likes the gentlemen to wear knee breeches.”
He bowed as she left. For a while the room, large as it was, felt crowded, as footmen and maids bustled in and out, Denny set about unpacking and Miss Charlotte Merrington stood watching the servants with a severe expression that clearly brooked no nonsense from them. Lance could not quite work out who she was, but he did not much care. A rather good claret had been provided, so he sprawled in a chair beside the fire, glass in hand, and assumed that all would be made clear in time.
Eventually, the bath was ready, the necessary linens had been provided and Miss Charlotte was satisfied. As the door closed behind her, Denny jumped up from where he had been crouched over one of the trunks, and snatched the wine glass from Lance’s hand, downing it in one gulp.
“Lord, that is better! That is the worst part of being a servant, you know — no decent wine.” He refilled the glass, took another mouthful and then passed it back to Lance, before hurling himself into a matching chair. “So what do you think? Quite a beauty, eh?”
“Who, Miss Charlotte?”
Denny pulled a face. “No, idiot. The duchess. I had no idea she would be so young and tasty. And the duke is an old man. She must be desperate for someone young and virile.”
“Have you forgotten I am engaged?”
“No, but I am not.”
Lance’s bark of laughter echoed around the room. “Really, Denny! The other disadvantage of being a servant is that you are quite invisible to ladies, and especially to duchesses.”
“Being invisible is also an advantage, my not so all-knowing friend. Five minutes below stairs and already I can inform youthat Miss Charlotte Merrington has two sisters, also spinsters, who all see you as fair game. There is also a widow who might enjoy a little dalliance.”
“Again, you have forgotten that I am engaged.”
“If the Lady Patience Torbuck can stop you from flirting with every female in sight, then she is a veritable magician. You cannot change your essential nature, my rascally friend.”
