A Duke in Danger by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online Page A

circular table in the centre of the room, and the Duke could recall the big silver racks containing toast and a cottage loaf baked that morning in the kitchen ovens.
    There had been scones and rolls fresh and warm, together with a huge comb of golden honey and jams and marmalades made in the Still-Room.
    There was everything that a man’s body could require early in the morning, and for his mind there were the newspapers, freshly ironed in the Butler’s Pantry, set on silver stands opposite each place at the table.
    He had been fascinated by all the luxury, and he knew vaguely at the back of his mind that he had expected on his return to England to find everything as it had been then.
    But the furniture of the room was entirely changed: there was now only one small round table in the window and a sofa and an armchair standing in front of the fireplace.
    The long side-table on which the silver breakfast-dishes had been laid had been removed to leave room for a bookcase.
    It was a very fine Chippendale piece, yet somehow it seemed out-of-place in this particular room, with its walls covered with paintings by English artists of the Seventeenth Century.
    The Duke had noticed with a quick glance that had been trained to be observant that there was a work-box of English marquetry and a Secretaire which was covered with papers and with what he thought looked like bills.
    There were some small portraits on the mantelpiece and on the side-tables, and there was also a larger one of Richard, painted by Lawrence, over the fireplace.
    He had the feeling as he and the Butler entered the room that they were intruding, although he told himself that it was absurd to feel like that.
    After all, the place was now his, and Cousin Alvina was certainly not welcoming him with any enthusiasm.
    Almost as if he wished to assert himself, he sat down in the armchair beside the fireplace and said:
    “Now, Walton, tell me what all this is about. Why is the house shut up? Why are there no footmen in the Hall? And why is Lady Alvina using only this room instead of one of the Drawing-Rooms?”
    The old man drew in his breath, and then with a voice which seemed to tremble he said:
    “I’m afraid Your Grace doesn’t understand.”
    “I certainly do not!” the Duke said. “And while I think of it, there is one special question to which I want an answer. Why did you allow Lady Alvina to take the silver Germain bowl out of the safe and take it to London, with, I gather, a number of other valuable things?” There was silence. Then the Duke realised that Walton’s hands were shaking in the same way as Alvina’s had.
    As he could feel his anger rising, the Duke said:
    “Tell me the truth. I shall find out sooner or later, and I want to hear it now.”
    “It’s quite simple, Your Grace,” Walton said in a quavering voice. “Her Ladyship had no money.”

    Chapter Three
     
    T here was silence for a moment before the Duke said in surprise:
    “What do you mean, no money?”
    Walton cleared his throat before he answered:
    “ ’Twas like this, Your Grace. There was no money to pay wages and pensions, or even to buy food.”
    “I do not believe it!” the Duke exclaimed. “My cousin left a very large sum when he died.”
    Walton looked uncomfortable before he said:
    “I thinks, Your Grace, that the war upset a great number of people and His late Grace was one of them.”
    “You mean when His Lordship was killed?”
    “Before that, Your Grace. Things began to get much more expensive, and His Grace decided to economise.”
    The Duke’s lips tightened.
    It seemed incredible, in view of the huge sum of money he knew was in the Bank, that his cousin should have thought it necessary to economise to the point of considering the wages of his domestic staff.
    He remembered now, although it had not occurred to him before, hearing talk of what was happening in England while he was in Paris.
    Someone had told him that the Duke of Buccleuch, because of