For a Year She Read Aloud to a Blind Stranger in the Park — He Was the Duke Who'd Refused Her
Chapter 6
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"Then say it plainly.""I know who you are, Your Grace."Bishop's ears went up. Hobday's breath went out. Mr. Hale did not move at all."I heard Gaunt in June," said Verity. "I did not tell you because I wished to learn what sort of man you were before I learned what sort of duke. And I am still collecting the figures."Rain came down between them, quiet and thorough."My name is Verity Brandreth. I paid one shilling and a penny for your letter.""Brandreth," said the Duke. His face had gone very careful. "The lady declined the annuity.""What annuity?"Nothing answered but the rain.She unfolded the paper. "I shall read you what I received," she said. "Every word. It is 20."She read them in the voice that had never once left a sentence unfinished. He listened with his face turned toward her as a man listens to a verdict read in a language he has only just learned."That is not what I said," said the Duke."Then what did you say?""I said decline with regret. I said it is no fault of hers. I said offer her £300 a year and say it kindly.""Kindly," said Verity. "I received no kindness by any post.""I wrote to you three times.""You wrote three times, and no answer came?""Gaunt told me you did not reply.""Then Mr. Gaunt," said Verity, "has been reading you the world with a pair of scissors."The truth, when it came, came quietly. She heard the 20 words again as though someone else was speaking. They were the same words; they were not the same cruelty. She had hated a man for them for eight months, and the man had not written them. The paper in her hand was the same paper. Turned over, it said something else. She had paid a shilling and a penny for Gaunt's handwriting. She had never been so angry at a postage rate."I should like to be angry with you," said Verity."You have the right.""I find I cannot with Gaunt standing between us.""I shall have him stand somewhere else. Sit down," said the Duke."I am sitting.""Then stay."He lifted his face to the rain. "I shall tell you why I refused you.""I am not asking," said Verity."I know. That is why I shall."He spoke without haste. He spoke as a man reads a document he has by heart."I did not refuse you because you were plain. I did not refuse you because of your father's debts. I refused you because my father went blind at 40. I watched what the dark did to him for 11 years. I watched a household learn to hold its breath. They called him a monster, and they were wrong. He was a frightened man with the power to hurt anyone in reach and no means of seeing what he had done. I began to lose my sight the winter before your father died. I told Gaunt to decline you kindly. I did not hear what was sent. Every cruelty done in a blind man's name is done with his own hands. I have been cold on purpose for 20 years. It was cheaper than becoming him. You may stand and walk out of this park, and I shall not follow. You may stay and read to me on the old terms. You may refuse me a second time. Nothing is withdrawn if you do. The annuity stands. Gaunt goes. The Earl will be told. What you do with the rest is yours."