"Stay Out of This, You're Only the Governess," His Fiancée Snapped — The Duke Stood in the Doorway
Chapter 7
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He found her in the library a little after noon, returning the twins' books to their shelves one by one in the way of a person who is leaving and does not wish to leave a mess behind. She had been told on Friday morning that she was dismissed. She had been told it by Lady Arabella in the schoolroom with the words, "His Grace has agreed and asks that you do not trouble him with it." And she had believed it, because she could think of no reason why the Duke should take the governess's part against the woman he was to marry."Miss Fenwick," he said from the doorway.She turned with a book in each hand and curtsied, and the top book slid from the pile. He came across the room and picked it up before she could, and for a moment their hands were upon the same cover, and neither of them moved."I have one thing to ask Your Grace," she said, "and then I shall not trouble you again. The children do not know. I would ask that you tell them yourself after I am gone, and that you tell them gently. Thomas will pretend not to mind, and Charlotte will not pretend at all.""Did I agree to it, Miss Fenwick?"She looked at him. "Lady Arabella told me you had, Your Grace, by letter.""Then you were told something that is not true." He put the book into her hands. "I ask you to remain in this house until Monday. There is something tonight that I should like you to see.""Your Grace, I am the governess. The dining room is no place for me tonight.""Then be in the schoolroom," said the Duke, "but be in this house. Will you give me your word?"She had never given him anything but curtsies. She gave him her word.He went to the door and stopped there with his hand upon the frame, as he had stopped on Thursday. "On Thursday," he said, "you stood with your back to a raised hand and did not move. I have been trying for two days to think of anything braver, Miss Fenwick, and I cannot."He was gone before she understood that he had been in the house on Thursday at all.The state dining room at Merivale Hall seated 40 beneath a painted ceiling, and that evening 30 of the county sat down under it to see the Duke's bride. He wore the dark blue coat with gold embroidery in which he had attended the Regent's levee, and he looked, his aunt said afterwards, exactly like his grandfather. Lady Arabella wore white and silver with pearls in her golden hair, and the Earl, her father—a stout, jovial man who had driven over that afternoon—beamed down the table at the match that was to end a hundred years of quarrel.The courses came and went. The talk rose and fell.When the cloth was drawn and the port set out, the Earl tapped his glass and said that he believed his host had something to say to them all, and 30 faces turned toward the head of the table.