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The Duke Sent Her His 3 Old Aunts for Winter — By Easter His Duchess Begged a Seat at Their Table

The Duke Sent Her His 3 Old Aunts for Winter — By Easter His Duchess Begged a Seat at Their Table

Chapter 14

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"You owe me the four shillings," Maud said. "Every week of it, back to Michaelmas. You owe Mr. Tebbutt for the flour your aunts ate while it was stopped, and Abel Stroud and his lads for the chimney they mended in the coldest week of the year. That's the money. The rest isn't money.""The rest?" said the Duke."The rest is that your aunts choose where they live," said Maud. "Not you, not your steward—them. And if they choose Cold Harbor, you pay their keep here, the same four shillings every week for as long as they want it, and you never send a cart for them again."There was a long silence. Somebody's spoon clinked against a bowl and stopped.The Duke turned to his aunts. "Aunt Dorcas," he said, and his voice was not steady. "Aunt Honoria. Aunt Winifred. I did not know what I was sending away. I thought I was sending away three old women." He stopped. "I was wrong, and I am sorry for it. In front of everyone here: come home."The sisters looked at each other the way sisters do who have not needed words between them for fifty years. Then Honoria spoke. It was the only time Maud ever heard her raise her voice."We are home, nephew," she said. "We shall be very glad to see you at Easter. You may bring your wife. The dinner is a penny a plate, and you shall pay it like everyone else."The Duke paid. He paid every farthing of it back to Michaelmas in gold on Maud's kitchen table, and Honoria counted it into little towers. He paid Mr. Tebbutt's slate, and Abel Stroud and his lads, and he sent Mr. Sneath away from Brexwell before the month was out.And on Easter Sunday, they came to dinner.
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The Duke Sent Her His 3 Old Aunts for Winter — By Easter His Duchess Begged a Seat at Their Table

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