"There is no need to say anything, my lord."
"There is every need." Lucian lifted his head. His eyes were red-rimmed and his voice rough. "I ordered you to eat your father's last work in front of forty people. I accused you, in my mind, of the basest treachery. I came within a breath of destroying something that you had spent six years of your life preserving, because I could not bear to see my wife laugh at someone else's table." He drew a hard breath. "I do not ask your forgiveness. I do not think I deserve it. But I want you to know that I know it. I am ashamed. More ashamed than I have ever been in my life."
Samuel considered him quietly.
"May I say something, my lord?"
"Please."
"I was not afraid." He turned his hat in his hands. "I want you to understand that. When you held out the flower, I was grieved, but I was not afraid. And I think it was because of that, that I could ask the question. I have seen men grow ugly with fear, my lord, and it is a sad thing to watch. I did not think you were an ugly man. I thought you were a hurt one."
Lucian stared at him.
"My mother used to say," said Samuel, "that it was not the frost that kills an orchid, but the cold that comes after, when no one has the nerve to open the door and let in the warmth. I think that is true of people too. I think you have been standing in the cold a very long time, my lord. I think her ladyship has been standing at the other side of the same door."
For a moment the Earl said nothing at all. Then his mouth twisted, and what came out of it was half a laugh and half a sob.
"You are an impertinent fellow, Hale."
"So my father said."
"I ought to dismiss you."
"Yes, my lord."
"I am going to double your wages instead." He wiped his eyes roughly with the back of his hand, like a boy. "And I am going to build you a cottage by the lower gate, with a proper garden, for you and Miss Cole, if she will have you. And when she has had you, I will give you the best glasshouse in Hampshire to work in, and a free hand, and every pane of glass that your heart desires. I should like to see what you will do with it."
Samuel's face broke slowly into a smile.
"I would not ask for more, my lord. Except—"
"Except?"
"Only that you go and tell her ladyship you are sorry. She is standing at the glasshouse door and has been waiting for you this half hour. And I think that is a conversation that ought not to wait."