Free Fortune Said: A Valentine Haberdashers Tale by Sue London Page B

butler shook his head. "He closed himself up in his study. I think that he's drinking again."
    Whit frowned. "Any idea what happened?"
    "Not as of yet, but I wanted you to be prepared that he might be in a foul mood."
    "How was he when he arrived?"
    "Abrupt."
    "Fetch me if you need help carrying him up."
    "It's all right, we can handle it."
    Whit nodded, knowing that the footmen were more than capable of carrying the large earl up the steps. He went upstairs to wait for the earl a great deal more subdued than he had been when arriving home.
     

Chapter Two
     
    The house was abuzz with news of the earl's unannounced engagement. Dibbs always turned a baleful eye on anyone he caught gossiping, but as soon as the butler was out of the room the talk would begin again. Sissy was entertained by how curious the staff was about their employer. She wondered if any of the Devonport help had ever taken half as much interest in her.
    Thinking of her family gave her pause. Although it had been some months now, it was hard to remember their household without seeing it as it was toward the end. So dark, so empty. All the sleepless nights she’d had, caring for first one family member and then another. Her sister’s lifeless face… She bit down hard on her lip to stop the tears that were gathering, and turned her attention back to the chatter of the Harrington staff.
    Since the new countess would have dominion over the domestic staff, it made sense that they had reason to be concerned. The earl was known as a fair and kind employer, so anything disturbing that would be worrisome indeed. To distract herself from thoughts of her own family, Sissy lingered in the kitchen to listen to the speculation.
    "My sister heard tell that her family can't rub two quid together. Nice enough placed they are, related to a marquess and such, but no money to speak of."
    "I heard that this was her third Season, practically on the shelf."
    "Nice enough looking gel, I hear, but too tall. It's not good enough to be pretty when you're tall, you have to be striking, too."
    "Well, himself is tall as well."
    "Men are admired when they're tall, love. Women are not."
    "What I've heard is that she hardly ever speaks. Likes to read."
    The portrait that started to come together of Jacqueline Walters reminded Sissy too much of her own past. Her family hadn't been as highly placed as the Walters, of course. Barely hanging on to the fringe of polite society, in fact. She had never had a Season or made any  pretensions to the level of society that the earl traveled in. But the image of a poor, shy, intelligent girl was close enough to her own story to give her some pause. However, it seemed Jacqueline Walters was far luckier than Cicely Devonport. In Sissy's experience men only married for two reasons: money or love. Usually money. But the Earl of Harrington was one of the richest men in England. And the unspoken question among his staff was - if he was marrying for love, why was he spending so much time frowning and drinking?
     
    * * *
     
    Whit was tying Gideon's cravat for the second time when he heard footsteps in the hall.
    "Announcing his grace, my lord," Dibb s intoned from the doorway.
    That was a surprise. It had been years since the Duke of Beloin had graced the Earl of Harrington's household with a visit, since well before he was a duke in fact. As boys in school the two had been inseparable, but once the earl had inherited they had drifted apart. The earl had gone down a dark path of drinking, gaming, and whoring while his friend had all but withdrawn from society. In the early years there had been times that Whit and Dibbs had to call on the friendship between the two so the then-marquess could help extricate Gideon from various scrapes. Then when the elder duke had died, Whit had accompanied Gideon to the ducal seat where the earl helped his friend set affairs to rights. Other than that, however, the two had seemed essentially estranged.
    The duke's arrival