The Duke Hadn’t Laughed Since the War

into his hands?”

He looked at her. He was 17 and honest, and he had been carrying two stones, she now saw, not one.

“The big envelope,” he said. “Two weeks since. Came in from the solicitors. He opened it in the study and I brought it to him. He asked me to. He said the outer wrapping had got wet. He gave it to me to seal after, but the sealing wax he continue reading …