“He always was even when he was a young man,” the Dowager agreed, “but you did not let me know you were coming.”
“I did not know myself until two days ago, Grandmama, and now I need your help.”
The Duchess released his hand and said, “If it is another of those tiresome orphans you wish me to employ, the answer is ‘no’! The last one you persuaded me to have in the house upset Simpson with his impertinence and the one before broke half a-dozen of my best Sevres tea-cups.”
The Duke had heard all this before and he was just about to reply when his grandmother went on, “You have two, or is it three, orphanages you support, and that is where orphans should be. Not with me!”
The Duke was well aware that it was no use explaining that after a certain age the orphans had to leave the orphanage t
