He had then written off to the Marquis of Buxworth and Lord d’Arcy Armitage inviting himself to stay.
Because Lord d’Arcy Armitage’s house was in the South of the County, he knew that, if he left there early in the morning, he would be able to be with his mother by dinnertime.
He accordingly arranged to send two changes of horses to the road he would be travelling on.
Then, having decided that the arrangements measured up to his idea of perfect organisation, he had set off, still determined to keep the real reason for his journey a secret.
Because he was so famous and aroused gossip whatever he did or wherever he went, he knew that to have everybody chattering about the possibility of his buying a coal mine would be to have dozens of offers of other mines pouring in.
Worst of all, he
