Her voice trembled for a moment and then she said,
“After Richard was killed, he hated me because he had no son to inherit.”
She did not say any more and the Duke could almost in some strange way read her thoughts.
He knew almost as if she had said it aloud that she was remembering how her father had shouted at her to get out of his sight because she was alive while Richard was dead.
For the first time since he had come into the room, he looked at what she was wearing and was aware that her gown was worn and threadbare.
Although she may have deliberately worn something old because she had been cleaning the library, he had the feeling that it was many years since she had spent anything on herself.
Almost as if she similarly could read his thoughts, she said, as if he had asked her the
