Chapter Nine
Alexander was used to having many demands made on him. It came with being a duke. He had eight estates, each with tenants and employees, and although he had secretaries and men of business and bailiffs and stewards, ultimately all decisions rested with him. And if it was the Duke of Vickery’s responsibility to foster his estates, it was Alexander St. Clare’s purpose to bring an end to child labor. He’d written letters and given speeches, had campaigned and petitioned, had forged ahead, every month a little closer to his goal.
His days had been filled with things that needed to be done but he’d never had any difficulty holding it all in his head, in deciding what to do first, what second, what third. He’d never felt harried or harassed, never felt overwhelmed.
He felt overwh
