Anthea looked with bemused eyes to see a black stallion tethered by his bridle to a wooden paling next to the gate.
She opened her lips to speak but no sound came, and at that moment Billy appeared.
“That be a fine ’orse, missie!” he said appreciatively.
“Will you – lead him to – Mr. Clements and ask him to put – the horse – in his stables, rub him down and – feed him?” Anthea asked in a voice that sounded strange even to her.
‘That I will, missie,” Billy said with relish. “’Ere’s the things you wanted.”
He thrust a package into Anthea’s hand and, lifting the bridle from the fence, started to lead the horse down the road.
“Clements was a – groom before he – retired,” Anthea explained to the Duke. “Your horse will be quite – safe with him.”
She walked back into the cottage to put th
