CHAPTER THREEThe Earl of Rothwoode was waiting impatiently for a reply to the letter he had written to the Duke of Barningforde.
He had been in a furious rage for the last three days and the household could not imagine what had upset him.
He was a man of many moods.
And, when he was in one of his rages, the housemaids tiptoed along the corridors and the many footmen in the hall shivered when they heard him coming.
His family, if they were lucky, disappeared and they could only hope that the storm would soon blow over.
When his wife was alive, she had been the only one who could restore his good humour and she managed most of the time to restrain him from venting his feelings on those he came into contact with.
After she died, the Earl’s temper had grown worse.
When there was the sou
