Read 104. A Heart Finds Love for Free Online Page B

The wedding dress sounded impossible and, in fact, I was certain it was a hoax.”
    “It was nothing of the sort,” the Duke retorted. “It is the most fantastic piece of Chinese embroidery I have ever seen and you will think so too.”
    “So have you brought it back with you, John?”
    “No. We will be going there tomorrow and you are going to take several photographs of me with my bride.”
    “Are you joking?” William asked him.
    “No! I am telling you the truth,” the Duke replied. “The girl who is selling the gown is the sister of Charles Lester. Do you remember him at Eton? A very good- looking chap. He got into the cricket eleven when he was still very young.”
    “Of course, I remember Charles. He was my fag at one time and very tiresome he was. I do admit that I was always rather suspicious that he sneaked my money as well as my chocolates!”
    “I would not be surprised. Apparently he was killed in a duel in Paris and you know those duels always take place because someone has been making a fool of himself in some way or another.”
    “Is that how Charles died?” William asked.
    “Yes, and leaving huge debts. His sister, who is a very pretty girl, is having to raise money to pay off his creditors, which includes selling their house and everything in it.”
    “Good heavens!” William exclaimed. “So Charles must have been behaving worse than usual. I remember he was a reckless gambler as he grew older and I used to see him at White’s playing at the tables. Now I think about it, I remember someone telling me that he had lost a large amount of money racing.”
    “So this wretched girl has to sell everything that they possess,” the Duke said. “But she has kindly offered to be photographed with me purporting to be my wife.”
    He laughed before he added,
    “That will certainly prevent the Prince from trying to marry me off to his daughter!”
    “All I can say is that you are very clever and very lucky, John. I ask you, who else would find a wedding dress and a substitute bride in twenty-four hours?”
    “It does seem so extraordinary, but everything has fallen into my hands like a ripe peach. She is a Lady and a very pretty one and she looks exactly the sort of bride a Duke should have, as those foreign fellows would expect.”
    “Very well,” William agreed. “It should protect you against the Prince.”
    “Well, you just have to admit, William, that I have saved myself and now, as we can well afford it, let’s have some champagne as I am thirsty after driving all that way.”
    “I am just thinking,” William said, “that my camera is not a particularly good one, although it does produce a photograph of sorts.”
    The Duke stared at him.
    “In which case why did you not say so before?” he asked. “Of course I will want a good photograph, but it would be a mistake, as you well know, for me to call in a professional photographer who would undoubtedly talk.”
    “Of course it would. The Duke of Burlingford is an important fellow and a social catch is always news!”
    “All right, all right, William! You have made your point, but for Heaven’s sake do go and buy yourself a first class camera and then I will give it to you as a birthday present.”
    “You have given me one recently,” William said. “If you remember, I was twenty-two at the time.”
    “Well, it can be your Christmas present,” the Duke said, “and you might as well have the best while you are about it.”
    “I most certainly will. I would like a new camera and, who knows, I might, while you are negotiating for that tedious mountain you insist on buying, take photographs of the Caucasian people who we know so very little about.”
    “Only because they live in the back of beyond and that, my dear William, is why we have been lucky enough to find gold in a remote mountain, which no one else has discovered before.”
    “Well, the mountain was still there when I passed it last year, but Heaven knows whether or