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when Angelica Sheridan did. Yes, as I live
by bread, the truth is that he’s turned his face to the wall.”
    “Addison, I will hear no more!” Saber
stormed to the window and glared out of it. Gripping the draperies,
he watched black smoke rising into the sky, casting a grayish film
over the city. The sight suited his mood. “Do not speak of
Angelica. She is the one subject I forbid you to ever try to
discuss with me.”
    “She’s dead,” Addison went on heedlessly.
“You are alive . You have a life, and you must live it.”
    Not without her , Saber responded
silently, his hold on the curtains tightening.
    “You are not unlike Winston’s Uncle Horatio,
Saber.”
    “And I have the utmost respect for the man,”
Saber countered. “Granted, he appears rather sour at times,
but—”
    “ Rather ? My God, Saber, the man was
weaned on a lemon! You said yourself he’s the most cantankerous man
in all of England! And not only that, he’s quite the most
fastidious man I’ve ever known. You, Saber, come in second. What do
the two of you do before starting your day? Wallow in a tub of
starch?”
    “Are you implying that I should abandon all
civilized modes of behavior and become a tearabout as you and the
boys—”
    “We are not tearabouts. We simply find ways
to bend the rules without breaking them. You used to enjoy that
also, Saber. But now...now you are as stuffy as—”
    “Addison, you are trying my patience
sorely.”
    “You’re angry because I speak the truth, and
you don’t care for the way it sounds. I realize you have specific
moral obligations as the Duke of Ravenhurst, Saber. As the Earl of
Aurora Hills, I have similar ones. There are certain codes of
decorum we must observe. But we are not required to be so
indifferent to life that we have neither the time nor inclination
to seek diversion. To laugh. To notice whether or not it is
raining. To sing a song! When was the last time you sang out
loud?”
    “What bearing does that have on—”
    “I’ll keep asking the question until you
answer it.”
    Saber sighed and laid his forehead against
the window pane. “When I was a child.”
    “Perhaps you should try it as an adult.”
    “Perhaps you should leave this room
before—”
    “But perhaps I shall stay until I’ve
finished what I’m saying.”
    “I believe you’ve already said outside of
enough.”
    Addison crossed his arms in front of his
chest. “Quite the contrary. I called on you yesterday morning. Did
the aunties inform you of that? No, of course not. How could they?
You were locked away in your office. And I knew why, Saber.
Yesterday would have been your fifth wedding anniversary. You do
the same thing each year. You lock yourself—”
    “I was working.”
    “You were not working. You were mourning.
And that is why the boys and I came and dragged you to Winston’s
last night.”
    “I should have had the lot of you
arrested.”
    “But you didn’t. Because as much as it goes
against your grain to admit it, you harbor a deep fondness for us.
We are your friends, and if you won’t help yourself it is our
obligation to—”
    “I am in no need of help.”
    “Ah, but you are.” Addison walked back into
the room, his hands clasped behind his back. “You think to mask
what is inside you, Saber, but the boys and I have known you for
too long to be fooled so easily. Since Angelica’s death, you have
been the epitome of social grace. Your manners are so utterly
spotless that you are quite the most boring member of the nobility.
Yes, I believe you even surpass Horatio Alders. You are definitely
and positively His Perfect Lordship, the Duke of Ravenhurst.”
    Saber’s gaze narrowed until he could see
London’s gray haze only through the slashes of his eyes. “I assume
you mean that as an insult.”
    “I do. Because there was a time, Saber, when
although you were the Duke of Ravenhurst, you were first and
foremost Saber Tremayne. And therein lie your many problems.”
    Saber spun