Stephen, Viscount Pelham told his housekeeper. He tried to ignore the itch in his shoulder blade that intimated all was not as it seemed. “There is illness in their village, and Amanda feels ‘tis not proper to ask guests to visit in the circumstances.”Or so she says. Why do I have no faith in Amanda’s pronouncements? He wondered if Harry, his sister’s husband, knew her reasons for the change in venue. Whether he did or did not was immaterial. The house party would now be at Carrland Hall.He stretched his long legs out. The gleam on his immaculate hessians shone in the firelight. Why did he not think he had been given the whole story? Due to the inclement weather, it had taken Loggins, his groom, longer than normal to ride to the posting office to collect the mails, and the short winter evening was rapidly drawing to a close. Tonight, the fog and damp so normal to this area seemed twice as deep as would be expected.A swift perusal of the impressive missive from his sister, crossed and re-crossed, had his normally placid temper rising.
