The Clarendon Rose

Word spread through the countryside like the whisper of the wind through the branches of the trees: he’s back. The prodigal son had returned. But that was one of the few things the whispers could agree upon. Some claimed he was a changed man—ready, finally, to shoulder the responsibilities that he had shirked for so many years. Others claimed that any apparent changes were merely a ruse—once a ne’er do well, always a ne’er do well. And the new duke had been far worse than a ne’er do well: he had been a rake, a degenerate and a scoundrel. The other thing that everyone agreed upon, whether tenant, servant or villager, was that it was a fine thing that Miss Tina had finally gotten engaged to Lord Edmund. That, at least, would keep her safe from the prodigal’s degeneracy—for surely even the duke could not have sunk so low as to seduce his own brother’s betrothed!