The Forgotten Duchess

Chapter Four | Mistake

BALDWIN STOOD IN shock for a moment as did the other man with the shabby clothing. Then, the solicitor snapped into motion.

"Your Grace, if you would follow me into my office, it might be a more suitable location for our discussion?"

James scowled at him but walked through the hallways into an office that thankfully looked much nicer than the rest of the building. He took a seat in the chair and slammed the papers on the plain desk. Baldwin closed the door behind him.

"You best begin speaking," James threatened.

Baldwin sighed heavily before occupying the other chair. "It began when I was cleaning my father's office. He passed away two years ago but it was only recently that I was able to bring myself to search through his possessions."

James felt a slight slimmer of empathy for the man. He had lost his own father years ago when he was a child, and he still missed the former Duke of Lennox.

"In his files, I came across the papers I sent to you. I had no prior knowledge about those papers and my father had not mentioned them in his lifetime."

Neither had James' father. Although he didn't believe his seven-year-old self would have understood the true nature of the betrothal. His father probably meant to address the matter with him at a later date but never got the chance to do so. "What was your father's name?"

Baldwin cleared his throat, "Jacob. He was a kind man and a good solicitor."

James vaguely remembered reading the name in some of his father's documents. He must have been the previous duke's solicitor. James had been extremely young when his father passed. He had been shipped off to Eton while his great-aunt controlled most of his assets and the estates after his mother felt ill. She must have been the one to switch solicitors to the man James now employed.

"Do you know anything about the Lady whom I'm supposedly betrothed to?"

Baldwin nodded before standing up and retrieving a stack of papers from the corner of the room. "I did try to do some research but without hiring a Bow Street Runner it wasn't quite easy or throughout. As you can imagine, my funds were limited." He gestured to his office in embarrassment. 

James ignored the statement and held out his palm impatiently as he read the name. "Lady Selina, she is the daughter of the Earl of Westmorland, correct?"

James had vague memories of the Earl, he had been close to the previous duke, often visiting Chalcott manor with his daughter. While his memory was a bit hazy around the Earl, he could not remember the daughter, she had been very young at that time, and thus something avoided.

"Yes, the previous Earl of Westmorland was her father."

James' eyes snapped up, "Who hold's the title now?"

"Her uncle, the earl's brother was the heir to the earldom."

"And the lady?"

A bead of sweat gathered in Baldwin's forehead. "Well..."

James cocked an eyebrow, "Spit it out."

"She has been missing for nearly fifteen years and is presumed to be dead."

James was gobsmacked. He had not anticipated Baldwin's answer, but things might work in his favour now. "If she is dead, then the betrothal contract is null."

Baldwin coughed into his handkerchief. "Well, not quite."

James waited for the man to continue.

"There is another stipulation. I did not send it to you, fearing that it might fall in the wrong hands."

James sighed; this whole business was bothersome. He wore his looking glasses to take a look at the next document Baldwin produced.