Hugh Kenrick by Edward Cline Page A

the lawn and stood in awe of the event. Some of them, women, wore a white rose or ribbon pinned discreetly to their hats or cloaks. And the band played on, this time laboring through a rendition of Handel’s “See, the conquering hero comes.”
    The group then turned and, led by the Earl, made its way up the broad walkway to the steps of the mansion. On one side of the steps were lined the Earl’s staff, on the other guests and notable neighbors, including the vicar of St. Quarrell’s. Otis Talbot and Benjamin Worley stood rigidly with frozen smiles. As Cumberland, with a slight limp from a wound he received at Dettingen, ascended the steps, the women dipped in abbreviated curtsies and bowed their heads, and the men bowed their heads and bent their backs. The Earl, his eye sharp for the least departure from the courtesy byguest or servant, walked a step or two ahead of Cumberland and Miss Harris, for he was, after all, a host welcoming a great personage into his home.
    Hugh watched the arrival of Cumberland with an expectant reverence. His uncle the Earl preceded the Duke, who had a woman on his arm. His uncle’s mouth was a thin band of nervousness.
    When the Duke came to the children, he paused to bestow a smile on them. The children emulated their parents, and the governesses their employers. The Duke even smiled at the laggard boy who did not bow, but stood looking at him with a mixture of curiosity, muted astonishment, and disappointment. Cumberland paused imperceptibly to allow the boy to correct this faux pas and when the boy did not bend and incline his head, moved on. The Duke’s glance shifted to the Earl, whom he saw glaring at the boy. The Earl seemed to feel this scrutiny, and turned briefly to hold his eyes. In the Earl’s look he saw anger, fear, and apology.
    Hugh Kenrick was both oblivious to the others around him and fully conscious of them. As the Duke had come closer, he became less aware of the figures that preceded the man, figures that acted like the depressed hammers of a clavichord, and more aware of the bulky figure that caused the phenomenon. This figure was corpulent, the face bovine, the pale blue eyes cold marbles of inanimation, dull, unseeing, devoid even of the arrogance of station. The Duke went by and entered the mansion. Hugh remained insensible to the stares of those around him.
    Cumberland did not wish to delay a rest from his arduous time in the coach by making an event of the anomaly. The Earl, who did not wish to call further attention to the incident, passed by with him, his face redder than anyone had ever seen it. The Baron and Baroness were aghast, but did not dare to stop and make a scene with a reprimand. They disappeared with the Duke inside.
    Hugh felt a hand on his shoulder, and was roughly turned around. It was the vicar, whose face was purple with wrath. “Master Kenrick, you are in
grave
straits! I have never seen such…such impudence!”
    *  *  *
    The Earl escorted Cumberland and Miss Harris up the grand staircase to their quarters, while servants showed the other members of the entourage to their rooms. He quickly returned to the great hall, where thisevening’s banquet was to be held, and took his brother aside. The Baron did not need to ask why.
    “
Where is he
?” hissed the Earl.
    “I sent him to his room.”
    “Is he addled?”
    “I don’t know, Basil,” replied Garnet Kenrick helplessly.
    “I
do
know that I would enjoy forcing a bottle of Daffney’s Elixir down his throat, followed by a more than ample helping of licorice to purge him of whatever bile is clogging his mind!”
    “He has caused a fine tardle this time, my son Hugh,” conceded the Baron.
    The Earl paused to throw an evil look at a passing servant who might have been eavesdropping, then said, almost in a whisper, “Do you realize that this incident will be reported in the
London Gazette
and God knows how many other newspapers? That it will be the subject of conversation and