The Duke’s Christmas Bargain

“Every December the Duke of Lyneham burns his letters unopened. This year he put his hand into the fire and took one back out.”

He knew the handwriting. He had last seen it seven years ago, on the papers that ruined him.

Hester Ansty keeps her father’s books, writes his letters, and meets his creditors at the door herself. When there is nothing left to sell, she writes to the coldest man in Gloucestershire and asks him for terms.

He comes. He pays every shilling the barony owes, mends the cottages, and provides for her father. Then he names his condition. She is to marry him inside the week, and nothing becomes absolute until Candlemas. If he finds the Anstys have concealed one material thing from him, the marriage is void and they stand exactly where they stood.

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