More toasts were offered during the long meal while poached eggs in a cream and Marsala sauce were presented, along with a small pink country ham that was thinly sliced, and rashers of bacon. There were fresh, warm, and dainty rolls; breads, sweet butter, and plum conserves. There were bowls of oatmeal mixed with heavy cream, cooked apples, and cinnamon sugar. There was beefsteak, tiny lamb chops upon a silver platter, creamed cod, sliced salmon that had been poached in white wine and dill and served upon a bed of watercress and sliced lemons. There was a dish of baked apples with clotted cream, and another dish of stewed pears with nutmeg and sherry. Finally there was a wedding cake with its tiny white spun sugar decorations covering the golden fruited confection. It was early afternoon by the time the entire meal had been concluded.

Outside the rain continued to fall. The servants and the estate workers had their own feast moved from the outdoors to the barns. The wedding party and their guests took the opportunity to visit them during a brief respite in the storm. There the bride and groom were toasted again in honest English ale and cider. They danced several country dances with their humbler guests before returning to the house, where Allegra saw the carriages of her guests already drawn up before the front door of Hunter's Lair. She realized that her friends and family would be leaving shortly as they all wanted to reach their various homes before sunset. Even in the country the roads could be dangerous after dark.

"It was a most beautiful wedding," Sirena said. "Do try to be happy, Allegra."

"I am," the bride insisted.

"You know what I mean," Sirena replied meaningfully.

"We shall leave you alone for a week," the young Countess of Aston said, "but after that you will come and visit us." She kissed Allegra on both cheeks. "Good-bye, darling!" Then Eunice and her husband were gone out the door.

"You must come to London this winter," Lady Bellingham insisted, giving the bride a warm hug. "It has been a most delightful time, dear girl." There were more kisses. Then Lady Bellingham and her quiet husband departed.

"We will see you at Eunice's," Caroline, Lady Walworth, said before she left with her husband in tow.

"George said you were the most beautiful and generous girl in all of England," Melinda Hunter said shyly. Then she grew bolder, continuing, "and I know why, Allegra." Lady Hunter kissed her sister-in-law. "Thank you. Without your kindness and generosity I should not be so happy. I wish you the same joy with the duke as I have had with his brother."

Allegra flushed. "Families are supposed to help one another," she said in reply.

"I echo my wife's thanks," George Hunter said quietly. Then he kissed his brother's bride, and Lord and Lady Hunter were gone.

"What did you do?" Sirena wanted to know.

"Another time, dear heart," Allegra told her softly.

Sirena nodded. "Very well, I shall contain my curiosity." Then with a wave, she and her husband were off.

"Well, my dear," Lord Morgan said, "I shall bid you farewell for now. Be a good wife to your husband." He kissed her on the forehead.

"Yes, Papa," Allegra responded dutifully.

"God bless you, my darling child," Lady Morgan said. Then she departed with her husband. There was nothing left she needed to say to her stepdaughter. It had all, thank goodness, been said.

They stood alone in the round foyer. Allegra wasn't certain what was to happen next. It was much too early to retire, she thought, as the tall clock struck half after two o'clock. The servants were bustling back and forth clearing away the remnants of the wedding feast.

"Would you like to ride?" the duke suddenly asked her.

"In the rain?" Allegra thought her voice sounded rather hollow.

"It is only drizzling right now," he answered.

"Perhaps a game of chess," she suggested.

"Ahh," he agreed. "The very thing."

"I shall have it set up in the family salon," Allegra said. "Perkins," she called to the passing footman. "Set up the game table in the family drawing room, and bring the chess pieces, please."

As the footman hurried off, the duke said to his new wife, "You looked… look," he corrected himself, "very beautiful today, my dear. Every inch a Duchess of Sedgwick, if I may say so."

"You may," she replied, "and if I may return the compliment, sir, you are most handsome in that satin suit."

He actually flushed with her praise, then took her by the hand. "Come along, Allegra. We have not played chess in some weeks, and I am anxious to see if you have improved."

"You are anxious to see if I have gotten any worse," she mocked him with a smile. "Prepare yourself for a drubbing, my lord. I have been playing with Papa these last few days, and he is a brilliant player."

Their family drawing room was decorated in pale blue, buff, and cream color. It held a mixture of old oak furniture and new maple pieces from London. Perkins set up the game table between the two wing chairs by the fireplace. When Allegra had seated herself he handed her the ebony and ivory box banded in silver that held the playing pieces.

She opened the box. "With your permission, sir, I shall take the white pieces, and give you the ebony."

He nodded in agreement, and set up the board so they might begin their play. For several hours the duke and his new duchess vied with each other over the chessboard. They played several games, and were, Quinton Hunter had to admit to himself, equally matched. He won two games and she won two. Outside the storm continued to rage about them. A footman came into the room to make certain the fire was still burning. He trimmed the lamp and candlewicks, even as a fifth game ended in a draw. It had grown dark outside.

"I have set up a supper in the dining room, my lord," Crofts said as he entered the drawing room. The clock on the mantel struck six o'clock.

"Gracious!" Allegra exclaimed. "How the time has flown."

There was capon, ham, and a venison pie on the sideboard in the dining room along with a bowl of green beans, fresh bread, butter, and cheese. When they had eaten all they could, Crofts appeared with a dish of fresh pineapple from the greenhouse and some sugar wafers. Allegra loved the tart-sweet fruit and was almost childlike in her greediness for it.

The duke could not help but smile, but when she had finished he said quietly, "You will want to go upstairs now, my dear. I shall join you in an hour or so." He raised his wine glass and sipped slowly at the fragrant wine.

Allegra paled for a brief moment, but then she arose, curtsied, and without a word walked sedately from the dining room. Her heart had begun to beat furiously. Soon! Soon she was going to know what all the fuss was about. Did she really want to know? Did she have a choice? She was Quinton Hunter's wife, and subject to his will by English law, and by God. She ran lightly up the staircase to her apartment where she found Honor awaiting her with a scented tub.

"Good evening, Your Grace," her servant said with a small smile, and a quick curtsey. "Let me take your things, and get you ready for bed." Honor was behaving as if it were any other night… Swiftly and efficiently, she helped her mistress undress herself, and then helped her into the tub. Allegra had already pinned her hair up as she always did. Then Honor bustled about the apartment putting garments away, or setting them aside to take to the laundress as Allegra washed herself. Finally she helped the new duchess from her tub.

Allegra sat down upon her dressing table bench as Honor dried between each of her toes. "Do you remember," she said, "when I was a little girl how you told me my toes would fall off if I didn't dry between them? I cannot tell you how long I believed you."

"No proper lady would have wet toes," Honor said. "At least that's what me ma always said." She paused a moment then told her young mistress, "I'm leaving a basin of warm water and some cloths by the fire."

"What on earth for?" Allegra asked her maid.

"You'll understand later," Honor said, getting up quickly. "Now, come and get into your night garb, m'lady." She held out a white silk garment that she slipped over Allegra's head, carefully tying a single white ribbon at the neckline. "There, now into bed with you.

Allegra climbed into the large bed, sniffing delightedly at the lavender scent coming from the sheets. Even the large pillows propped up behind her were scented.

Honor curtsied. "Good night, Your Grace," she said, and hurriedly left the bedchamber, closing the door firmly behind her. She had not, Allegra noted, gone to her own room.

The Duchess of Sedgwick lay in her bed watching the play of the firelight on the walls. Outside her heavily draped windows she could hear the roar of the storm with its howling winds and beating rains. It had been a wonderful day, but now she had to face reality, except she wasn't really certain what that reality was. All her guests had been so happy today. Happy for her, for Quinton, especially happy with one another. Sirena loved her Ocky. Caroline and Adrian Walworth seemed radiant. As for Eunice and Marcus, they had scarcely been able to take their eyes off each other. Her father and Aunt Mama four months after their union were still acting like April and May. Why even Lady Bellingham and her husband seemed to evince tart affection for each other.

"But I don't believe in love," Allegra muttered to herself. "These are but aberrations." Neither a man nor a woman can be faithful to their mate except in rare circumstances. And for the one who loves, the pain of betrayal must be horrific. Papa and Aunt Mama, as well as the Bellinghams, are old. Perhaps when one is old, love, true love, enters his life. As for Sirena, Caroline, and Eunice, we will see what happens to them five years from now, she thought to herself. It was better that she and the duke had a more sensible arrangement.