“I have heard a rumour. No. More than a rumour, for it was young Aldridge who told me, and he had it from his father, who was one of the King’s advisers on this matter. It is not official, mind, but I knew you would appreciate a warning.”
Alex frowned. A warning? About something the Duke of Haverford had advised the King? This could not bode well, surely?
“You know the House of Hanover is grateful to you and well they should be. You saved the life of young… Well. Never mind. You have never mentioned his name and quite right, too.”
It had been a well-kept secret and not in Father’s department of the Horse Guard, but senior officers undoubtedly gossiped as much as their juniors. Alex tipped his head to one side and waited.
“The father of the boy has prevailed on the King to offer you a peerage, Alex. A barony, Aldridge tells me. I was surprised he said anything. Closed as an oyster, Aldridge is, but you were children together.”
The Marquis of Aldridge, heir to the duke of Haverford, was cousin to Alex’s cousin, the Earl of Chirbury; their mothers being sisters. He had spent two long summers out of the schoolroom in Longford where Rede had lived with Alex and his family.
“A barony.” Alex had no idea what he thought about that. If it came with useful land and a good house, it would be well enough, but the King was famous for his cheese-paring.
“Did Aldridge say which barony or where it was?”
Father shook his head. “He did not know. Haverford did not mention it, apparently. Aldridge suggested that advance warning might give you sufficient time to simulate gratitude.”
Simulate gratitude. Hah. That sounded like Aldridge. A barony. Well. He could guess what Ella would think of that. He would need to persuade her to marry him before it happened.
