She arched a brow. “You want me to feel sorry for Lord Kendall?”
“No. I want you to know the truth about Kendall. He’s one of the best, most noble, most honest men I’ve ever known.”
“Except for when he was lying to me,” she replied curtly.
“Yes, frankly. Except for that.” Lord Bellingham shrugged. “The fact is, he came here as a servant because he was trying to do better, make a better choice, find true love, and I cannot blame him for that. And frankly, you shouldn’t either.”
Frances leaned forward and met the marquess’s gaze. “Tell me, Lord Bellingham, why are you pretending to be a servant? Are you also looking for true love?”
He sat back quickly and barked a laugh. “Me? Heavens, no. I am here because I am a man and when men are in their cups they say and do stupid things and the night Kendall decided he needed to find a true wife, we all decided to pretend to be servants along with him and see who could last the longest.”
For the first time since she’d heard about the bet, it actually seemed a bit less awful to her. She shook her head but couldn’t help the smile that popped to her lips. “Are you telling me there are more of you lords pretending to be servants here?”
A sly smile tugged at the corner of Lord Bellingham’s lips. “One more, but I’m not at liberty to reveal his identity.”
She laughed at that. “You’re right. Men do stupid things.”
He laughed too. “You’ll get no argument from me.”
“Is that why you are here, Lord Bellingham? To tell me this story in the hopes that I’ll forgive Lucas?”
“No. It’s not for me to ask you to forgive him. I merely came to ask you to ask yourself an important question.”
She eyed him warily. “What’s that?
“Are you cutting off your nose to be revenged of your face?”
She sat back and sucked in her breath. “What?”
“Have you asked yourself why you won’t forgive him? Granted, what he did was silly and wrong, but would you rather spend the rest of your life as Lady Frances Francis in order to live with your resentment, because frankly, you strike me as a much more intelligent young lady than that.”
She leaned forward and stared Lord Bellingham in the eye. “Why do you say that?”
Lord Bellingham shrugged. “Because anyone astute enough to realize what drivel the Employment Bill was, must be clever.”
She sat back in her chair. “Not that it matters. The bill probably has enough votes to pass after all.”
“I don’t know about that. Kendall denounced it, do you know?”
She turned to face him. “Denounced what?”
“The Employment Bill,” Lord Bellingham replied.
Frances sucked in a breath. “What? When?”
Lord Bellingham tipped his head to the side. “After you ran out of the dining room last night. He told the whole lot of them the bill was rubbish, and I happen to know that you were the reason he thought so.”
Frances touched her fingertips to her lips. “Truly?” she breathed.
“That’s right. After Kendall left the room, the Prince Regent vowed to vote against it. Which of course means Sir Reginald will as well.”
Frances dropped her hand into her lap. She studied Lord Bellingham’s face. “Why did Lucas denounce it?”
Lord Bellingham propped his elbows on the arms of his chair. “Because he never believed in that drivel to being with. He wasn’t the one who introduced the law. His brother did. Charles died over a year ago. Lucas was merely carrying out his wishes.”
Frances stared at him. Was that true? She searched her memory for the bits of gossip she’d heard about Lord Kendall. Yes, his brother had died. But she hadn’t been out in Society then and hadn’t known much about the man. The only Lord Kendall she’d known of was the current one and he had always been linked to the Employment Bill. But it stood to reason that the bill had been around before Lucas had taken up the earldom.
“The truth is,” Lord Bellingham continued, “you’re the one who was able to show him how wrong he’d been about the law, Miss Wharton.”
The man could have knocked her over with a piece of parchment. “Did he tell you that?”
“I’m not at liberty to say, but if there’s one thing I know it’s that the world is not black and white. There are many shades of gray, Miss Wharton, and if you had let Kendall explain why he did something as seemingly insane as pretend to be a footman at a house party, you just might begin to see the gray.”
She furrowed her brow. Now the man was speaking in riddles. “What gray?”
“Kendall wanted to find a lady who was kind to servants, who thought about others, and who loved him for himself. He found that in you.”
“He didn’t have to lie to me.”
“No, but think about what happened from his perspective. He only intended to serve dinner. To see which young ladies he might want to meet later. He never expected a young lady to catch his attention so thoroughly by asking him to look out into the hall for her. Then he saw her again the next day while trying to do his chores in the library. They struck up a conversation and he began to look forward to talking to the young lady.”
Frances shook her head. Tears blurred her vision.
“He began to realize he’d found the young lady he was looking for,” Lord Bellingham continued. “Only how exactly does one admit that one has been pretending to be a footman?”
Frances sat blinking at the marquess for several seconds. Before Lord Bellingham had entered
