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marvellous!

    The stranger picked up each of the four horseshoes, one by one, examining the detail on every shoe, with no expression and no clue as to whether or not he was pleased or displeased, and then, eventually, he said to my father: ‘I’ll take them. And I’ll take your daughter too.’

Chapter 10

    ‘Ye’ll flippin’ well do what ?’ my father asked, his eyes widened and mouth agape. He cast me a sideways glance, and I shook my head fiercely, horrified at the words which had just escaped from the gentleman’s mouth.

    ‘I am the Duke of Leamington,’ said the stranger, rising a few inches taller all of a sudden, his spine straightening out, so that he towered over my father. ‘And I am not in the habit of being turned down when I make requests.’ He turned around, to look back at me, his eyes sliding down to my breasts, which seemed to swell under his gaze, and then he looked at my long, sturdy legs, poking out of the bottom of my short skirt, and back up to my pale cheeks, which had by now turned white as a ghost. ‘Yes,’ said the Duke, turning back to my father. ‘I’ll take her.’

    ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said my father, taking off his cap and rubbing his head, perplexed. The motion of his fingers on his head caused plumes of soot to fall down to the floor, and he quickly replaced his cap. For my father, it was a gesture of respect to keep his cap firmly atop his head, and the soot under the cap. ‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated, ‘but I jus’ don’t understand what it is you want.’

    The Duke cleared his throat, and took a step toward my father. ‘I wish to purchase her,’ he said. ‘Your girl there. I wish to pay for these shoes, and to pay for her . How much?’

    By this time, it seemed that everyone in the entire inn had stopped their conversation, and all eyes were now fixed on me. And then on my father. And then back to me.

    ‘Ah’m not sure that ah can…’ my father began.  

    But at that moment, the Duke removed a small, cloth purse from within the depths of his jacket, and began to take out not coins, but notes! Notes! Can you believe? And not just a couple of pound notes – oh no! They were proper, printed, bank-issued five pound notes. And he counted them out on the table for my father to see. He had twenty of them!

    ‘This is all the money that I have with me at present,’ said the Duke, collecting the money he had counted out and putting it back into his purse. ‘One hundred pounds.’

    My father’s eyes were near popping out of his skull.

    ‘But if you will consent to my marrying her, then I shall gladly send you another hundred once I am safely back in Leamington with my new bride.’

    Upon hearing the word ‘marriage’, I could see something change in my father.

    ‘So you want to marry ‘er?’ he asked, smiling. ‘Well, well. That’s a different story. Ah didnae realise yer intentions were honourable, sir! Now if ye’ll jus’ let me ‘ave another look at that money…’

    I could see that my father had been excited at the prospect of receiving all those pound notes. And who could blame him? Two hundred pounds! It was more money than most of the people in this inn would see in their entire lives. My father would never have to work another day again!

    But sell me ? To a perfect stranger! My father would never do that! Surely…

    The Duke handed my father his purse. ‘You can count it out yourself, you miserable wretch. But you must give me what I want.’

    My father – satisfied that the money was real, and that there was as much of it there as he had already once seen counted out before him – licked his lips, looked at me, then back at the Duke. ‘You have got yersel’ a deal. And I’ll tell you what?’ he beamed. ‘I’ll marry the two of you together myself. I’ll do it first thing in the morning if you like, sir!’

    ‘Excellent,’ said the Duke, finally deigning to shake hands with my father. ‘There’ll be one condition,