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to be desired. Mr. Bodmin had told her ladyship when first they met that he wanted the best product on the market for his girl, and it now appeared that that was what he was being offered. He would never dream of forcing a match on Tracy that she would not like, but Mr. Bodmin was certain that she did like the Duke of Hastings.
    The Bodmins accepted the Duke’s gracious invitation and planned to go down to Steyning Castle at the end of May.
     

Chapter 5
     
    For nobleness of birth is, as it were, a clear lamp that sheweth forth and bringeth into light works both good and bad.
    —The Book of the Courtier
     
    Three days before they left for Steyning Castle something happened that would radically affect the outcome of that visit. Tracy was arranging flowers in the small breakfast room that was really an alcove off the drawing room of their suite when the door opened and her father and Richard Rush came in. Tracy did not immediately make her presence known but went on putting the finishing touches to her arrangement. She had no intention of eavesdropping, but when she realized what the two men were talking about, that is exactly what she did.
    The beginning of their conversation was harmless. “Congress has closed American ports to all British vessels arriving from a colony that is legally closed to American ships,” said Mr. Rush. “I just received notice from Mr. Adams. It won’t go down well with the English.”
    “It is Britain’s fault for not allowing America to export to the West Indies. The West Indian planters are as angry as we are about the present situation. England must be made to realize that she cannot monopolize the trade; she must be made to realize that her Navigation Laws are archaic.”
    “Mr. Adams writes me that he sees our action as a test, a contest between American nationalism and British mercantilism.” There was a pause. “I wonder, Mr. Bodmin, if you would care to speak to the British government on this issue? As the single largest ship owner in America, your words would have some weight.”
    “I would be glad to speak to Lord Castlereagh, but you must not count on me, Rush. I will be going home very shortly now.”
    This was when Tracy’s head jerked up and she really began to listen.
    “I did not know that,” said Richard Rush. “Perhaps I might ask you to be my ambassador to Mr. Adams in Washington?”
    “I cannot promise to go to Washington, Rush,” said Mr. Bodmin heavily. “I shall be glad to make it just to Salem.” He paused, then said quite kindly, “I am dying, you see.”
    “What!”
    “Yes, I am dying. The doctor gave me six months when I left home.”
    “My dear Bodmin,” said Richard Rush, clearly distressed. “I had no idea.”
    “No one has, not even my daughter. I only tell you because I want to ask a favor of you.”
    “Anything, my dear fellow.”
    “I will be going home, but I rather think Tracy will be staying. The Duke of Hastings has invited us to visit his home in Sussex and I expect a proposal of marriage to be forthcoming.”
    “The Duke of Hastings!” Mr. Rush was clearly overwhelmed.
    “Yes. Tracy knows nothing of my illness and I don’t want her to know. It may be selfish of me, but I want her to remember me as a man of strength and vigor, not as a rasping, coughing husk of a thing. I will not tell her.” He leaned forward. “I will no longer be here, but I should like to think that Tracy has a friend in you, Rush.”
    “Of course I will be her friend,” Richard Rush said warmly.
    “Thank you.  It will perhaps be a little difficult for her at first, accustoming herself to English ways. She will feel better if there is another American she can look to.”
    Shortly after that, the American Minister left and Mr. Bodmin walked slowly to his bedroom. Tracy stayed in the breakfast room for twenty more minutes, her body rigid with shock, her knuckles white with tension as they grasped the back of a chair.
    She had known something was wrong