In the novel I am writing at the moment, the Duchess of Winshire is pleased to help an old friend.
“We are fortunate that the duchess is in town and remembers Gran fondly,” Pol commented.
“She has been very kind,” Jackie said.
The duchess said that Gran had been kind to her, when she was a young bride and still finding her feet as a duchess. It was hard to imagine that the commanding grand lady had once been unsure of her place. Now, said the duchess, she could return the favour.
“She has been very helpful,” said Pol. The four of them had agreed not to disclose the details of why they were in London to anyone but the enquiry agent, and even then, they had intended to be judicious about what they said.
Gran must have forgotten, for within ten minutes of her reunion with the duchess, she was spilling out everything. Her belief that Pol was the real heir to his grandfather and that her daughter-in-law had hidden the truth. The terrible treatment Pol had suffered in what should be his own house. How Oscar and his mother terrorised the neighbourhood, with the connivance of the local magistrate. The trumped-up charges against Pol and Jackie.
When Pol, Jackie, and Madame de Haricot had joined the two older ladies, Her Grace knew everything. She had asked how she could help. “I will, if you have no objection, ask Wakefield and Wakefield to send an enquiry agent to discuss your case. I am familiar with the firm, and agree they are a good choice.”