Duke of a Gilded Age Read Online Free

fashion, of course, but I’ve nothing else to wear.”
    “You look splendid and quite…pretty.”
    “That’s very kind, Wesley.”
    Her smile cheered him up considerably. “See here, if we can afford it, you shall have all new clothes,” he said. “I can make do with Father’s things for a while.”
    At that, Lady Frederic laughed. “Weren’t you listening when Mr. Oakhurst was explaining your inheritance?”
    “Not really. I was in too much pain.”
    “Well, we needn’t concern ourselves about money any longer.”
    “After being poor, I can’t imagine ever taking money for granted.”
    A knock at the door just then heralded the arrival of the cab.
    “I’ll get the trunks,” Wesley said.
    But as he bent down, Lady Frederic put a firm hand on his shoulder. “A gentleman doesn’t handle his own luggage.”
    Astonished, Wesley gaped. “Our trunks won’t move themselves!”
    “Let the driver do it,” she said. “That’s how he earns gratuities.”
    Wesley admitted the driver and stood aside while the man hoisted the first trunk onto his shoulder. Gentlemen aren’t permitted to do a great many things . So far, being a gentleman doesn’t sound fun .
    “I’m going upstairs to relinquish the key to Mrs. Thackeray.” Lady Frederic gave the apartment one final glance. “I’m not sorry to leave this place. Your father was never happy here, and neither was I.”
    Although Wesley hated the apartment too, a surge of nostalgia gripped him. Now that he was facing an uncertain future, the small dwelling suddenly represented a safe harbor. For good or for ill, he was about to say farewell to the last place he’d seen his father alive. He tried to keep his feelings hidden, but his mother must have sensed his turmoil. She slipped a soothing hand around his elbow.
    “Come along, my dear,” Lady Frederic said. “Staying here won’t bring your father back. If his spirit is anywhere, we’ll find it at Caisteal Park.”
    Lady Frederic left Wesley on the sidewalk while she went to the landlady’s apartment to drop off the key. The reflected August heat caused beads of perspiration to form on Wesley’s upper lip, but fortunately his mother reappeared almost immediately. While the driver loaded the last of their trunks, Wesley helped his mother into the cab and sat next to her.
    Down the street, Liam was tossing a battered baseball in the air and catching it on the way down with one hand. Wesley’s cloth cap was set on his head at a jaunty angle. As the cab drove past, Wesley leaned out the window.
    “Hey, Liam!”
    The dawning recognition in Liam’s eyes caused his jaw to drop. Wesley lifted his top hat. “Give my best to Colleen, why don’t you?”
    With a satisfied grin, Wesley settled back in his seat. Perhaps being a gentleman has its compensations after all.

    In the rarified atmosphere of the handsomely appointed Fifth Avenue Hotel lobby, Mr. Oakhurst and Belle waited for Wesley and his mother to arrive. The floor was covered with a highly polished white marble that echoed the extensive use of marble on the hotel’s exterior. Round columns stretched from floor to ceiling, and a flower stand in one corner did a brisk business. Glossy green potted plants softened every corner, and the hotel fairly thrummed with excitement.
    Belle watched the vertical railway doors open and close nearby. People disappeared into the little movable parlor en route to one of the five floors above her head. She nudged her father to get his attention. “That’s truly a marvelous invention. I wrote about it in my letter to Errol last night.”
    Mr. Oakhurst tore his attention away from the hotel entrance long enough to glance at the vertical lift. “Did you know this hotel was constructed with the first passenger elevator? Originally it was a vertical screw railway, but I believe it’s since given way to a more modern rope mechanism.”
    “Quite clever.”
    “Indeed, the widespread use of elevators will enable buildings