The Quality of Mercy Read Online Free

The Quality of Mercy
Book: The Quality of Mercy Read Online Free
Author: David Roberts
Pages:
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good naval officer. He’s not just a playboy.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Ned, I don’t want to be rude to your friends but there it is. I don’t wish to discuss it.’
    ‘He’s not my friend but Sunny is and I certainly can’t refuse him. What about Frank? Surely he can go? You know he will be bored here. This will give him something to think about.’
    ‘I would rather he did not go but he’s not a child any more. He can make his own decision.’ The Duke looked even sulkier. ‘I hate that word “bored”,’ he said suddenly angry. ‘Most people are bored but they have to earn their living as best they may in “boring” jobs. They don’t gad around the world picking up unsuitable girls. I am very much afraid my son is turning into a spoiled brat. He seems to think life is just one long party. Well, it isn’t and the sooner he finds that out the better.’
    ‘I say, Gerald, steady on! There’s a war coming sure as eggs is eggs and we’ll all have our duty to do but young men like Frank will carry the worst of it. You shouldn’t begrudge him the chance to sow a few wild oats.’
    ‘I’m not against the boy sowing a few wild oats . . .’ He caught the expression on the faces of his wife and brother. ‘Well, I’m not,’ he said stoutly. ‘Being a duke is a damn dull business. You’d agree with that, wouldn’t you, Connie?’
    She hardly knew how to answer him. She had indeed felt constricted on occasion by what was expected of her and, if she were honest, she did think her husband had become dull but she was well aware that most women would give their souls to be where she was.
    ‘We have Frank and we have Mersham,’ she said diplomatically. ‘We have no cause for complaint when I think of what some people have to put up with.’
    Edward looked at her with affection. Connie was not one of those indolent, whining women he met sometimes who could talk of nothing but how difficult it was to get good servants.
    ‘You still haven’t told me why you don’t like the man,’ Edward demanded, a trifle plaintively.
    The Duke said nothing but opened The Times noisily and pretended to read. He hated gossip but what he had read about the Mountbattens had shocked him.
    Lord Louis Mountbatten, known to his family and close friends as Dickie and to other friends and acquaintances as Lord Louis, was Queen Victoria’s great-grandson. There was a photograph to prove it in an ornate silver frame on a side table in the drawing-room at Broadlands of him as a baby sitting on her lap. It was the hinge upon which his life swung and never for one moment did he forget his position as a member of the Royal Family or allow anyone else to. He was tall – over six feet – with a ramrod-straight back, a fine head and a strong jaw. He had very little imagination and no intellectual curiosity. When he went to the theatre it was to admire the actresses and – some spiteful gossips would add – good-looking young actors. He had no sense of humour, which occasionally made him ridiculous, but he was by no means stupid. He possessed one of those highly focused minds which, when presented with a problem, worry at it until it’s solved. He had suggested several technical improvements to his naval superiors on subjects such as wireless telegraphy and gun aiming.
    He was ambitious both in his chosen career and in his determination to be treated not just as a minor royal but a leader in high society. He was not particularly interested in politics but, when he thought about it at all, saw himself as a liberal. He loved sport – particularly dangerous sport in which he could prove himself to be a man among men. He drove fast cars and fast boats and played polo with only two things in mind – he must win if at all possible but above all he must put on a ‘good show’. His vanity led him to make mistakes. He was not a good judge of character and preferred to be surrounded by men who would not criticize or challenge him. His closest friend
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