“I thought Mr Louvaine was to be here to-day,” she said.
“So did I likewise. I cannot tell why he comes not.”
“Have you seen him lately?”
“No, not in some time. I suppose he is busy.”
Dorothy looked amused. “What think you he doth all the day long?”
Lettice had not been present when Aubrey detailed his day’s occupations, and she was under the impression that he led a busy life, with few idle hours.
“Truly, I know not what,” she answered; “but the Earl, no doubt, hath his duties, and ’tis Aubrey’s to wait on him.”
“The Earl, belike, reads an hour or two with his tutor, seeing he is but a child: and the rest of the time is there music and dancing, riding the great horse, playing at billiards, tennis, bowls, and such like. That is your cousin’s business, Mrs Lettice.”
“Only that?—but I reckon he cannot be let go, but must come after his master’s heels?”
“He is on duty but three days of every week, save at the lever and coucher, and may go whither he list on the other four.”