The Wicked Marquess Read online

  Mr. Atchison, Mr. Dowlin and Mr. Burton were distressed by Miss Russell’s marriage, but there was nothing to be done. Since all that had drawn them together was their mutual interest in the young lady, the gentlemen soon drifted apart. Mr. Dowlin became a very successful barrister, and traded his stuff gown for one of silk, and wrote the initials ‘Q.C.’ after his name. Mr. Atchison settled into his responsibilities as a man of property, and took himself a comfortable little wife, and often bored other landed gentlemen in the House of Commons with dissertations upon such weighty matters as whether a particular road should or should not have a turnpike, and whose fields should be enclosed. Mr. Burton rejoined his regiment, served under Wellington during the Peninsular Campaign, and conducted himself heroically at Salamanca, where he was slain. Mr. Hazelett — or Devries – died also, in an unpleasant manner befitting one who attempted to dispose of a peer of the realm.

  Percy Pettigrew, under other circumstances, might have lived a long and remarkably malicious life. Instead, he put a bullet through his brain.

  Baird’s Abbey today remains the favored residence of the Davenham family, who continue in the tradition of embellishing the eccentric structure, and recently have added solar panels and a tennis court. The Elizabethan kitchens have long since been remodeled. All these improvements have not rid the old place of its drafts. The gardens contain an unauthentic ruined tower, a gift from Sinbad to his bride.

  The battlements remain the same, the chimeras and gargoyles, the parapet where tragedy was so narrowly averted once, if not before. The secret passageways are still in use.

  As for the ghosts who are said to haunt the abbey–

  For those with vision keen enough to see them, Lady Dulcibella and her Robin dance in the great hall still.

  Copyright © 2009 by Maggie MacKeever

  Originally published by Belgrave House/Regency Reads (9780982171783)

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  This is a work of fiction. All names in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.