Arthur drew his head back and stared at her for a moment.Though she still seemed thin and wan he caught an echo of the young Kitty he had known in Ireland many years before and his heart quickened at the thought.

Kitty frowned at his intense expression, then asked tremulously, ‘Arthur, what is it, dear?’

He smiled. ‘Tell the nursemaid to take the boy to his room. I think we should have an early night.’

There was a flash of anxiety in Kitty’s eyes and she bit her lip before replying. ‘Very well, my dearest. But please, be gentle with me. I am still not fully recovered from childbirth.’

‘Of course, my dear. I will be as gentle as I can.’

Chapter 28 - Dublin, April 1807

Chapter 28

Dublin, April 1807

The new Chief Secretary and his small family moved into his official residence in Phoenix Park and while Kitty arranged to take on staff, and set up accounts with suppliers of wines and fine foods in the city,Arthur set to work at once. The parliamentary elections were being held, with the usual excitement, and not a little violence. In Wexford the Tory candidate had challenged his Whig opponent to a duel and shot him dead. It was not appropriate that so disputatious a politician should be allowed to sit in the Commons, and he was duly persuaded by Arthur to step aside for another candidate less disposed to settling political differences with firearms.

On his first day in his new appointment Arthur was introduced to his staff by the senior clerk, an elderly Dubliner named Thomas Stoper. Once Arthur had been escorted down the line of officials, failing to take in more than a handful of names and faces, Stoper showed the new Chief Secretary to his office, a large, panelled room with windows overlooking the courtyard. Arthur’s attention was drawn to a pile of letters lying in a wooden tray on one side of the desk.

‘What’s all that?’

Stoper’s gaze flicked briefly to the letters. ‘They were delivered this morning, sir.’

‘Good God, all of them?’

‘Yes, sir. It is not unusual for the first morning of a new appointment. ’

‘Not unusual?’ Arthur frowned. ‘Then be so good as to tell me what reason could possibly prompt so many letters.’

‘That’s easy enough, sir. I’ll warrant that they are nearly all from people requesting appointments for themselves, or for friends and family.’

‘Well, they can damn well wait then,’ Arthur growled as he took his seat behind the desk and gestured to the chair opposite.‘Please sit down, Stoper.’

The senior clerk arched an eyebrow in brief surprise and then did as he was bid, settling stiffly as he met Arthur’s gaze, his grey eyes steely in his thin face with its pinched cheeks.