Daniel wasn’t one to give up without trying, so he left the pessimistic gardener and led his mount around the house. Not exactly a hospitable welcome. Still, his horse needed a rest and some water. A bit of grain or hay wouldn’t go amiss either.

The stables were magnificent, with a clock tower and a graceful brick arch opening into a quadrangle of stalls. A well sat in the center of the courtyard, handy for the grooms.

Less than a fourth of the stalls held occupants, and the yard had a bit of a neglected air, with weeds growing in some cracks and bits of straw tumbling across the cobbles in the breeze. Clearly the earl hadn’t visited his stables in some time.

A skinny, weathered old man emerged from one of the stalls, closing the bottom half of the door behind him. A long bay head thrust over the door and whickered, and the old man caressed the horse’s nose. Daniel instantly felt a rapport with the man, for he reminded him of the stable master at his childhood home. Mr. Farley had loved his charges like children and treated them with affection.

“Good day, sir. Might I trouble you for some water and feed for my horse?”

A cold clay pipe dangled from the man’s lips, and he removed it, using the stem to scratch the gray stubble over his ear. “Of a certainty. Always feed and water for a horse in need. That’s a fine-looking animal ye have. Are ye on yer way to the coast?”

“No, I’ve come from London to visit the earl on a matter of business. It should not take me long, but this fellow has brought me at a fair pace and could use a bit of a rest.” As he spoke, Daniel loosened the girth to make the chestnut more comfortable.

The old man nodded. “Don’t know as you’ll get in to see his lordship. He in’t feeling well. Laid up in bed and wastin’ away. If you’d have come a year ago, you could have heard him bellerin’ all through the house, striding his land like a giant. Nothing missed his attention, and he kept a tight fist on everything. Knew his property down to the last lamb and apple blossom, he did.” The man shook his head, as if he actually missed being shouted at by his employer.

A cantankerous man, the earl, it seemed. That might explain some of the viscount’s behavior. Daniel braced himself for an unpleasant encounter. Only the fact that he had given his word to Miss Montgomery to make inquiries into her erstwhile beau’s whereabouts kept him from turning around and going back to the city.