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They stood and watched as Mandy glided out of the rooone before he turned and put a finger in the duke’s chest and said, “You dog!”

“What? What the devil do you mean?” the duke returned his brows up with surprise

“Egad,it, you have been drinking deep and any fool can see you are in love with her”

“What are you talking about? She is my ward,” the duke looked away from his friend

Skip snorted, “What has that to say to anything? It is all over your face You can’t hide it Lord, I don’t think you are even trying to hide it You are in love with her!”

The duke sighed and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “Aye then, deeply, madly, wildly…and I don’t kno it happened”

Skip burst out laughing once more

At that moment, some ten miles northwest of the viscount’s residence, in the heart of the Dales lay a tavern well hidden froh in the instep

Its location was such that travelers never calance at the shabbiness of the establishain

It happened that Chauncey remembered a friend who enjoyed the privacy this particular inn afforded, and it was there Chauncey led young Sherborne

The tavern’s large public galley was low ceilinged, its oak rafters and wall beams lined dirty, yellow-painted walls, covered with nondescript paintings, many of thee and its tables and chairs were crude ear However, the inhabitants didn’t sees

They swayed, booood mirth and in spite of the tavern’s seclusion, its rooms were full The reason for this was the fact that many of these individuals, whose occupations put them outside the law, enjoyed a retreat where they felt secure and paid well for their lodgings

One room in particular, which was called the “Boiler” was connected to a legend Chauncey murmured into Ned’s ears as they approached the tavern, “The innkeeper’s ould put up lonely travelers in the roo and when pulled a trap door opened and it would lower its occupant into a cast iron container filled with boiling water Murder and theft Went on for ilant woman in search of her husband, discovered it all The innkeeper’s wife escaped, but herfor his crimes he was and the room sealed”

As they entered the lively inn, Ned said, “I don’t know if sleeping here will beby the river, Chaunce We’ll have to sleep with an eye open”