He hadn’t realized he’d spent so much during his visit to the city. He recalled purchasing a few sets of clothes, had bought a new horse, but the rest of it . . . Well. Cash disappeared so fast, and he had a deuce of a time holding on to it. While he didn’t feel he had extravagant tastes, it was so difficult to get by on the meager allowance granted by his oldest brother, Henry. Not that he could complain. In light of his sibling’s penny-pinching ways, it was a miracle he received any stipend at all, so he was in no position to gripe or protest. If Henry were to have an inkling that Freddy wasn’t grateful, he was petty enough to cut off funding, so Freddy trod a fine line. He had to be fawning and obsequious to the whiny miser, feigning affection and goodwill, while privately he seethed and plotted. Image mattered above all else, so he liked to be viewed as a gentleman of substance. He couldn’t have others looking down on him, gossiping, or thumbing their noses over his penury.
