He leaned unsteadily against a willow overhanging the carefully graded pool. The golden carp swam lazily in ever widening circles. He tracked one as it swished through the water, slow and languid under the hot noon sun. After being rebuffed by Lady Julia and betrayed by his admired father, there had been no reason to ignore the full-figured charms of Clottie, the new dairy maid. He let her pull him into the stables and burrowed with her in the hay. He still blushed when he remembered her nimble fingers and his own clumsiness. He was so overcome by her eagerness and her lavish body that all thoughts of Lady Julia vanished in an instant. And then, from outside, he heard his father’s voice raised in ire. The duke made it a policy never to let emotion so move him that it was necessary to raise his voice, but on that occasion his voice rang shrill. Arthur quickly fastened his breeches and brushed the straw from his hair before running out into the stable yard.
