Almost a year had passed since Alice’s wedding to the duke. They had taken up residence in the duke’s town house, a massive building where she could as easily lose herself from the duke’s sight as she could in the country. One consolation for Alice was that Lucy, recently married to Edward Vere, was also in London and a constant caller. Alice felt she had shamed the duke enough over her behavior at the wedding and so had confided in no one about the miserable state of her marriage. The servants must have known something was badly wrong, that silent army who came and went during the day, ever courteous, ever watchful. She had been able to take up the reins of control easily. Before her marriage, she had been highly respected by the duke’s servants because of her charitable work, and so there was no autocratic housekeeper or pompous butler to cope with. Her commands were always obeyed. She sometimes wondered if she could have made a life for herself on the stage, she acted the part of happy wife so well.
