Good Dukes Wear Black Read Online Free Page A

friends. Just as you and I are friends. It would be absurd if you made me address you by your title all the time.”
    â€œNot in my mother’s circles,” Ophelia said wryly. She knew just what was expected of her as the eldest daughter of a gentleman, but she really did wish that she could go through life with the same ease of manner as Maggie did. Despite the fact that her father-in-law was a baron, Maggie was never high in the instep or worried about her own consequence. “She is already unhappy enough that I’ve chosen to write for a newspaper. I can only imagine the sort of fuss she’d kick up if she knew Mr. Carrington was encouraging me to address him as Edwin. She’d likely see it as an assault on my virtue and demand that I stop writing for the paper at once.”
    â€œWell, what she does not know won’t harm her,” Maggie said firmly. “Now, let’s concentrate on that delicious little chip bonnet you’ve got your eye on. I for one have had enough grimness to last a lifetime after all my research about madness and asylums.”
    â€œI hate that you’ve done all that work only to have Edwin refuse to publish your story,” Ophelia said, still focused on the paper.
    â€œNever you fear, Miss Dauntry,” her friend said as she opened the door of Watson’s Haberdashery. “I have other options. And you do too. But now, let us focus on something pretty.”
    Soon the two ladies were discussing the merits of green ribbon versus red, and silk versus grosgrain. Ophelia had gone to the other side of the shop to look at a pretty hat decorated with violets when she heard a male voice from where Maggie had been standing.
    â€œI’m afraid you’ll need to come with us, madam.”
    Though he didn’t say her name, Ophelia knew instinctively that the man was speaking to Maggie.
    â€œWhat’s this about?” she heard Maggie ask, and turning she saw that the other lady was flanked on either side by two enormous men who were clearly not gentlemen.
    Setting aside the bonnet she’d been contemplating, Ophelia hurried across the shop to where the hulking men had each taken one of Maggie’s arms.
    â€œEverything has been arranged, madam,” said the larger of the two men in a placating tone. “We’re going to take you to a place where you can get a nice long rest.”
    â€œWhat’s the meaning of this?” Ophelia asked sharply as she arrived at her friend’s side.
    â€œI’m sure I don’t know,” Maggie said, her eyes wide with worry, even as she tried unsuccessfully to pull away. “Unhand me, please, sir. At once.”
    â€œCan’t do that, ma’am,” said the shorter fellow. “You’re Mrs. Margaret Grayson, correct?”
    Exchanging a troubled look with Ophelia, Maggie nodded. “I am, but that still doesn’t give you the right—”
    â€œHere,” the larger man said, pulling a much-folded page from somewhere within the folds of his coat. “Right here it says we’re to take you to the Hayes Clinic.” He pointed at the page with a beefy finger.
    At the mention of the Hayes Clinic, Ophelia’s stomach dropped. She knew all too well that the inhabitants of Dr. Archibald Hayes’s hospital for the mentally unstable were made to suffer. Maggie herself had related the horror stories to her as she researched them for her story about madhouses.
    Surely that was no coincidence.
    Ophelia knew instinctively that Maggie was in real danger.
    â€œMay I see your writ, please?” Ophelia asked the nearest of the two attendants, hoping her brisk tone would cow them for a moment.
    Wordlessly the man handed the page to her, which she read aloud. “‘By direction of Mr. George Grayson, I hereby authorize the bearers to take charge of Mrs. Margaret Grayson, she being insane and a danger to herself and others, and convey her to the Hayes