brows. “Go ahead then.”
“Well, for one thing, it certainly sounds as if the bill will keep the servant class in their place.”
Lucas couldn’t help but glance at James. He suddenly felt entirely conspicuous. Even if Sir Reginald felt that way, did he have to say it in front of James? He could well have discreetly asked the man to leave the room or worded his sentence more tactfully.
“On the other hand,” Sir Reginald continued, “it does appear to stifle some of the progress we’ve made with the trade laws. And I can’t say I like that one bit.”
Lucas frowned. That was Sir Reginald’s argument? The trade laws had been too archaic even for Charles. Those laws kept the working class from earning any sort of a fair wage and had given them basically no rights against employers who refused to pay them, provide them with any medical care whatsoever, and even beat them. Sir Reginald’s argument against the Employment Bill was that it didn’t make it difficult enough for the working class? The repeal of some of the harsher conditions of the trade laws had been the one part of the Employment Bill Frances had actually agreed with. Her words rang in Lucas’s memory. I don’t see how anyone with a heart beating in his chest could be for it. Sir Reginald certainly sounded heartless at the moment.
Lucas forced himself to temporarily swallow his distaste to make his next point. “It will stimulate the growth of tenant farming and help to shore up some large problems with estate economics.”
“Yes, but the real beauty of the trade laws was the fact that we don’t have to answer to anyone for how we treat our help,” Sir Reginald continued. “Why would I choose to vote against my own best interests?”
The House of Lords has the power to defeat this law, but they only vote in favor of themselves and their own purses. More of Frances’s words resounded in Lucas’s head. He’d actually spent time trying to argue that point, trying to convince her that the male members of upper class did not vote only in favor of themselves and their own purses. But she was right. Sir Reginald was proving her right.
“I suppose you won’t choose to vote against your own best interests,” Lucas managed to bite out. He had only one final thing to say and then he intended to take himself away from Sir Reginald’s noxious company and never seek it again. “Look, Sir Reginald, the reason I’m so interested in getting this bill passed is because—”
“We all know why you’re so interested in getting it passed, Kendall,” Sir Reginald interrupted with an eye roll. “Your brother told you to. Now Charles was a man with whom one could negotiate. I was hoping you’d be more like him, actually.”
Lucas sat back. His chest ached as if he’d been knocked from a ship’s crow’s nest to the main deck. He couldn’t breathe. His throat burned. “What did you say to me?” he growled through clenched teeth.
“I said your brother knew how to be a politician. Clearly, he didn’t teach you much before he cocked up his toes.”
Lucas squeezed his glass so tightly it cracked. If he didn’t remove himself from Sir Reginald’s presence immediately, the knight’s neck would be next.
“On the contrary.” Lucas spit the words like nails. “I’ve always believed the bill would do the most good for the country. But I’m beginning to understand that it actually does the most good for our class and I’m not at all certain any longer that our class deserves it.” Lucas stood, drained the rest of the brandy from his ailing glass, set it on the side table, and strode toward the door. “Good day, Sir Reginald.”
The knight stared after him, his mouth agape. “Wait a minute,” he called. “What about the chancellorship?”
Lucas didn’t slow down. “Good afternoon, James, and thank you for your service,” he said to the footman on his way out, tipping his head in the servant’s direction. “Please tell Clayton I owe him a brandy glass.”
“With pleasure, my lord,” James replied with a nod and a bow.
Lucas hadn’t got three steps down the corridor before he let out a string of muffled curses that he knew for a fact would make one of the most highly seasoned jacks in the Royal Navy blush. What the hell had just happened back there? He was thoroughly disgusted. Disgusted with Sir Reginald and all the imperious blowhards like him, gentlemen of