“Not when the subject was farming,” came West’s dour reply. When did you last read an issue of the Times? Have you paid no attention to the discussions at the club or the taverns?” It had been Devon’s bad luck to inherit a title just as a tide of industry was sweeping away aristocratic traditions and entitled modes of living. All across England, new factories and mill towns had begun to appear faster than hazel catkins in the spring. However, somewhere beyond the cheerful huddles of thatched-roof cottages and the fertile tracts of chalk down and ancient woodland, thousands of miles of steel track were being laid out for an onslaught of locomotive engines and railcars. The Hampshire scenery was green and bucolic, neatly divided by bottle-green hedgerows in bloom. “Estate farming is no longer profitable.”ĭevon sent him a dark glance before returning his attention to the view. “But how could that be? The estate comes with twenty thousand acres. “Why hasn’t that been repaired?” West asked. The lead came that joined the window glass was corroded, the hinges and fittings rusted. Shaking his head, he dropped the rug back into place and went to a window fitted with diamond-shaped panes. ?”ĭevon bent and lifted the corner of the rug to reveal a rotting hole in the flooring beneath. He hopped away and stared at the bowl-shaped indentation. “It’s not so bad-” West broke off with a yelp as his foot began to sink into a depression in the rug. None of this boded well for the condition of the rest of the house. The rugs were worn, the furniture threadbare, the plaster wall moldings dingy and cracked. So far he had seen only this room and the entrance hall, the two areas that were supposed to impress visitors the most. Although Devon had become ennobled shortly after his cousin’s death three months ago, he had waited as long as possible before facing the mountain of problems he now confronted. This was the first time either of them had ever set foot in Eversby Priory, the ancestral family domain built over the remains of a monastic residence and church. Here Devon and his brother West have just begun the inspection of the family home, Eversby Priory, part of the holdings Devon has inherited after his cousin’s untimely demise: A sneak peek at the first book in the Ravenel series:
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