The Duke and I

In her next column, Lady Whistledown confesses that she does not know the true reasons for Simon’s estrangement from his father.

At Lady Danbury’s ball, Daphne hides from a suitor, Nigel Berbrooke, whose proposal she has already refused once before. Anthony finds Daphne and commiserates about their mother’s obsession with finding them both spouses. Their brother Benedict joins them and teases that he may inherit the dukedom if Anthony doesn’t marry soon. The third Bridgerton brother, Colin, arrives to warm welcomes, newly home from Amsterdam. Colin is Daphne’s favorite sibling, closest to her in age. Lady Danbury approaches and assures Daphne that Nigel would make a poor match.

Meanwhile, Simon muses on his personal history while traveling to the ball. Despite the Duke’s refusal to educate him, the young Simon tricked the Headmaster at Eton into believing “that the mix-up was the school’s fault” (41). The Duke kept him enrolled to avoid disgrace. Later, at Oxford, Simon earned a reputation as “arrogant” and a “rake” because his introversion and care with words matched the social expectations for an aristocrat of his standing. Once, spying on Simon, the Duke learned of how Simon won a verbal sparring match with notorious dandy Beau Brummel by merely saying, “No” ; the “terse” response proved effective.