“Thank you, sir. Now, this... «The Privilege of the Sword»

“Thank you, sir. Now, this is a grateful letter from the Orphans’ Asylum, thanking you for the beds and the new roof and inviting you to their Harvest Pageant, where the children will sing, dance and recite.”
“Regrets.” The duke grimaced. “Just regrets. Ignore the other nonsense.”
The Ugly Girl swung her foot under her. “You founded the place. Why don’t you want to go?”
“I don’t like children,” the duke replied.
“Then why put out all that money to preserve them?”
“Because it is wrong to let them die.” The duke shook the foam of lace at his cuffs, each flower and petal and leaf twisted thread upon thread by the fingers of an artist. “I did nothing to deserve this. I got it all because I had a grandmother with lots of money who left it to me. Before that I lived in two rooms in Riverside. I saw what happened to the products of a moment’s pleasure. Other people do not deserve to starve or to be fucked before they know what the word means, just because they have no one.”