Percy was known to be a whirlwind of efficiency. He dispatched his duties with the swiftness of a leaf caught in a gale. Marriage and procreation, however, were among the most important duties that the future Duke of Winchester had to fulfill. Thus, the conscientious Marquess approached his marital prospects with the same speed and precision he applied to everything else in his life.
One crisp Sunday morning after Percy received Maggie's letter, a bombshell announcement shattered the serenity of St. Edmund's Basilica. The normally staid church service crackled with suppressed gasps when the forthcoming union of the Marquess of Winchester and Lady Marguerite Delaney Antoine Blanchard was declared. All of England seemed to hold its breath, then erupt in a cacophony of surprise.
