“An altogether livelyfamily, if you ask me,” Dorothy said. “I find Theodore and Claribel most amusing too.”
“Well, you had better get used to them, for they will soon be your family and you will be sharing this house with them.”
The dining room was unexpected. Not only was the Stewart family present, but also a number of guests. Many of them appeared to be neighboring farmers—whose idea of dressing for dinner was slicking back one’s hair with a generous amount of spit on the palm of the hand. At least five additional children were also running in circles around the dinner table.
Claribel stood up as Anna and Dorothy entered. “I guess you missed the dinner bell, but you are right on time. Come, you two lovely ladies, and meet the guests we have assembled in your honor.”
Christopher came over, gave Dorothy a kiss on the cheek, and directed her to sit next to him at the table. Claribel patted the chair next to her for Anna. “Come sit with me, dear.”
Theodore stood at the head of the table and rattled off the names of all the guests, only a few of which Anna would remember. She looked at her sister who appeared to be as bewildered as she was.
“Did you have a lovely lie-down?” Claribel asked.
“Very nice. I was quite exhausted from our travels.”
Claribel patted Anna’s hand. “I expect you were, dear. But eat. We serve hearty meals here and you will get your strength back before you know it.”
Bowls of steaming meats, vegetables, and soups were brought out of the kitchen by staff and set on the table. No one served, but the bowls were passed from one to another and it was catch as catch can. There were already bottles of beer and wine where one merely picked up the nearest bottle and poured oneself a drink.
Anna began to wonder how Dorothy would fare in such a house but remembered her sister’s own exuberance and thought she might adapt from her more sedate, current lifestyle to this rowdier version.
Theodore stood and shouted out a number of toasts including one to the “two fine ladies who have traveled all this way from Wiltshire.” And another to the newly engaged couple.
There was no such thing as a quiet conversation, as everyone shouted across the table to everybody else—all at the same time.
Anna examined the food on the table. There was a ham, a turkey, a number of capons and something under a white sauce that might have been fish. The tablecloth was spotted with enough spills to create a tapestry to hang on the wall.
“You are very different from your sister,” Claribel observed. “You are very much a lady. Your sister is more rambunctious, it seems to me.”
“That is true, and I think it is because I am the eldest and have always been the responsible one ever since our mother died. As the eldest, the job fell to me, as father was away in India for long stretches of time.”
“Poor dear, and to lose your father so recently. Is there no one else?”
Anna shook her head. “No grandparents, nieces, cousins or nephews. We are a small family.”
Claribel roared with laughter. “Not when your sister marries into this family. We have relations crawling out of the woodwork, hanging from the chandeliers, and poking their snouts out of the ground like a parcel of hedgehogs.”
Claribel shouted across the table to her husband, “Honey, we need to invite all the relations to supper before these two fine ladies leave us.”
“Aye, just say the word and it shall be done, honey pumpkin,” he shouted back.
Anna caught her sister’s eye and they exchanged grins. They did not need to say a word. They both understood the mirth they shared at the moment.
A few moments later, the staff swooped into the dining room, removed all the serving platters, and began collecting the diners’ plates. Anna had barely started to eat when her plate was swept away by a kitchen maid with a dirty apron. Immediately following, another troop of servers entered and placed cakes, pies, puddings, fruit compotes and jellies on the table as dessert plates were plopped down at each place. The guests became noisy again and began passing the new servings around the table.
“Does your house have a good kitchen? We spare nothing for a fine gathering. As you can see, I like to eat,” Claribel laughed as she showed off her girth. “Here, eat up. You are as skinny as a snake,” and she spooned several dollops of pudding on Anna’s plate.
Anna was now more exhausted than she had been from the two-day trip in the carriage. The noise, the abundance of aromas from both the food and the guests, and the children again running around the table in opposing circles made Anna begin to doubt her sanity.
Then Christopher stood and announced. “Into the great hall. We have arranged a dance.”
Great cheers rang out from the guests as they stood and began heading to where the music was starting up. No sedate waltzes but rousing polkas and country dances.
Dorothy came over and took Anna’s arm as Christopher led the guests toward the dance.
Anna turned to her sister and whispered. “This is to be your family, Dorothy. What do you think?”
Dorothy smiled. “Very generous and fun. I am having a wonderful time. Are you?”
