“I thank you for your kindly advice, McClellan. However, I have no fear of contagion or harm coming from those to whom I give assistance. Meanwhile, could you have an additional bottle of this excellent cordial sent up to my rooms? I think it will go very well with the tarts the cook is making today.”
“That’s another thing, if you don’t mind my being so forward as to say so, My Lord. That young woman is just biding her time. She will yet poison us all, mark my words.”
“McClellan, I cannot think that is so. I have felt better this fortnight than I have in many months. I think there must be something to what she says about foul humors in the kitchen getting into the food and making it not fit to eat.”
“If you say so, My Lord.” McClellan’s tone made it plain that he did not think so. But Percival ignored his grumbling and escaped with the bottle of cordial for the basket Tiffany was currently making up for Old Elizabet.
Chapter 13
Tiffany felt like singing, but was sure that such levity might be considered beneath the dignity of a cook. She and Grace sat at the big worktable in the kitchen. They were peeling apples for the pies that would be dessert at the evening’s dinner. Sophie had been released back to upstairs, since she cordially detested peeling, potting, and panning, as she put it.
Instead, Tiffany asked her companion, “Are you sorry not to be an upstairs maid at the moment?”
Grace saucily sliced off a bit of apple and popped in in her mouth. “Not at all. The Marquess has kept my wages at the same level as before, and here I am so much nearer the good food. And since you are not one to forbid tasting . . .” Grace popped another apple bit into her mouth.
“I’m glad,” Tiffany said. “Sophie made it sound as if being a kitchen maid was being demoted to the lowest of the low.”
“Oh, that one!” Grace laughed. “She sets a great store by her status. I’m not so sure that it matters all that much, especially not to me.”
“Why is that?” Tiffany asked.
“Lucas and I have an understanding. The Marquess knows about it, and as long as we are discreet, he has given us his blessing. Since he has not seen fit to cut my wage, come spring, Lucas and I will have enough saved to be wed and to set up housekeeping. Lucas will continue on here, while I will stay home and keep house for the two of us.”
“How splendid for you!” Tiffany exclaimed. “I am glad. Lucas seems like an extraordinarily kind young gentleman.”
“Oh, hardly a gentleman, but kind and gentle for sure, he is all of that.”
“Will you hold a celebration?”
“You can be sure of it! The Marquess is already making plans, and has sent Craig, another one of the footmen, to rummage out the attics for non-heirloom items that might be of use to us.”
“Do you know where you will live?”
Grace nodded. “The Marquess is having the old gardener’s cottage at the bottom of the farthest gardens made over for our use. I might come up and do day labor for a time, until we start our family.”
“Such a sweet thing to look forward to.” Tiffany sighed.
“Is there anyone for you?” Grace asked.
Tiffany shook her head. “There might have been once, but it came to nothing.”
“Oh, you poor dear,” Grace exclaimed. “Do tell All.”
“There is really nothing to tell. He was my protector when I was first on the streets. He taught me how to work a crowd to get a good bit of coin, and how to lift their purses, as well. But he was a bit too sly, and set up a heist that was a little too complex, not knowing that the partner he’d allowed in was a stool pigeon. He was taken up by the Watch nearly a year ago.”
“Oh, no! What became of him?”
Tiffany bent her head over the apples, willing tears not to fall. “He was hanged. Is that not what happens to all thieves?”
“But, was that not what you were doing when the Marquess found you?”
“Yes. And I am fortunate and grateful that his Lordship saw fit to offer me a position rather than turning me over to the Watch. He has even made it possible for me to continue to support the children who were looking to me for help.”
“That is good fortune. You told me about them, did you not? The little girl who used to sing, but became too ill, the boy who gave everything to the rest of you, and the other boy who kept growing out of his clothes.”
Tiffany blinked away her tears. “You have a good memory. Yes, that was my lot, left to me when Samuel was taken up.”
“And you stuck with them.”
