In shock, all three adults turned to face the young girl in her lavender-colored nightgown. With tears streaking down her face, she bravely—and loudly—opposed the Duke, “Mr. Fletcher is more than just a member of the staff. At this point, he is practically part of our family. And Miss Meyer did not do anything wrong! She even told me all about her time at the orphanage!”
With a restrained tone, the Duke asked, “Cecilia, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you asleep?”
Ignoring him, she ran to Mr. Fletcher and wrapped her arms around him. Burying her face in his side, Lady Cecilia wept, “I shan’t let you dismiss either of them!”
Rubbing his temples, the Duke replied, “Cecilia… you don’t understand the position that letting them stay on would put me in. Of course I would rather keep Mr. Fletcher and his services. But I also simply cannot allow the servants to think—”
Still not listening to her brother Cecilia yelled, “If you dismiss them, I shall go, too. I don’t care if I have to live in an orphanage with Miss Meyer! I’d rather that than be stuck here with you!”
The Duke was visibly restraining himself from raising his voice. Still rubbing his temples, he simply said, “That’s quite enough, Cecilia. Go back to bed. In fact, everyone please leave me for tonight. I have a lot to think about. We shall sort this out in the morning.”
And with that abrupt dismissal, Meredith, Mr. Fletcher, and Lady Cecilia exited the study.
“Please do go ahead, Miss Meyer. I shall escort Lady Cecilia to her bedroom. Good night.” Lady Cecilia was holding onto Mr. Fletcher with her right hand as she sniffled and wiped away her tears with her other arm.
“Yes. Good night, Mr. Fletcher, Lady Cecilia.”
“Good night, Miss Meyer.”
* * *
Meredith lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. Oddly enough, in spite of the evening’s events, she did not feel like crying.
A soft knock on the door caused her to sit up.
“Yes? Come in.”
Philippa poked her head around, “Pardon the intrusion, Ms. Meyer. I saw that you had not yet put out your light and thought I would ask if you needed anything.”
“Thank you, Philippa. No, I do not need anything. I’m just thinking.”
Philippa then proceeded to duck back out of the room once more. When she popped her head around again, she revealed that she had brought a tray. “I made you some tea, Miss Meyer. I know it is not traditional to have tea at this hour, but I believe that we may be excused for it tonight,” she said with a smile.
Grinning back, Meredith exclaimed, “And I see that you have made two cups. Shall we enjoy our tea whilst lounging on the chaise lounge?”
As Meredith took her first sip of tea, Philippa gushed, “I hope this does not come across as rude, Miss Meyer, but now that I know that you’re not from a posh family, I like you even better!”
“But surely you must have already known, Philippa. I certainly did not try to hide it. And please, call me Meredith. No one else is here, so we may dispense with the formalities.”
Shaking her head, Philippa said, “I honestly had no idea, Miss Mey— I mean, Meredith. Although I do remember thinking that you seemed quite unorthodox for a gentlewoman. After all, it is not an everyday occurrence that a genteel woman offers to bribe me with sandwiches for information.”
And so, the two young women spent the rest of the night in laughter, conversation, and sips of tea. Amongst other things, Meredith found out that Philippa was the youngest of three children. Her two older brothers were currently in the army, fighting for King and Country. And in turn, Meredith went into further detail about her own upbringing.
They eventually ventured on to other topics of interest and oscillated between playful debates and affirmations of agreements on opinions regarding the latest fashion trends, the rising prices of groceries, and the best pie recipes.
Sacrificing those sandwiches was definitely worth it.
* * *
Catherine took a deep breath and then knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Pushing the door open, she found Hugh sitting on the edge of his bed with his face buried in his hands.
“I came to check on you, Hugh. What did His Grace say?”
“He said a lot of things, Catherine. He’s furious, of course. He says that he shall have a final decision by tomorrow morning.”
