Miss Meyer and Cecilia were now on their feet, “Your Grace, Lord Farellshire, and Lord Gillinghamshire. Good afternoon.”
With a polite curtsey, Cecilia also greeted them. Once everyone had wished everyone else a good afternoon, Miss Meyer politely asked, “Is there anything that we may assist you with?”
“Not at all, Miss Meyer. If it’s all right, we thought we would join you and Lady Cecilia,” Kenneth answered.
Both Cecilia and Miss Meyer were visibly perplexed by this, but they smiled nonetheless and offered everyone some orange juice. Since there were only two glasses at the table, Philippa headed back inside to fetch three more. In the meantime, everyone settled into their seats around the large, oblong garden table.
Being the master conversationalist that he was, Kenneth assumed the responsibility of staving off any awkward silence. With an impish grin, Kenneth turned to Cecilia, who was seated directly opposite him.
“Your brother says that you are studying very hard, Lady Cecilia. So now allow me to test how well you can answer these riddles.”
“Pardon me, Lord Farellshire,” frowned Cecilia, “But I have not studied any riddles.”
This answer only caused Kenneth to grin wider still. “Ah, that is not a problem, Lady Cecilia. I am sure that you can deduce the answer. Here is a simple one that my older cousin posed to me when we were still children:
My body is thin,
And no bowels within;
I have neither a head, face, or eye
Yet a tail I possess,
Forty feet and no less,
And without any wings I can fly.
What am I?”
Cecilia seemed to consider the riddle with utmost seriousness. She turned to Miss Meyer for support, “What is it, Miss Meyer?”
With a chuckle, Miss Meyer said, “I know the answer, Lady Cecilia. But I am afraid that I cannot help you. Go on, you have quite a sharp mind. As Lord Farellshire said, you can deduce it.”
Kenneth gleefully chimed in once more, “And don’t worry if you get it wrong, Lady Cecilia. I’m sure Miss Meyer won’t scold you for it. Do you really know the answer, Miss Meyer?”
“Of course, Lord Farellshire.” she scoffed, “Growing up, I amassed quite a collection of riddles from the older children at the orphanage.”
In the end, Kenneth revealed that the solution to the posed riddle was a kite. This apparently entertained Cecilia so much that she pressed him for more riddles. In this manner, a good half hour went by as the adults—but primarily Kenneth and Miss Meyer—posed riddles either specifically to Cecilia or to the group as a whole.
Anthony felt he was seeing a completely new side of his sister. And he started to feel jealous of the ease with which Kenneth and Miss Meyer were able to draw her out.
Indeed, Miss Meyer is an impressive woman. I must admit that Fletcher was right about her.
So Anthony decided that perhaps he needed to copy the same methods that Kenneth and Miss Meyer used.
I can study Kenneth at any time, so I shall focus on Miss Meyer for now since I rarely get the opportunity to watch her interact with Cecilia in an informal context.
He watched Miss Meyer very closely. He noted her expression as she listened to Cecilia, what sorts of questions she asked, and even how often she smiled at Cecilia.
I am just now noticing that Miss Meyer has quite a nice smile.
The glow of the afternoon sun had a way of bringing out the fiery redness of Miss Meyer’s hair, which she always wore in a low chignon. Anthony started to feel as though butterflies were flying around his stomach.
Strange. Maybe the orange juice does not agree with me?
“You’ve been awfully quiet, Tony. Do you have any riddles?” asked Colin.
With everyone’s eyes on him, Anthony replied, “Well, I never bothered to memorize riddles, so may I offer a joke instead?”
