“Do you observe that custom, Your Grace?”
“Oh, yes, and have mummers, too. I know they have fallen out of fashion in the city, but I have always found them amusing. Yes, I think having him tell a tale or two of his travels when the family and staff all dine together would be a marvelous idea. Perhaps we might even have a small supper with staff before then, since you are laid up and will not find it easy to go below stairs.”
“I can manage...” Evelyn began to say.
“Nonsense. You shall do no such thing. You can sleep here on the daybed, and Betty will act as maid to wait upon both of us.”
“Betty?”
“Yes, Betty. Molly Sue is competent, but she gossips and chatters until I heartily wish her in Jericho.”
Evelyn contemplated the fabric that covered her bare toes and the end of the strange contrivance of thin sticks and starched fabric that wrapped her ankle. It was unusual for the Duchess to take exception to any of her hand-picked staff. What precisely was it that irritated her about Molly Sue?
I doubt that it is the gossip, for the Duchess loves a juicy tale. No, there must be something else. Well, Betty will do well enough since I will be able to coach her. All the same, it will be a long fortnight with this dreary weight on my foot.
Chapter 24
Two shadowy figures stood in the dooryard of an old, broken-down stable at the edge of the Dower House grounds. Once a busy coach road had run nearby, and a gatehouse had stood opposite the stable. But now the old road was overgrown with grass and weeds. The gatehouse was a burned-out ruin. The stable was kept intact because the wagons and tack were kept there for when hay was harvested from the back meadows.
“A chair? She fell out of a chair? Just what was that supposed to accomplish?”
“It was not supposed to be her!” the other speaker said desperately. “If he was injured, he would not be able to cook, now would he? They’d have to call back Mr. Sparks because Jemmy ain’t no cook, not yet anyway.”
“Likely they would hire a different cook rather than call back Mr. Sparks.”
“It’s a dirty shame, how they done him,” the second speaker said, with mock outrage. “That poor old man, worked so hard all his life and turned out to pasture, just because the roast got burned.”
“Don’t you get to feeling too sorry for that old rogue. I was obliged to eat some of that roast, and not even Mr. Rudge was able to make it edible.”
“Mr. Rudge? But...”
“Hush, not another word,” said the first speaker. “Some things are best left unsaid. But you need to come up with a better idea, and that right quick. A chair! It is a wonder and a miracle they did not see the sawed-off end on that leg, or that it did not break before anyone had a chance to sit in it. Better idea next time, and you’d better make sure you get the right person.”
“I’m sorry, M...”
“Stop right there. No names. You never know when the walls might have ears.”
“Out here? No one comes out here unless it is haying season.”
“Or unless some young swain has an itch to scratch and has been able to talk a village girl into a tumble in the hay. And mind how you go back.”
“Yes,” the second speaker said, the honorific trembling upon lips accustomed to politeness. “I will be more careful, more circumspect.”
“You had best. I want no mistakes. Make another like this one, and you will find yourself in worse case than Mr. Sparks.”
The second speaker looked at the first fearfully, then nodded without saying anything.
“Off with you now, before you are missed.”
Chapter 25
Dr. Alton smiled affably at his dinner companion. It was pleasant to share his evening meal, a privilege not often accorded to him. Constable Morris was an amiable dinner companion as long as you could keep him from talking shop at table.
As a physician, Dr. Alton had a strong stomach, but he preferred not to discuss business over dinner.
Constable Morris dug into the rabbit stew that was the Roadgrass Inn’s main dish of the day. He clearly had all the appetite of a young man who had spent his morning walking up and down the village, becoming acquainted with the locals and the lay of the land.
“It is pleasant to see a young man enjoying his dinner,” Dr. Alton said.
