She hid behind the door but peered around to watch.
A tousled towhead with big violet eyes popped up cautiously from the stack.A moment later, another towhead, this one smaller, wearing bedraggled blue ribbons in her pigtails, joined him.Verity’s heart tore at their tear-stained, dirty, frightened faces.They were so veryyoung...
Marmie leaped into the pile of hay, lost his footing, and slid down in front of startled blue eyes.Verity used that excuse to return.“Oh, my, Marmie you naughty kitty, you were supposed to find a chicken, not children!Hello, you two.Did the Christmas angels send you to share my breakfast?”
Two children in a stable at Christmas—angels might possibly be involved.For the first time in a week, a shaft of joy pierced her gloom.She had never really believed in angels, but...
The smallest child reached for the kitten, cuddling the spoiled creature before crawling out of the straw.Verity thought the girl couldn’t be much more than five.Her pinafore was filthy and wrinkled but not ragged.Her gown fit, and her shoes were muddy but solid.This was no neglected child—but Verity had never seen her before.Those huge violet eyes watched her warily.
With an irritated sigh, the boy crawled out.He looked too much like the younger to be anything but her older brother.The only difference was that the girl’s hair was silky straight and his curled in ringlets.Men got all the looks.
“Oh, my, definitely sent by angels,” Verity declared.“I am Mrs.Russell.And you are?”
“Daniel and Daphne,” the boy said curtly.“Do you really have toast?”
“I most certainly do.And rashers and milk, and if we can round up a few eggs, we can have those too.”They watched her so hungrily that her heart broke all over again.“Do you know how to look for eggs?Old Red sometimes hides them in here but we’ll find more in the henhouse.”
The boy nodded.The girl clung to Marmie and simply followed them out.
Mrs.Hatter stepped out the kitchen door.The elderly servant had probably seen them from the window.Verity held a finger to her lips, then gave a shooing gesture.Smarter than most, the stout old woman limped inside and probably continued to watch from the window.
Verity handed Daniel a basket and showed them how to look around the outside of the henhouse.Someone would have already searched the inside.By the back fence, Old Red, the stubborn old biddy, clucked from wherever she’d been hiding and scampered.The little girl released Marmie to crouch down and uncover the nest and an egg.Either the child knew how to find eggs or she was capable of hearing.She simply didn’t seem to speak.
The children happily rummaged in weed patches, robbing Rafe of the eggs he was probably counting on for cakes or other dishes.Her husband loved cooking...and eating.But he could go without eggs for a day.
Once they had a nice supply, Verity signaled for the pair to follow her to the kitchen door.She put a finger to her lips and gestured for them to stay behind and to one side.Children loved games, and these two were already prepared to be sneaky.She leaned inside and whispered to the servant watching her as if Verity had taken leave of her senses.“Clear the room, please.I don’t want to frighten them.”
Too new to this employment to be anything but obedient, Mrs.Hatter hustled everyone out.It was time they started cleaning upstairs anyway.
Verity held a finger to her lips again and gestured for the children to enter.“The kitchen is all ours,” she whispered.
In exaggerated stealth, they crept into the warmth of the enormous inn kitchen.Rashers were, indeed, keeping warm by the fire.Verity couldn’t cook much, but she knew how to fix eggs.Bread was already sliced, so she had each child take a fork and toast slices over the fire while she scrambled their find, adding cream and cheese and just a bit of salt, having learned that most children liked their food bland.
She hadn’t had servants since she was a young girl.She hadn’t forgotten how to do for herself in these last few months of being pampered by Rafe and the new staff.She dished out the bacon and eggs, buttered the toast, and boiled fresh tea for herself while the children dug forks and spoons from the drawer under the table.Marmie had followed them in and curled around everyone’s ankles.Once a starving alley cat, he was always ready for a meal.
The table was much too tall.Verity poured milk and had them sit on the hearth while she confined Marmie to her lap by feeding him bits of bacon.She hadn’t eaten this morning, but for the first time in a week, she was finally hungry.Perhaps she had simply needed a bit of intrigue to distract her.
“Well, Daphne and Daniel, this is so much better than eating alone, thank you!Did you fly in on angel wings last night?”
The little girl giggled, so she could make sounds.Captain Huntley at the manor had hired a deaf-mute boy as an assistant.He mostly grunted, possibly because he’d never heard a laugh.
Daniel was all but inhaling his food.He washed down a huge bite with milk, then frowned.“The carriage had a pony.It will be hungry too.”
“I will have someone look for the pony,” she said reassuringly, hiding her concern.“Do you know where you left it?”
“Nanny fell asleep and it went off the road,” he said matter-of-factly, tearing into his toast.“We were cold, and Mama said we can always find help at the church, but no one was there.”
The chapel was just down the road from the inn, on the east end of the village, which meant they’d come from Stratford—or London.The carriage shouldn’t be difficult to find.It rather sounded like the driver had passed out drunk, though.Shouldn’t this nanny be awake by now and frantically hunting the children?Why in the name of heavens would she be driving children about in the dark on a wintry night?
“The curate was visiting his parishioners,” Verity explained, not wanting to discourage them from seeking churches—although it was more likely that Paul Upton and his new wife, Minerva, were dining late at the manor.“Do you know where you were going?”
“Nanny said we was a burden on the parish and we was to be sent back to where we belong.”He wrinkled his freckled nose.“We’re not very big.How much is a burden?”
Evidently listening, Daphne pushed her eggs around, and a single tear trailed down her dirty cheek.Still, she said nothing.She certainly looked old enough to talk.
But Daniel’s explanation was all Verity needed.The children were orphans with no one to take them in, so “Nanny” had been driving them to a workhouse.
“A burden is what someone doesn’t want to carry.I am sure you weren’t a burden to your mother or father.Do you know where they are?”Verity let the kitten jump down now that the pair had nearly cleaned their plates.
