Page 6 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
“Why aren’t you playing, wee boy?” she asked.
In a worried whisper, he said, “I don’t remember how.”
“You’ve seen Lord and Lady Jonquil spin their tops. Mimic what they do. You’ll catch the knack of it soon enough.”
“I’ll do it wrong, and then I’ll look ridiculous.” That word again.
“What if you take your top in the entryway, away from everyone, and practice a bit until you’ve sorted it?” Robbie suggested. “Then you’d not have onlookers while you set yourself to remembering the trick of it.”
Confidence reentered his expression. He rushed back over to his abandoned top and scooped it up. Tucking the toy against his black wool frock coat, he rushed from the room.
Lord and Lady Jonquil exchanged a series of looks, the sort that made up an unspoken conversation. Robbie had known a few couples with that kind of connection. She’d always wondered what that would be like. If servants were able to marry, she might’ve found that long ago. She didn’t want to entirely abandon hope of it someday but didn’t see how it was possible. She hadn’t enough saved for living on if she lost her position.
She liked her job, and she felt she’d done some good in the lives of her little charges. There was satisfaction in that.
“I hope we didn’t upset him,” Lady Jonquil said to Robbie. “We were so certain he wouldn’t have had toys to play with in his Harrow-adjacent boardinghouse. We thought he’d enjoy playing with them again.”
“He frets over being seen as an object of pity,” Robbie said. “He’s received a crushing amount of it in his short life.”
The duchess, Adam’s mother, seemed to feel nothing but pityfor her child. Visitors to Falstone Castle had often responded to the scarred state of his face with a suffocating version of sympathy.
“He thinks he has to play expertly with toys or we will pity him?” Lord Jonquil asked, still lying on his stomach and spinning his top. Robbie suspected he truly enjoyed games and lighthearted diversions. And yet he gave no impression of flightiness or immaturity or simpleness.
“He fears what is unfamiliar and unexpected. He fears he’ll nae be good enough and will disappoint people.”
“Oh, the sweet boy.” Lady Jonquil looked in the direction of the doorway through which Adam had passed. “We simply must convince him he needn’t fret over any of those things while he’s here.”
“He’s in an unfamiliar place, with people he doesn’t know well.” Robbie sighed. “It won’t be an easy feat getting that wee’un to be at ease with all that.”
Lord Jonquil met her eye. “We’ve a builder here just now, putting in a walled garden. That’s another stranger. And the back lawn will be torn up in places, and I have the strong impression Adam is not overly fond of chaos.”
“I suspect the boy will give both the area of construction and your builder a wide berth.”
“Mr. Simpkin seems a single-minded fellow,” Lord Jonquil said. “He’ll likely be too focused on his work to take much note of our little duke.”
Robbie hoped that proved true. She’d have something to say on the matter if this stranger made her Adam unhappy.
Chapter Four
Howard knew he was goodat what he did. But three days into his job at Brier Hill, he was having to pretend more confidence than he felt. He’d not been able to locate stone that matched the existing walls. He’d found local workers to help dig the footings, but only one of the four had any experience building a stone wall. He’d told Lord Jonquil he could complete this job in three weeks. The thought of having to tell his most important patron that he needed more time sat heavy on his mind.
He could not fail. This was an opportunity from heaven itself, one he was not likely to see again.
The sun sat high in the midday sky as he walked the length of the footing for the eastern wall. The men he had hired were doing a good job. The width was correct. The depth was correct. The workmen had kept their trench straight and sure. It would be completed by day’s end. Delaying explaining about the stone to Lord Jonquil would only risk putting the project further behind schedule. Howard would simply have to do it.
The gentleman himself stepped out onto the back lawn not long after Howard determined his need to speak with him.The man dressed quite fashionably in silks and laces and buckled shoes, but he didn’t give the impression of frivolity. There was a steadiness to the gentleman that gave Howard a small degree of reassurance.
Popping his hat into his hands, Howard approached.
“How progresses the work?” Lord Jonquil asked.
“Well. Well.” Howard maintained his businesslike demeanor despite the concern in the back of his mind. “These local men are hard workers. They are digging a fine footing. I am needing to talk to you about something though.”
Lord Jonquil must have heard the uncertainty in his voice.His gaze narrowed a little. “What is it?”
“I’ve inquired at all the local quarries, and not a one has stone that matches your existing walls. I can look farther afield, but it will slow the project and add to the cost.” He watched his patron for signs of displeasure. What he saw was pondering. “I’ll take whatever approach you’d like, my lord.”
“If these walls were built of different stone, would the effect be an unpleasant one?”
