Page 38 of Snowy and the Seven Doves
He shook his head. “I’m for home.”
Snowy showed him downstairs. Several servants were waiting on the doorstep. He handed the house’s keys to a man sent by Ashby.
Ashby and Stancroft had followed through on their offer of servants, all to help Ned. A man who had, from what Snowy had heard, conspired to kidnap Ashby’s wife last year, probably at his father’s instigation. Snowy shook his head in bewildered wonder. He’d believed all the gentry were selfish and shallow, until he met Drew. But one exception did not prove the rule wrong. Then he met Margaret, and after that, her circle of friends, the Duchess of Winshire, Lord Lechton. They were all playing havoc with Snowy’s low opinion of the shiftless, careless, selfish nobility.
Snowy went back up to Lady Charmain to tell her he’d sent a footman to fetch them both a pie for breakfast, and that the cook’s assistant would make them anything they chose as soon as she had got the fire going in the kitchen.
Lady Charmain rewarded him with a smile. “I am desperate for a cup of tea.”
“You won’t have to wait long for that,” Snowy told her. “Lady Stancroft sent over an urn, tea leaves and cups!”
As if by magic, the next knock at the door—only moments later—heralded a maid and a footman, the footman carrying a copper tea urn and a jug, the maid a basket from which she pulled a canister of tea leaves, a pitcher of milk, a tea pot, and cups and saucers.
They set up on the makings up on the window seat, which was the only flat surface in the room besides the bedside tables and the mantle over the fire. “Do you want me to stay, my lady?” asked the maid.
“No, thank you.” Lady Charmain sent both servants on their way, saying that she and Snowy would make their own tea.
“I think she was offering to play propriety,” Snowy said.
Lady Charmain raised her eyebrows. “A little late for that, do you not think?”
Ah. She regretted their kiss.“Ought I to apologize?” he asked. He would, though it would be a lie. She had kissed him back, and it had been glorious.
Her brow furrowed. “For what? Oh! You mean the kiss. I was not talking about that, but about the fact we spent the night together.”
He wished she meant that the way it sounded, and that it was true, especially when she realized the double meaning of what she’d just said and blushed bright scarlet. “I only meant… Bother. You know what I meant.”
“Then you don’t regret the kiss, Lady Charmain?” he asked, which was perhaps ungentlemanly, but he wanted to know.
“Under the circumstances,” she said, “I think you should call me Margaret.”
Was that a yes or a no?Snowy decided to treat it as ano, for after all, she was still hereandhad given him the liberty of her Christian name.
“Lord Lechton?” he asked. “I thought he was a doctor.”
“He is a physician,” Lady Charmain confirmed. “There was a big fuss several years ago. Something of a scandal, so it sticks in my mind. He served an apprenticeship under a doctor in the navy, then completed his degree at the University of Edinburgh. But he is also the Earl of Lechton. His wife is a niece of the Duke of Winshire.”
While they were drinking their tea, the pies arrived, and a short time later a note for Margaret. She scanned it quickly and made a sound of disapproval. “Aunt Aurelia is not happy about her travel plans,” she said.
“Do you need to see her off?” Snowy asked, keeping his disappointment to himself. It was ridiculous. It was not as if she could stay here indefinitely.
The pleasure he took in her next words was equally foolish. “Not at all. Pauline writes she has it all in hand and will come over to join me when my aunt has gone.”
“Miss Turner? Lord Stancroft’s sister?” At her nod, he added, “What has Miss Turner… I beg your pardon. It is none of my business.”
“Not at all. I do not mind you knowing. I am sending Aunt Aurelia into retirement in the country, and Pauline is to be my companion until I find a new one.”
Snowy had been wondering if he should tell Margaret what he had observed. “Good. The sour old besom insults you at every turn, and I would not acquit her of conspiring with your suitors. Or, at least, the ones she favors.”
Margaret nodded. “My thoughts exactly.”
After that, the traffic increased, though it was still quite early in the morning. Blue returned from the House of Blossoms with messages from Lily, though nothing urgent.
Drew came next, to report that he had spoken briefly to Dickon Deffew. “I advised him to leave Snowden’s, Snowy. He’s a toothless cub, and the old man will beat his part in the rescue out of him with no trouble at all. He’s a brave cub, though. He said he’d go home and take the chance that Snowden wouldn’t check on the patient. I told him about the footman, but he doubted that the fellow would stay up to report. Deffew said he’d sneak off in the night. Give any trail we left more time to go cold.”
Drew also had a letter for Snowy from the Duchess of Winshire. She listed a number of names, many of them with addresses. Besides each was a note.
Hannah Wilson. Nursemaid. Kept on after your disappearance to care for Edmund and dismissed when he was sent to school.
