Page 36 of A Rake's Redemption
“Very good.” Alex turned to the chambermaids. “Who folded the clothes?”
Mary, Ivy, and Alice looked at him blankly. Fern shrugged. “I didn’t know it was our duty to fold the laundry.”
“It is if Mrs. Bradley says it is,” Alex replied. He had no idea who was supposed to do it.
“We areupstairsmaids,” Alice said.
“We sometimes fold the sheets,” Elsie offered, “but usually the laundry maid does it.”
“She took ill this morning,” Ina said, “which is why I brought the clothes in.”
“Did you fold them?” Alex asked.
She shook her head quickly. “I put everything on the table because we had to start peeling vegetables.”
Alex looked around at the servants. “So no one saw the laundry being folded?”
More blank looks and headshakes were his answer. The maid the housekeeper had sent to inspect the laundry room returned just then, and he asked her the same question.
She shook her head. “I wasn’t in the laundry room until just now, and I didn’t find any bugs.” She turned to Mrs. Bradley and held up a small empty vial. “The only thing I found was this on the floor under the table.”
The housekeeper frowned and took it. “What’s a vial from the herbal pantry doing in the laundry room?”
Mrs. Olsen looked at her kitchen help. “Ina, you’re in charge of the herbals. Did you take the vial out?”
“I only took out what you said to,” Ina replied, “and I returned everything to the pantry.”
Alex gave the glass container a cursory glance. “Well, what is important is that no spiders were found.”
“I will make sure the house is thoroughly inspected,” Mrs. Bradley said.
“Thank you.” He saw the cook looking nervously at the various pots and kettles on the stove and realized they needed attending. “Very well then. I will leave you to your duties. Mrs. Bradley, would you see to it that a tray is sent up to Inis?”
“Of course.”
He was not pleased, though, when he left. Someone had to have folded the damn clothes. He’d never concerned himself with the running of a household, other than to make sure his housekeeper and butler were competent in their jobs. They might think him stark raving mad for delving into a situation regarding a spider and a woman’s pantaloons, but in this case, the pantaloons belonged to Inis. And what involved Inis, involved him.
Perhaps he was becoming a candidate for Bedlam.
…
“You were not successful.” Miranda could barely keep her tone civil as she sat behind the desk in her solar and stared at the girl standing in front of her. She had summoned Fern here, not wanting to wait for secondhand information through Leah. The news was not what Miranda wanted to hear.
Fern had the audacity to lift her chin, and Miranda bit back a rebuke. A servant needed to know her place, but Fern was not in her employ and right now, Miranda needed her. “Well?”
The girl looked her in the eye, another trait Miranda didn’t like, but she managed to ignore it.
“I did as you asked, my lady. I took the vial you gave me and dumped the spider inside the casing of Inis’s pantaloons. Then I folded them like you instructed to make sure the spider didn’t escape. It didn’t. She was bitten. I would say I was very successful.” Fern glanced at the reticule on the desk. “I should like to be paid.”
Miranda felt her eyes widen and she quickly composed her face. None of her servants would dare to answer like that…or brazenly asked forpayment. Miranda was of half a mind to withhold the money, but that would only be a small win, and what she wanted was a much bigger victory. “Of course.” She reached for the small purse and withdrew several silver coins. “I believe this is what we agreed on.”
Fern scooped up the coins and put them in her cloth bag without so much as a thank-you. She’d showed no emotion over what had been done. Perhaps they had that in common. Such self-assurance was a trait Miranda could manipulate. She took a gold coin and slid it across the desk. “Would you be interested in another assignment?”
Fern picked up the gold coin and smiled coldly. “Of course, my lady.”
Chapter Twelve
“What do you think you are doing out here?”
