Page 108 of His Duchess in Disguise
“Mind your manners, young woman,” Mrs. Chambers pointed a sizeable rolling pin at her, “and be glad I’ve not a single job down here for a one-handed girl. You’ll not have time to do another hall before tea, but you might be able to dust a shelf or two of books. You’ll find the supplies in the cupboard beneath the stair.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Chambers.” Emma gave a quick, respectful curtsy. “Just one thing…where is the library?”
“Go to the end of the hall you were cleaning and turn left. The first door is the Duke’s office. The second is the library. You can’t miss it. It is a large double door with an open book carved into the wood.”
Emma hurried back up the stairs. She didn’t want to take the chance that someone might change their mind before she made it into the library. Even if it had only a few books, it should still be a quiet place with a chance to read.
As Mrs. Chambers had said, the library was easy to find. The Duke’s office had a replica of the stone circle carved on it. Then the big double doors with the books carved into their surface was next. When Emma tried the latch, it was unlocked, although there was an ornate brass lock below the latch.
When she opened the door, she discovered paradise. There were hundreds of books, scrolls, bundles of papers gathered together with string, and even some odd-looking plaques with wedge-shaped marked embedded in them. An ornate globe stood in the middle of the floor next to a map case.
Statues of odd creatures and of people in draped robes stood here and there. Taxidermied animals, including a great bear, mingled incongruously with marble goddesses. Worn, comfortable-looking leather chairs and a couch stood before the huge fireplace.
Above the mantle was a painting of a stern man in a somber doublet and a short cape. Various other paintings and tapestries hung on the walls. At one end of the room were two tall windows with their drapes drawn.
When Emma attempted to draw one of the drapes aside, the fabric crumbled in her hand, sending up a shower of dust motes. “Well, that will never do,” she said. “Books do need protected from sunlight, but these drapes are so fragile that they will fall apart from age in a year or two even if no one touches them.”
She looked about for the “cupboard beneath the stair” and realized that there were two levels of books. A narrow stair rose to the second level, and a little cupboard was nestled beneath it. Emma opened it and found not only basic cleaning supplies, including a worn feather duster but also small pots with lids on them. When she opened one, she found that it had a little residue of paste in the bottom.
“Good. You have found the supplies.”
Emma jumped in alarm, then turned to find Mrs. Noddicott watching her. “Oh! Excuse me,” Emma murmured, curtsying. “I did not hear you come in.”
“I can see that,” Mrs. Noddicott said. “I understand that the Duke wishes you to take charge of the library. I can warn you that it is an enormous job. Not only that, many of the materials are quite valuable, very delicate, and old. Do you have any experience handling manuscripts, Miss Smith?”
“I’m afraid I do not,” Emma replied. “But if there is an instruction book, I will study it straightway. I’m afraid I might have already damaged the window drape, but I truly think those need to be replaced.”
Mrs. Noddicott moved to the drape and touched it lightly. “I believe you have the right of it. Fortunately, these are simply drapes with no significance beyond keeping the light out of the room when it is not wanted. I’ll add fabric to make new ones to the list of things the estate needs. The young Duke has requested it.”
Emma nodded. “I think this room has been neglected for a while,” she commented, wiping a finger through the dust on the top of the map case.
“Sadly, you are right,” Mrs. Noddicott replied. “The late Duke, may his soul rest easy, was more interested in keeping the traps in the armory well maintained. Not that anyone has used those old spears and swords for the last half-century. If you do a good job in here, there is a chance that the young Duke might set a greater store in the records stored here and make this your permanent place.”
“I can think of nothing I would like better,” Emma said with awe. “I never had enough time to read as I would want.”
“Make no mistake, young lady, that this room had best be spotless before you start reading. His Grace has said that you are to be able to remove two books at a time for your own pleasure. Might I suggest that you bring them to my parlor? Since your room is just off the laundry, it tends to become rather damp.”
Cognizant of the singular courtesy that was being extended to her, even though she loved to read in bed, Emma nodded. “Thank you. Many of these books are far too delicate to even be removed from this room. I can see that without even touching them.”
“You are very right. Others, however, are merely schoolbooks and the like. Some of which are sadly in need of mending. I see you found the paste pot. There should also be a pot for glue and some brushes, as well as tapes of fabric. If there are not, we shall find some. Have you ever mended books, Miss Smith?”
“Only my own schoolbooks and a novel or two I found at the rag man’s.”
“Well, that will be an excellent beginning. I believe you will find the schoolbooks in that cupboard next to the cleaning and mending supplies. Perhaps you might start with them.”
Although she would have loved to simply wander the library looking at titles, Emma recognized the challenge in the task set for the rest of the afternoon.
When she opened the cupboard, she nearly groaned. The books had been tossed in it haphazardly. Pages were crumpled and some of the backs broken. “Poor books,” she murmured. “I will mend your broken spines and fix your pages as best I can.” She knelt on the floor to examine the treasures in the lower cupboard.
There were copy books among the textbooks, as well as colored maps clearly drawn with childish hands. Emma began to smile as she realized that this poorly kept school closet held the key to learning about the manor house and its surroundings.
“Someone was a good teacher,” she said softly, opening a copybook to a sketch of the stone rings.
“Yes, he was.”
Startled for the second time in less than an hour, Emma jumped and banged her head on the upper cupboard door.
“Be careful, there,” the Duke said. “You do seem to have a predilection for damaging yourself. I would not want you to add a concussion to your other injuries. No, no…do not get up. I only came to see how you were getting on.”
