Page 29 of His Duchess in Disguise
“He came to the sheep shed thing, and I was very still.” She then went on to tell about her soaked provisions, the field mouse, the withered apples and finally about Robbie throwing a stone at the donkey’s rump, and nearly causing him to run away again. “I was so angry with him,” she finished. “I worked all afternoon on my brush hut, and he just watched me. He could have helped. Instead, he let Sir Faithless break it all apart in minutes, and then he laughed at me!” She sat bolt upright in remembered indignation.
Leo chuckled. “That sounds like Robbie. He is something of a fixture around here. I’m glad I sent him with Captain Arnault to help with some errands, although I am sure he would have been entertained by your point of view. The question is, what should we do now? If it is known that you are here without a chaperone, your reputation will be in tatters.”
“Bother my reputation,” Emma snarled. “My father bet my hand in marriage in a game of cards. Just how much reputation do you think I have left? I do have some pride; however, and I am not going back. I will find my way to the coast and buy passage to Australia first, even if I am eaten by cannibals on my first day there.”
“Something Robbie said?” Leo asked, amused.
“Yes!” Two pink spots appeared on her cheeks, and Leo thought she looked like a cat that had been stroked the wrong way.
Hamilton was tapping his wooden pen holder on the ledger in which he had been working, a sure sign that he was feeling agitated.
“Hamilton, do stop that infernal tapping, and let me think.” Hamilton’s tapping stopped.
“Do you truly believe that you can sustain life as a kitchen maid?”
Emma laughed. “Your Grace, I have been the ignored, unwanted, and unloved daughter most of my life. Had it not been for the kindness of the servants, I would have starved, gone without clothing, and been given no affection at all. Mrs. Able was as near to a mother as I ever had, and the various cooks, maids, and footmen who stayed long enough for me to remember their names were kinder than most of my relatives.”
“Most, you say?”
“Most. My aunt, Alicia Brown, did the best she could to soften her brother’s neglect. She had me to visit as often as my father would allow, and I think she would have taken me in except her husband would not countenance it.”
“Hmmm. Did he give reason for that?”
“None that I know of. He is a lean, hungry sort of man. I think he only lives for the days when he can harangue his congregation with their sins.”
“Parson, is he? Well, I’ve met the type.” Leo paused. “You had the integrity to take only your own things, sell that which was dear to you, and to set off ill-prepared for what lay before you. You survived a night on the chalk which was one of the coldest that the oldsters about here can recall, and you’ve worked yourself nearly to a standstill these last two days if Mrs. Chambers is to be believed. Is there anything about your old life that you will miss?”
“Mrs. Able, Mr. Jones, and my books,” Emma replied promptly. “If there was some way to get word to them that I am all right, I would be grateful. But I knew that I was probably saying goodbye to them for the last time when I left.”
“I’m not sure about getting word to your former servants. I’ll let Hamilton wrestle with that problem. Best to wait on it, I think, lest the Earl of Cleweme get wind of it. Putrid Percy is an ass, but he is a clever ass. The books we can solve. I’ll tell Mrs. Noddicott that you are to dust the library as part of your duties, and that you have permission to take out two books at a time for your personal reading pleasure, providing you take good care of them and do not neglect your duties.”
“Then, I am to stay?” Emma’s eyes lit up as if she were opening a gift of immense value.
“You can stay. I’ll put a flea in Captain Arnault’s ear so that he does not give you away.”
“Oh, Your Grace! A job and books! I shall be in your debt forever.”
“One hopes not. It will help you considerably if you grow more used to your name, Miss Kathy Smith. You need to respond to it more readily than you did this afternoon, or you will give yourself away. Do enjoy the library and try not to harm yourself again in the course of your duties.”
Recognizing that she was being dismissed, Emma rose from her chair and curtsied deeply to Leo and then more shallowly to Hamilton. “Thank you so much, Your Grace. I shall endeavor to deserve your trust.”
Chapter 20
Emma nearly skipped down the stairs, she was so excited. She truly was safe, and she was to have books! She did a quick two-step, a schottische hop, and a pirouette on the paving stones at the kitchen doorway.
“Well, look at you,” Matthew sneered. “Miss Hoity Toity, take all afternoon to dust some moldy old wood.”
“It is beautiful wood, and deserves excellent care,” Emma returned. “Now, if you will excuse me, I should see what Mrs. Chambers has for me to do next.”
Mrs. Chambers looked up from the elastic loop of bread dough that she was forming into an intricate knot. “Ah! There you are, Kathy. Mrs. Noddicott says that she has never seen the carvings in the hall better cleaned and dressed. As a reward, she is assigning that hall, another very like it, and the library to your care.”
Emma gave a wordless bounce of joy, springing on her toes like a child.
“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.”
