Page 20 of Gallant Waif
“I have no interest in the house. I’ve bivouacked in enough dam—dashed uncomfortable places in the last few years and now it’s enough for me to have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in. I have no intention of forking out a small fortune for a horde of indoor servants, merely to see to my comfort, even if I had a small fortune to fork out, which as you know I do not.”
Lady Cahill was appalled. “Noindoor servants?”
He shrugged again. “None but my man, Carlos, and he sees to my horses as well.” He held up his hand, forestalling any further comment from her. “There are only those servants you brought with you yourself. I’m afraid you’ll have to get them to wait on you. Only I sent them to stay in the village at the inn—all except for your dresser and maid. They can see to your needs as best they can.”
Lady Cahill snorted. “You won’t see Smithers demeaning herself by heating water.”
He shrugged. “Get your other maid to do it. She seems capable enough.”
“What other maid? What are you talking about, boy?”
Jack sighed. “Grandmama, don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling me ‘boy’? I am past thirty, you know.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, boy! And stop changing the subject. What other maid are you talking about?”
“The little thin creature in the dreadful black clothes. I must say, Grandmama, that I am surprised that you haven’t noticed them. You’re usually so fastidious about your servants’ appearance. And how is it—” his voice deepened with indignation “—that you allowed the girl to almost starve herself to death? She swooned last night in the driveway and there was no one to assist her.”
“Swooned?” said Lady Cahill, watching him narrowly.
“Fell down in a dead faint. From hunger, unless I miss my guess. She’s nothing but skin and bones, with the most enormous eyes. Pale skin, curly brown hair, looks as if a breeze would blow right through her, a tongue on her like a wasp but, apparently, scared stiff of spiders.”
Jack halted, suddenly aware that he had said far too much. He knew from past experience that his grandmother could add two and two and come up with five.
“Frightened of spiders, is she? That surprises me. I wouldn’t have said that that young woman was afraid of much at all. I would’ve said she has a deal of courage. But she’s not my maid,” Lady Cahill added finally. “Is that what she told you?”
Jack frowned. “No,” he said slowly, thinking back. “I suppose I rather jumped to that conclusion.” His eyes narrowed, recalling Kate’s performance of a few minutes ago. “If she isn’t your maid, who is she?”
“Her name is Kate Farleigh.”
“I know that, ma’am. She did inform me of that. But what is she doing here?” Jack hung on to his patience.
His grandmother shrugged vaguely. “Now, how should I know what she is doing, Jack? You know perfectly well I haven’t left this room since I arrived last night. She could be picking flowers or taking tea. How the deuce should I know what she is doing, silly boy?”
Jack gritted his teeth. “Grandmama, why has this girl come to my house?”
The old lady smiled guilelessly up at him. “Oh, well, as to that, dear boy, she had no choice. No choice at all.”
“Grandmother!” Jack’s lips thinned.
“Now don’t get tetchy with me, boy; it doesn’t work. Your grandfather used to rant and rave at me all the time.”
“I fully understand why, and heartily sympathise with him!” her undutiful grandson snapped. “Now enough of this nonsense, Grandmama. Who is she?”
“Her name is Kate Farleigh and she is the only daughter of my goddaughter, the late Maria Farleigh,néeDelacombe.” In a few pithy sentences, Lady Cahill put Jack in possession of the bare bones of Kate’s story, as she knew it.
He frowned. “Then she is a lady.”
“Of course.”
“Well, she doesn’t behave like one.”
“I saw no sign of any lack of breeding,” said his grandmother. “A temper, yes. Glared at me out of those big blue eyes of hers—”
“Not blue. A sort of grey-green.”
The old woman repressed a grin. So he had noticed the colour of her eyes, had he? “Whatever you say,” she agreed. “The gel glared at me, but there was no sign of panic—stayed as cool as you please as I whisked her off to heaven-knew-where.”
His eyebrows rose at this. “What do you mean, you whisked her off?”
