Page 108 of The Viscount's Seduction
“You didn’t ’ave a maid at ’ome?”
“Not one so skilled as you.”
There. That had brought a smile.
“I took no offense, my lady. I should like it if ye be honest, and if it be that you don’t like the ’air, or the dress, you must tell me. I’m not really Mrs. Gibson’s lady’s maid, you know.”
“No?” Even so, surely Paulette would be wanting her back, wouldn’t she? She drew the girl to the settee and sat next to her. “We haven’t talked about this.” She hadn’t even thought about it. It had been selfish of her. “I’ve ever so much appreciated your help. If Paulette would allow it, and if you would be willing, would you stay with me? As my lady’s maid?”
Jenny flashed a smile and then her brow wrinkled. “I’ll ask her. She ’elped me out, she did. And, you should ask after me, what my background is, my lady. It’s the way of it.”
“All right then. Where are you from, Jenny?”
“From Seven Dials, madam. Lady ’Ackwell took me to live with her when she was still Miss ’Arris. And then I went to the ’ome in the country. And then she took me into service. And then...”
She stood and gripped her hands together. “I was attacked by the valet of one of the guests, and Miss Paulette insisted I leave with ’er.”
“Attacked? At the home of Lord Hackwell?” Sirena could not keep the shock from her voice.
She nodded. “It wasn’t ’is lordship’s fault. ’Is lordship and Mr. Gibson stopped ’im, and locked ’im up, but his master got ’im released and ’e chased after us on the road.”
Panic flickered within her. It was the thing she herself had feared that day running from her cousin. “He came after you?” She heard her own breathlessness.
Jenny shook her head. “It was Mrs. Gibson ’e was after. Mr. Kincaid chased ’im over a cliff. The man broke ’is neck and died.”
Why was he after Paulette?She bit back the question. She wouldn’t begin Jenny’s service with gossiping. She would rather hear the answer from her husband, if he knew, and if he’d tell her. She couldn’t ask Paulette until they’d become much better acquainted.
But, blast it, sheneededto know. “If it’s in the nature of gossip, you need not speak of it, Jenny, but I know so little of this family I’ve joined.”
“The man’s master spied for the French, and Paulette’s father spied for the English. It went back to that, and Lord Shaldon trying to catch ’im up so he could be arrested.”
“I see.” She did. And now Shaldon was after another spy, the man Donegal, as well as Sterling Hollister. Someday she’d like to hear Paulette’s side of the story. There would be a someday. If Hollister or Donegal didn’t murder her.
The thought left her shaken. After a moment, she noticed Jenny’s intense gaze.
She plastered on a smile and rose. “We shall talk to Mrs. Gibson. If she’s agreeable, and you’re willing, I should like to hire you.”
Leaving Jenny all aglow, she went downstairs. A footman stopped her by the stairs and said the artist needed to speak with someone and he couldn’t find Lady Perpetua.
At the ballroom door she paused, and let her heart fill with the pleasure.
It was a guilty pleasure, since she’d promised Perry she wouldn’t have an early peek at this special gift.
It was a mad idea, this plan to chalk a drawing on the floor. It seemed daft in any space of time, but certainly so in less than one week.
At the first sight of it, her heart lifted. Spring burst upon the floor. Horses pranced about in a field of fanciful shamrocks and blossoming flowers.
In the far corner, a man was on his knees, a white-haired man standing over him. She recognized the older one as Old Nate, the man Perry said they called when there were walls to be painted or paper to be hung, or in this case, floors to be chalked.
He looked up and came to greet her, limping. Ah, so that was why he’d hired others for a kneeling task.
“Does it please you, my lady?” he asked.
“’Tis a marvel, it is. It seems a pity to dance upon it.”
The dancing would erase the design. This truly would be fleeting beauty, like her brief honeymoon with Bakeley.
He nodded in agreement, and her heart hurt a bit more.
