Page 27 of Finding Hope
Jenkins came into Hope’s bedchamber to help her dress, and another maid followed with a tray of chocolate and rolls. Hope wondered if this was normal for house parties or just part of life in a ducal mansion. She had not even ordered anything to break her fast, as she was engaged to eat downstairs with her sisters. The chocolate smelled divine and the rolls were still warm. Sadly, she didn’t care for the taste of chocolate. She bit into a soft, buttery roll. How easily she could get used to this, she thought wryly.
She sat on a chair on the small balcony while she waited for her sisters. The cool dew had vaporized into a mist over the meadow, which smelled fresh and earthy. Rays from the rising sun shone over the peak behind her like a blessing, and she could hear the river running away towards the meadow. She sighed with contentment and began to wonder about the note she’dreceived the night before. Was she being tested, threatened or admired? Perhaps she should ask her sisters.
“May I drink your chocolate?” Joy asked as her sisters entered her chambers like another force of nature. Joy was already helping herself without waiting for an answer.
“Help yourself,” Hope answered with an ironic twist of her lips.
“This is lovely,” Grace said, walking out on to the balcony and leaning forward to look at the view.
“Frankly, I am surprised the Duchess didn’t have me put in the dungeon,” Hope teased.
“There is a dungeon?” Joy asked with a little too much interest.
“I do not think she had a say in this,” Patience remarked as she plucked the remaining roll from the tray and broke it in half and offered Grace the other. “Why did you order breakfast in here? Are we not eating together?”
“I did not order it. Never fear, I am happy to eat more with you. As you know, I do not like chocolate and need my tea!”
“That is odd. Perhaps the maid delivered it to the wrong room.”
They giggled at the thought that they had eaten someone else’s food.
“Shall we go? I cannot wait to choose something from the library,” Grace said. “I hear it boasts ten thousand volumes!”
“Perhaps we should eat first, then choose. I do not care to be the one that spills tea on one of the Duke’s first editions.” Gads, Hope was beginning to sound like Faith.
“I suppose you are right.”
They wound their way through the maze of the house, passing maids hurrying to bring their mistresses hot water and towels or the chambermaids performing their duties.
It did take a small army to run a place like this. Did the Duchess oversee every detail? Or was it a competent housekeeper? Hope wondered. Certainly it was no small feat to make a party such as this run smoothly.
They filled their plates from the side-tables, which overflowed with pastries, fruits, eggs, and an assortment of meats from kippers to bacon and sausages. They chose one of the tables set out on the terrace, overlooking the gardens. In a way, Hope was relieved to be able to relax a bit and not feel like she was being watched. Perhaps the note had been a threat, after all.
There were not many guests still breakfasting. Hope assumed the men had already gone fishing and the ladies had either not come down or were already shopping. “Do you think the Duchess has to plan all the meals and activities?” she asked.
“I thought Lady Diana was the hostess.”
“Let me guess, the maid told you? Jenkins is very close-lipped when she is helping me.”
“Perhaps you need to encourage her more,” Joy said. “I hear the nurses saying all sorts of things when I am upstairs with Susan.”
“Do you care to share?” Patience prodded.
Joy gave a playful shrug of one shoulder and sneaked the cat a piece of kipper. He was hiding in a pocket that Joy had fashioned on the front of her gown. “I do not pay attention most of the time. Is there something in particular you wish to know?”
Patience sighed with exaggeration and looked heavenward. “I want to know everything!”
“Perhaps you should ask Susan. She pays much more mind than I do. But I will try to remember when we go to visit the puppies this afternoon.”
“But first, let us go find something to read in the library.” They entered the house and asked directions. Hope rememberedwhere a library was, but she wanted to make certain that was the one available to guests. The butler was kind enough to escort them there and assure them they were welcome to choose anything they liked.
Rarely did anything render the four of them speechless at once, but this library did. Books and periodicals had been prized commodities at Halbury, and the look she’d had into the room from the hall had only been a hint. Once they turned the corner, it opened up into a magnificent double-height row of bookshelves lined with row upon row of leather-bound tomes, their gilded spines gleaming in the soft light seeping in through the large, mullioned windows. The scent of old parchment and leather filled the air, and inviting velvet chairs and sofas dotted the room as an invitation to stay and enjoy oneself.
“How can one person have so many books?” Grace asked. “I do not think I would ever leave this room!”
“You have at least two weeks to read as many as you can,” Hope said with amusement.
“But I do not know where to start. There are so many!”
