Page 33 of Secrets of Capell Manor
Chapter Ten
Rosalind gave Devlin and Alden a nod and then called to Ridley, “Come Ridley, we’ve left the girls to their own devices way too long. Let’s finish our lessons.”
Devlin followed Rosalind out of Lord Edmond’s room, and Alden was close behind.
“We’ll be down shortly,” Rosalind informed them. Then she entered the solar and quietly shut the door behind her.
Alden and Devlin descended the stairs. Both men sighed as they sat in chairs in front of the fireplace.
“It’s got to mean something. What Ridley heard from Edmond; don’t you think?” Alden said after several quiet minutes.
“Does it, you think? Those words. They could have meant nothing…just ramblings from a drunk old man.”
“I don’t know. The way the papers and ledgers were tossed about the room and the fact that the he cleaned all that up before Benton arrived that morning to see to his lord’s dressing is very suspicious. The cryptic words—I think it’s all related. Something going on, something to hide. Why else would someone have weighed the ol’ bugger down in the bog?”
Devlin stared into the flames. What Alden alleged had merit. But what was he missing?
Ridley bounded down the stairs and ran through the great room and into the kitchen, interrupting his thoughts. A few minutes later, Benton followed. And then it wasn’t long before Rosalind, Luella, and Kaylyn joined them by the fire.
Rosalind sat in her rocking chair and grabbed her mending basket. Sensing the seriousness of the mood, the girls didn’t grab their toys, but rather Kaylyn picked up a sampler she’d been working on and practiced her stitches, and little Luella startedrolling the newly spun yarn skeins into balls that were resting beside Marta’s basket. No one seemed in the mood to talk.
Ridley returned with a tray laden with mugs of ale for the men, hot tea for Rosalind, and cups of hot cider for the girls. Rosalind smiled softly and took several sips of her tea. The girls enjoyed their cider treat, and it wasn’t long before Luella chatted happily with herself about a new adventure she’d made up in her imaginative mind.
“What do you think, Mama Rose?” Kaylyn asked as she held up her sampler.
Rosalind looked carefully at the stitches Kaylyn had been meticulously applying to the fabric. She smiled and replied, “These are perfect, Kaylyn. All your hard work and practice has paid off.”
Kaylyn beamed at the praise she received.
“Sups ready!” Ridley boomed as he carried a tray to the buffet from the kitchen.
“Ridley Shaw!” Marta yelled from the kitchen. Then the round woman pushed the door open. “Mind your manners! Since when have you announced dinner in such a fashion?”
Benton followed Ridley to the buffet, carrying a soup tureen and ladle. The old man shook his head slowly from side to side, but he didn’t admonish the boy.
“Sir Devlin, milady, Mr. Danby, girls, please come to the table.”
Everyone took their seats. Ridley passed out the bowls, and Benton moved carefully to ladle soup in each one. Then Ridley placed two round loaves of rich rye bread between the diners.
****
Rosalind watched as the men eagerly soaked chunks of bread in their soup and ate enthusiastically and she wondered if there was anything that squelched a man’s appetite. It wasn’t pulling up a rotting body from the bottom of a bog, obviously.
“Do you think we’ll have some more snow?” Luella asked, with eyes wide.
The child was eager to try out the sled that Benton had crafted for her. The last storm proved to produce more ice and rain and her results sliding down the hill behind the manor proved quite unsatisfying.
“It’s possible, Luella. It is certainly cold enough.”
“Did I ever tell you about the time I slid down a hill straight into the jaws of a hungry bear?” Alden piped up.
Kaylyn and Luella stopped eating mid-bite, and their mouths froze open.
Rosalind smiled, “Oh, please do tell us about this adventure, Mr. Danby.”
“Alden,” Devlin interrupted. “I don’t believe that ever happened. As I remember it, you slid down a very steep hill on your sled straight into a huge pile of horse shi…I mean horse dung outside the livery stable where you were supposed to be working.”
Alden’s grin turned mischievous, “What do you think, girls? Do you want to hear the story, as I know it happened?”
