Page 21 of A Fearless Heart
A man strolled up the garden path, gazing left and right at all the greening beds, nodding in approval. He had a walking stick, but he used it only to poke at the soil, testing its depth and dampness. When he got close enough to Arcadia and Gabe tonotshout, he said, “Good day, little Cady!”
Rather than being offended at the familiarity, Arcadia beamed at him. “Mr Addison, I didn’t expect to see you today.”
“I ought to have sent word, but as I was already heading in this direction, I thought it would be acceptable.”
“Always,” she assured him.
While Addison was speaking with Arcadia, he was surveying Gabe with a certain coolness, even skepticism. The man’s gaze lingered on Gabe’s admittedly muddy boots, and then noted the dirt on his clothes before giving the slightest nod of acceptance.He’s judging me, Gabe thought.What right doeshehave to judge me?
“New people at last, my lady?” he said. “How fortunate.”
“Indeed. I couldn’t bear the thought of neglecting the grounds. Remember how I mentioned that idea of advertising in the London papers several weeks ago? Well, it’s borne fruit…so to speak. Mr Court answered Mr Rundle’s advertisement.”
“Did he?” Addison gave another, more suspicious glance at Gabe, and again, Gabe didn’t know why.
Arcadia was oblivious, already introducing the men just as if they were at some Society function. “Mr Court, this is Mr Addison. He’s a longtime friend of my family, and an avid gardener and botanist himself. Mr Court came here from London.” She didn’t add anything else, for which Gabe was grateful.
Gabe looked at the other man with interest. “You’re a botanist? With a laboratory, like Lady Arcadia’s?”
Addison chuckled. “Nobody has a laboratory quite like hers. Though I do try to be as meticulous as possible, and keep accurate records of all my plants. Breeding, size, growth, and such. It’s very important to do that for each species. My goal is to create new hybrids that will change the world.”
“Change the world?” Gabe echoed, thinking that he might have found a likely candidate for a megalomaniacal poisoner. “How?”
“Through scent and beauty, of course!”
“Mr Addison’s particular interest is roses,” Arcadia added helpfully. “His rose garden must be six times the size of mine.”
“Ah, but you have a few specimens that I do not,” Addison protested, though with a smile. “I will not be content until I possess them for myself.”
“Then you must bring me a specimen thatIdo not have,” Arcadia told him. “That is the agreement.”
“Agreement?” Gabe asked.
“You see, Mr Court,” Addison said. “Some time ago I made a deal with Lady Arcadia’s mother, Lady Calder, may she rest in peace. An even exchange of plants so that both our collections can grow, the only rule being that it cannot be a specimen already in the recipient’s garden. But think of it! Our lady here has so many different gardens and varieties of practically everything. Whereas I specialize in roses. Every time I think I’ve found a plant that will surprise her, she looks it up in her infernal gardening journal, and of course she’s got an example tucked away in a plot or a greenhouse or what have you.”
“It keeps you on your toes, Mr Addison. Honestly, if you didn’t try to find new plants for our exchanges, you’d never look at anything other than a rose again.”
“Why should I look beyond the queen of flowers? Although that reminds me. Speaking of which, Cady dear, did you ever make use of that book I gave to you last year? The herbal from the Persian botanist?”
Arcadia brightened further. “Funny you should ask! There’s a very interesting formula he describes that makes use of Iranian salvia, which I’ve been growing in the glasshouse for the past several months. And I’ve just been able to harvest some of the parts in great enough quantities to try to duplicate the experiment. I’m going to try tonight, in fact.”
“Wonderful. I shall hope to hear of your results next time we talk. However, that will have to wait, for I’ve brought you a gift.”
“Indeed?” She smiled wider and Gabe was starting to want to kick this man off the property.Cady dear, indeed.
“The gift that every woman longs for…rose petals!”
Cady chuckled. “I believe that most women expect the petals to still be attached to the stem, but I am happy for the gift.”
“Why?” Gabe asked. He sounded surly, but then, people expected servants to be surly.
“Rosewater is a key ingredient for many of my recipes,” Arcadia explained, not at all put out by his tone. “But I’ll have to process these rose petals as soon as possible, so I’m afraid that you’ll be on your own for the rest of the day.”
“Can I help move anything? The crates or…whatever?” he offered, hoping it might allow him to see something interesting.
Mr Addison nodded. “No time to waste! The cart is by the main entrance, so your man there can haul it closer to your distillery.”
“The sooner the better,” Cady agreed. “Mr Court, take that cart to the large stillroom—that’s the red brick building by the kitchen gardens. Unload the baskets into the stillroom and then return the cart to the drive.”
