Page 6 of Joy to the Earl
and tuck his head under his wing, poor thing.
Joy thought that she was not unlike the poor little robin in the song, hiding here in the inn, tucking her head under her metaphorical wing, and just hoping for the storm to pass.Both the real storm and the emotional storm brought on by seeing Douglas once again.
She fell to musing, staring into the fire without really seeing it.She was too consumed with memories.
“Ma’am?”
Joy started, suddenly aware she’d been half-asleep.The clock said it was an hour later.Clara near stood near Joy, bearing a tray filled with little cakes, each dusted with sugar that glinted like snow.
“A soul cake, ma’am?It is solstice night and we made dozens.But I fear that the guisers will not make it to the inn this year.Too bad, since it’s a full moon.They’d easily find their way even without a torch.”
“You still have guisers in this part of the country?Like mummers?”The ancient tradition of guising, or mumming, referred to those who went door to door during the season, often wearing masks and promising terrible pranks for those owners who did not invite them in and offer sweets and something to drink.The practice had long faded away in London, and indeed from most of the more populated parts of the country.
“Of course, ma’am!Why should we not?”the girl replied.
For a part of the world where the old traditions had not ceased, it would seem quite absurd to suggest that they could possibly ever cease.
In a way, it was heartening to know there were places that continued on their tradition unbroken, even a tradition like guising, which held a tiny note of menace, despite the fact that it was really just another way of calling on one’s neighbors.There was something both thrilling and a little scary about not knowing who it was who was knocking on your door, and then being told that you must provide wine or some sweetmeat in order to avoid the masked guisers’ pranks.
Lost in these thoughts, Joy accepted one of the tiny cakes from the tray.
“Take more,” the girl encouraged.And then she began to sing, “One for Peter, one for Paul.One for Him who saved us all…”
Joy obediently took two more, the tiny cakes hardly filling her hand.The girl smiled and turned, still humming the song, as she went in pursuit of the next un-caked guest.
Joy bit into the first cake and found it moist and sweet, tasting of warm spices and succulent dried fruits.The taste woke her hunger, and then a cold draft suddenly whooshed through the room as someone shut the massive front door in the foyer.She decided to go up to find a wrap before the evening meal.Her stomach grumbled at the thought.
At the doorway, she bumped into Douglas, who reached out and steadied her before suddenly letting go, as if she might burn him.
They stared at each other for far too long a moment.
“Er, did you have a soul cake?”Douglas asked, awkwardly.
“Yes,” she replied, just as awkwardly.“More than one.”
“Good.”He nodded, then suddenly smiled.Lord, his eyes still crinkled at the corners.Lord.Then he said in a rush, “Actually, I had five.Tasty little things.”
“Made tastier still by the servers, I’m sure.”For he couldn’t have missed the beauty of the innkeeper’s daughters.
“They are a credit to the establishment,” he agreed, but without a hint of lasciviousness or offense.
She announced, “Though we must share space, don’t expect me to be polite or charming, Mr.Sterling.As if I might magically forget what has transpired between us in the past.”
“I have never forgotten, and I wish that we had talked again before now.I moved away from London about a year and a half after I last saw you.”
“After you jilted me,” she amended.It was not technically correct, for they had not been formally engaged.But in spirit, it was the truth, and the way his expression changed, he knew it very well.
“I would prefer to say it was September, but yes.”
“Your other courtship must have been persuasive, for all its brevity.She was most sought after that season, and I know that yours was not the only proposal she received.”
“Another way of saying that you are surprised she accepted.I was surprised too, to be honest.She could have held out for a more august title, or a man with a more impressive income.”
“She had income enough herself, if I recall,” Joy said.“You must’ve found that quite reassuring.I myself had very little other than my face.Fortunately, my face was what my husband chiefly prized.”
“If that’s the case, he did not dig deep enough.Your beauty is the least of your qualities.”
“It was my only quality.And now I don’t even have that.My bloom is quite gone, I’ve been told.”
