Yes. Apparently this Mr. Pettigrew is to be a part of the discussion, also. He and Jeremy retired to the library. I have rarely been quite so astonished. However, I find that the present generation is so often graceless. She sighed.
Angela stared at her. Mr. Pettigrew? But why?
I just told you, I havent the slightest notion, her grandmother replied acidly. I was not taken into your brothers confidence. You had best go to the library and ask him yourself. However, do, please, go up to your room and change into something a trifle more presentable first.
Yes, Grandmama, of course. It was useless to point out that if Jeremy was waiting for her, her grandmother might have told her so when she first came into the room. She stood up, saying, If you will excuse me, Grandmama. Mama.
Of course, dear child, her mother responded, sniffing her lavender-scented handkerchief, obviously suffering another of her weak spells. Her grandmother gave Angela a peremptory nod.
And, Angela! Margaret called out as she neared the door. For goodness sake, leave those animals behind. You cannot meet this American person looking like a zookeeper.
Yes, Grandmama. Perhaps I should leave the dogs here.
Her grandmother raised a single icy brow at this sally and waved her out of the room.
Angela walked down the long gallery that stretched across the front of the house and into the west wing, where the bedrooms lay. She found her maid, Kate, waiting for her in her room. Kate already had one of Angelas better dresses, a dark green velvet, spread out on the bed, and a pair of slippers to match it waiting at the foot of the bed.
It did not surprise Angela that her personal maid was well aware that Angela was to join her brother and their surprise guest. In fact, she would not have been astonished if Kate knew why Jeremy had come to Bridbury. There was nothing as swift or as efficient as the servants grapevine.
Kate, a woman much the same age as Angela, with laughing brown eyes, a wealth of chestnut hair and a buxom figure, jumped up from the chair when Angela entered and hurried over to her, clicking her tongue admonishingly. Where in the world have you been? You look like half the county is clinging to your skirts. Out drawing them pictures again, eh?
Yes, I have to confess that I was. Angela glanced down at her skirts, a little surprised to find that several burrs and a few sticks, as well as dust and pieces of dried grass, were clinging to the hem of her dress. I was hoping to find some flowers out already, but I could find nothing but lichen on the rocks.
Well, if it isnt flowers, its birds, or some kind of berry bush or something. Kate shook her head. Ill tell you the truth, my lady, I cant fathom what you see in them little flowers, growing in cracks and such, looking more like a weed than anything else.
They intrigue meso secret and hidden. Its like finding a prize when you do spot something unique. And theyre lovely. Simple and delicate. Besides, it gives me something to do.
Well, selling your pictures to them journals and magazines and such, that makes sense, to make a little money.
Yes. Angela loved the flowers and shrubs and birds, and loved just as much to draw her pencil sketches and watercolors of them, but it was nice to be able to sell a few from time to time to periodicals and books. It gave her pin money, which saved her from having to depend on Jeremy for absolutely everything. She had lost her inheritance, of course, when she left Dunstan; the dowry she had taken with her into the marriage had stayed with him. She did not regret losing it; she never would. But it was hard, having to live on anothers kindness, even her brothers.
Kate had been undoing the row of tiny buttons down Angelas back and helping her out of her dress as she talked. Now she held out the green dress for Angela, still chattering away merrily. Kate was allowed far more liberties than the typical maid. She had taken on the job of Angelas personal maid when both of them were in their teens, and the two of them had been close from the start. Kate had gone with Angela when she married Lord Dunstan years ago, and their bond had been forged into hardened steel during the ordeal of those years. It had been Kate who helped Angela find the courage to leave Dunstan and then accompanied her when she stole out of the house in the dead of night. For that brave loyalty, Angela loved Kate almost like a sister. Since the divorce, her other friends, even close ones like her cousin Cee-Cee, had absented themselves from her life. Kate was now Angelas only confidante, her most valued friend, and it was only at Kates insistence that she continued to serve as Angelas personal maid. Angela had asked her to remain at Bridbury as her companion.
Kate had turned down the offer. A companion, miss? Nay, thats only for a gentlewoman. I couldnt be content with that, now could I? I need something to do, and not stitching little embroidery, neither. Sides, I like making my own money and not living off someone elses charity. Its like slavery, I think, like selling yourself, just for the sake of being able to be genteel-like. But I aint genteel, and never will be. Id sooner sweat and have my independence.
Have you seen the Yank thats with His Lordship? Kate was asking now, as she knelt and began to unbutton Angelas shoes.
No, I havent. Have you?
Aye, I did. I carried some of his bags up. Just to see what he looked like, you know, and maybe get an idea who he was. She giggled. When I carried them into the room, he was already there and had taken off his shirt. He looked that surprised to see me. I knocked, and he said to come in, but I guess he was expecting one of the footmen. Ned and Samuel were carrying the trunks. His jaw dropped open, and he blushed bright red. Then he started scrambling to put his shirt back on. Hed dropped it on the floor, and he had to pick it up, but then he put his arm in the wrong sleeve, and he couldnt get it on. He kept jerking it and twisting, that loose arm flapping around like some crazed bird. It was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I guess I got a better look at him than I would ever have expected.
Angela couldnt help but smile. Poor man. I am sure you did nothing to ease him.
Of course I did. I curtsied and asked if he wanted me to unpack his bags, trying to act like there was nothing wrong. But he kept apologizing to me. She shook her head in amazement.
Well, he is American. Perhaps hes not used to castles and servants and such.
More like hes not used to girls, Kate retorted. Hes got a prim-and-proper look to him, so stiff you think he might break if he tried to bend over. And plain dressed. Not badly dressed, just so very severe. All the other girls think hes dead handsome. I thought him only all right, if you like that sort of pasty look of a man who spends his life indoors. Me, I like a man with a little meat and muscle. She grinned. Gives you something to hold on to, you know.
Angela shook her head in mock despair. Kate was an inveterate flirt, and Angela was sure that she had broken more than one poor mans heart. But she liked to talk as if she were a wilder sort than she was, primarily, Angela thought, to entertain her.
Did you find out why hes here? she asked as Kate finished with her shoes and rose to take a critical look at the overall effect.
No. Dead mum about it, His Lordships man is, which Im thinking means he doesnt know. All I know is, Ned said later that he caught a glimpse into one of the bags, and it had a powerful lot of important-looking papers in it.