Page 47 of Whiskers and Wiles

Kat agreed, particularly when Lady Walsingham went on with, “Once you have found the iron balls, you must race to the lemon trees yonder.” She gestured to a row of trees that had clearly been forced in a hot-house, then dragged out to the far end of the lawn. “Together, you must pick enough lemons to fill the baskets you will find there. Once those are picked, you will run back to this side of the lawn, where tables will be set up. You must not drop a single lemon on your return, because you must use them all to make a glass of lemon punch. When that is completed, the couple who drinks their punch, both sharing from the same cup, will be declared the winners.”

“Do you feel as though we are being treated as village children playing silly games?” Kat asked.

“Very much so,” Waldorf sighed.

And then, to add insult to injury, as a pink-clad footman came forward with a basket that contained something that looked like ribbons, Lady Walsingham continued with, “In order to accomplish these feats completely as one, thus underscoringthe importance of working together, you will each be joined together by one ankle and one wrist.”

Kat gaped at Lady Walsingham for a moment as she directed the footman to begin handing out the ribbons, then at Waldorf, as if to ask whether she had just heard Lady Walsingham’s declaration correctly.

“This is ridiculous madness,” Waldorf grumbled, but pressed his lips tightly shut when the footman reached them and handed him two ribbons.

“I do not suppose there is a way for us to call off,” Kat whispered once he’d passed.

“You will be able to fasten your own ankles together,” Lady Walsingham said as she gazed happily at her guests, “but you will need to ask your neighbors to help with your wrists.”

Waldorf sighed and bent to tie his and Kat’s ankles together. He made the knot tight, which Kat believed would work in their favor. When he straightened and they hobbled around to face the couple nearest them, she felt herself flush with embarrassment.

She expected to find the other couple looking as mortified as she and Waldorf did, but was surprised to find them looking excited for the competition.

“You don’t stand a chance, Lord Waldorf,” the man told Waldorf with a competitive light in his eyes.

“That’s what you think, Postern,” Waldorf told the man in return as he fastened the lord and lady’s wrists together. “Lady Katherine and I will run circles around you.”

Kat’s eyes went wide, and she stared at Waldorf as Lord and Lady Postern returned the favor of tying wrists by fastening theirs for them. It was a bit alarming to see how deft they were at tying a knot together, each using one of their hands.

“Orin and I have won every competition Lady Walsingham has set so far during her retreat,” Lady Postern informed Kat in a voice that was far too smug.

“Is that so?” Kat asked with pretend politeness. “And what is the prize for winning.”

“Why, superiority, of course,” Lady Postern said with a smile.

“Please approach the line to start,” Lady Walsingham said.

Lord and Lady Postern moved into position. Waldorf started forward, bringing Kat’s leg with him by default. Kat stopped him, however.

“We have to beat them,” she whispered to Waldorf, still feeling the indignation of Lady Postern’s comment.

“We most certainly will,” Waldorf growled in return.

They took their places at the line in the grass, and as soon as Lady Walsingham waved her handkerchief, all of the couple darted forward.

A good third of them fell to the ground almost immediately as they rushed toward the pall-mall mallets and balls. Kat saw at once that they had stumbled because of their lack of cooperation. She likewise saw that Lord and Lady Postern were able to leap out to an early lead because of the way they counted “One-two, one-two” as a pair.

“Do what they’re doing,” she hissed at Waldorf after their first few, awkward, stumbling steps.

Waldorf nodded, clasped his hand together with Kat’s, then started chanting, “One-two, one-two,” as they surged forward.

It took a concentrated effort to learn what exactly was one and what was two, and then to measure their strides so that they could make progress. Kat found herself more willing to take direction from Waldorf than she would have otherwise been as it helped them to shrink the gap between them and Lord and Lady Postern.

The next challenge they faced was bending to pick up the pall-mall mallet, then working out how to stand and who should hold the mallet so that they could strike the ball. Waldorf’s dominant hand was the one that was tied to Kat’s weaker hand, so they had to maneuver and stand close and try more than one method before they were able to hit the ball so that it made any progress at all.

In the end, they determined that it was more efficient to hit the ball lightly, sending it only a few feet at a time, rather than striking it hard and risking it going wildly off-course, as happened to a few of the other couples.

They made it to the wicket with three of the other couples ahead of them, including Lord and Lady Postern.

“On to the bucket,” Kat said, urging Waldorf ahead once their ball was through the wicket and they’d dropped the mallet. “One-two, one-two.”

They reached the bucket of small balls faster than they’d traveled from the start to the mallet and ball. It was encouraging, and as they delved their hands into the bucket filled with an impossible number of balls, the thrill of the competition beat hard in Kat’s breast.

---