Page 15 of The Butler and the Bluestocking
“Did you want the stones to bleed, sister?” asked Bess.
“It would be ever so much more exciting. I wonder if the ghosts of Sir Clifford or the Hebrews haunt the tower?”
Kentigern stood. “There is no telling, Lady Merrilyn. If you’ll come with me,” he took each of the girls by the hand. “We’ll look at the tower gardens before we go on to York Minster.”
“Was anyone killed in the gardens?”
“Not to my knowledge Lady Merrilyn.”
“Pooh. Who wants to walk around looking at flowers and trees?”
“Josefina finds gardens fascinating,” remarked Bess. Kentigern’s knowledge of the tower’s history was quite detailed. How did a butler, even one who attended university, learn such things?If he is a butler. Bess still had her doubts, but as he’d performed his duties well enough, she kept those doubts to herself. To voice them would only worry Patience, and her stepmama did not need more concerns.
The Minster, like the gardens, proved quite unexciting to Merrilyn. However, Emma enjoyed a long conversation with Kentigern about the various prelates, bishops and archbishops whose primary responsibility had been Yorkshire and therefore the York Minster.
Bess and Kentigern continued daily trips to discover the history of York and entertain the children. Some five days after their trip to York Minster, they returned home from an exploration of the ancient walls of the city. Kentigern had held forth on the various Viking depredations to York. Merrilyn had been thrilled. Emma was full of questions about some of the Viking artifacts that had been on display in one of the small private museums near the walls.
It was well after tea when Bess ushered her sisters through the door Kentigern held open to the foyer of Cousin Rose’s house.
A strange voice, a male voice, brought her up sharp. Merrilyn and Emma squeezed forward, pausing at her side.
“I am sorry if Lady Seaheaven is indisposed, but as she is in charge here, I must speak with her regarding my brother.” The stranger insisted.
At her back Bess felt heat from Kentigern’s tall form. In the same moment, his hand settled on her shoulder.
“I will handle this, Lady Bess.”
Before she could protest, he’d moved around her and the girls to approach the man arguing with Mrs. Crewe.
“I tell you again, your lordship, Lady Patience does not know a Professor Marr. You must have mistaken your brother’s direction. I’ll not disturb her ladyship simply to please someone who doesn’t know how to locate a correct address, be he a lord or not.” Mrs. Crew shook a large spoon at him. She must have been cooking, for a dollop of something landed smack on the lordship’s aristocratic cheek.
“I insist...” he fished in a pocket for a kerchief.
“Ah, Lord Strathnaver, if you please,” Kentigern interrupted.
Uncertain what Kentigern intended, Bess waited. She’d never seen her butler more hesitant. But then this was the Earl of Strathnaver! One of the most highly regarded men in Britain. What could he possibly want here? And why was her butler dancing about from foot to foot as if stepping on hot coals? She noted the earl’s dusty cloak.His lordship has only just arrived.
He turned toward Kentigern at the butler’s voice and actually tilted his head, blinking, as if observing some curiosity.
“P...permit me to take your hat and cloak,” Kentigern stammered.
That in itself was odd. Kentigern was the calmest of men, but he was behaving as if meeting an earl were akin to viewing a giraffe or an emu.
“Ma...” the earl began.
“If you will accompany me to the parlor,” continued Kentigern without pausing to permit the Earl to speak. “I believe I can clear up this misunderstanding. Mrs. Crewe would you please bring Lord Strathnaver some tea and perhaps some of those delicious crumpets?”
The earl still stared at her butler with an astonished expression.
What in the world was going on? Bess wondered.Surely the earl has encountered many butlers in his life. Although Kentigern is behaving quite oddly. He should know better than to interrupt an earl, or indeed any guest.
Lord Strathnaver permitted the removal of his cloak then, his gaze still fixed on Kentigern walked slowly toward the door the butler now held open to the parlor.
Bess looked from the earl to her butler and back again. She saw nothing remarkable about Kentigern. He appeared his usual handsome self. But he fascinated the earl, almost as if Kentigern’s appearance in her foyer were completely unexpected. That was impossible. Butlers and other servants were fixtures. It would be more startling if the household did not have one. Bess frowned as she watched the slow ballet occurring between the earl and the servant.
Then, in the moment when the two men stood side by side, she blinked rapidly.They are nearly identical—lean-framed, the earl slightly taller than Kentigern, black-haired, faces nearly the same shape. Does the earl have eyes the color of warm caramel? She could not tell at this distance, but she would find out. And she’d know why her normally placid butler was behaving like a cat standing on a hot stove.
It was time she took charge. “Here, Merrilyn, Emma, go on up to the nursery, I must see our visitor welcome.” She was the oldest in the family and would speak with the earl in her stepmother’s stead. As for Patience, what was Mrs. Crewe at?Stepmama is never sick.
