Page 49 of The Traitor
“Bare fists! You’ll let that damned Scottish meat wagon beat you to death?”
Milly paused outside the door to the library, Mr. Brodie’s words taking her quite, quite aback. She wanted him to repeat them, in part because she’d never met a Scottish meat wagon—she could not possibly have heard that correctly—but also because Brodie had sounded more Scottish than Irish himself.
And then there was that “to death” part, which had to be male hyperbole run amok.
She could not hear Sebastian’s reply, for it had to be Sebastian to whom Brodie addressed himself. To the rest of the household Mr. Brodie was unfailingly polite.
When he wasn’t snooping through their underlinen.
“Miss Danforth?”
The professor stood on the stairs, looking dapper in his evening attire.
“Sir?”
“I believe Lady Freddy could use your assistance to finish dressing for tonight’s card party. She muttered dire imprecations should she be outshone by a Mrs. Flynn. One fears for her health when such moods overtake her.”
The professor’s references to her ladyship’s décolletage were a marvel of delicacy.
Milly hurried past him up the stairs. “Summer is coming, Professor. We can hope for a mild evening.”
“A wiser bet than hoping her ladyship might learn a bit of decorum. My thanks, Miss Danforth.”
The professor went sauntering on his way—he was never in a hurry—while voices rose from the library. Milly could not eavesdrop with the professor underfoot, so she hustled up to Lady Freddy’s apartment.
“I have told that boy he is to stop this nonsense,” Lady Freddy muttered. She sat at her vanity, an aging goddess whose accuracy with a thunderbolt was not to be underestimated. “He’s even replaced my pearls with the genuine article, and I haven’t worn pearls for decades.” She swiveled her guns on Milly. “You could carry off pearls, even with that hair. Pearls in your hair would look quite fetching.”
“I have no need of jewels, my lady, and if his lordship wants to replace the St. Clair jewels, then future generations of St. Clairs will likely commend him for it.”
The idea that somebody would commend the baron for something struck Milly as appropriate, though she’d rather the praise not be exclusively posthumous.
Lady Freddy dropped her pearls onto a tray of white-and-gilt porcelain. “My dear girl, there willbeno future generations of St. Clairs at the rate Sebastian goes on. He has a duty to the succession that he should have attended to the instant hostilities ceased, but no, he must break my heart instead while he frets over hisdroopingherbs. What do you think of topaz with my new cream-and-gold ensemble?”
Milly crossed the carpet to stand behind Lady Freddy and consider the image in the folding mirror.
“I think you know more than you should about waging war with silk and jewels, but turquoise or sapphire will go better with your coloring if you’re set on wearing the new dress.”
“Amber would serve for you,” Lady Freddy said. “Though jade would serve better.” She fished through the tray and extracted a sapphire bracelet.
“Let me fasten that,” Milly said, taking Lady Freddy’s left wrist in her hands. “You know, it might be that his lordship cannot see to the succession.”
“Cannot?”
“War affects some men that way; then too, there are injuries a man can sustain that do not take his life, but take his ability to beget life. There. I think it looks very well on you, ma’am.”
Milly sent up a request for forgiveness to the Almighty. Sebastian St. Clair showed every evidence of being in good reproductive health.
Her ladyship admired the bracelet then retrieved its twin from the tray. “Milly Danforth, you shock me. I ought to increase your wages. How could you know of such injuries?”
“My aunts entertained many fellows who served in the Colonial wars. Two in particular were frequent callers. I suspected the gentlemen had an unnatural relationship, but Aunt Hy explained one of them had been injured. The necklace too, my lady?”
“Andyou know of unnatural relationships! My, what a worldly place Chelsea has become. Yes, the necklace too.”
They experimented with different lengths of the necklace. Lady Freddy eventually decided it should lie exactly where a young widow might have positioned it—so the gold pendant fell right above her cleavage.
“Have I shocked you, Milly?”
“To my very toes, my lady. I shall endeavor to age every bit as shockingly as you have. The professor will be the envy of all who behold you. Though it might be chilly later on, best tuck a fichu into your pocket, my lady.”
