Page 61 of Of Fate and Phantoms
"She be a robust sort, I reckon, but Doyle won't tell."
"What of the new kitchen?"
"It ain't all done yet. The builders be back tomorrow. It'll be grand when it be finished. The new cooker be a dream to work." His face lit up at the mention of the cooker. He was a complex, interesting man, yet his joys were simple. He loved to cook.
He left, leaving Alice and I alone. "I think I'll stay in my boys' clothing a little longer," I said, sitting like a man again with my knees apart. "It's rather liberating sprawling in an armchair like this."
"Perhaps I'll try it one day when no one's about."
"Or you could try it when everyone is about, if you'd like to shock them."
"I'd prefer to avoid Lady Vickers' censure, thank you. I get quite enough fierce glances directed my way when she sees me with Seth."
"Speaking of Seth, you shouldn't tease him. He handles your barbs well, but he is trying very hard to impress you."
"I wish he wouldn't," she muttered, looking away.
"I've never seen him try so hard, in fact," I went on. "He's used to women falling at his feet no matter what he says or does. You confound him."
Her fingers twisted in her lap and she still didn't meet my gaze.
"It's all right, Alice. If you have no feelings for him inthatway, then there's nothing for it. He'll recover, I'm sure. I'd wager his belief in his own appeal is in more danger than his heart."
She looked relieved. "I'm glad to hear it, because…I don't know what to make of him, to be honest. I'm not one for falling at the feet of handsome, charming men just because they're handsome and charming."
"I don't think we'd be such good friends if you were."
"There must be something more in a man to interest me, something of substance," she said.
"Seth does have substance. It just takes time to find it beneath the attractive exterior. He's terribly loyal, for one thing, and fiercely determined to right the past wrongs of his father." He'd worked hard to pay his father's debts, taking any work he could find. Some of that work was dubious, however. "Is it his lack of money and property?"
"No! He's gainfully employed here, and that's quite enough for me."
"Lady V, then? I know she doesn't think it a good match, but she'll come round once she gets to know you."
She sighed and slumped into the chair, her spine finally relaxing for the first time since sitting down. "That's the thing, Charlie. I hardly know him and he hardly knows me."
"I admit he's probably dazzled by your beauty, as most men are, but you do at least have substance beneath your pretty face, and if he doesn't know it yet, he will. He surely knows I wouldn't be friends with a silly twit." I laughed, but she merely smiled, and half-heartedly at that. "What is it, Alice? What's troubling you?"
"He's not being himself around me, is he? I can tell from your reactions and that of the others."
"I don't understand."
She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "He seems very upright, never saying or doing anything foolish or confrontational. He agrees with all my opinions, even when I deliberately say something absurd."
"You've been testing him?"
She winced. "It's awful of me, I know."
"Actually, I was thinking how clever of you. As to him agreeing with you, I'd play along. I wish Lincoln would agree with all my opinions."
"No, you don't."
I sighed. Perhaps she was right. Lincoln was his own man. A sycophant wouldn't do for me at all, and not for Alice either.
"Tell me, is Seth usually the sort of person who says poppycock?" she asked.
I smiled. "No. He tends to use much stronger words, although he does temper it a little in his mother's presence. Sometimes. And he'd never say a crude word in front of a woman. He treats me like a sister, so I don't count."
