Page 54 of A Winter By the Sea
Mr. During’s dimples blazed in an effort to suppress a giddy grin. “Thank you all.” He lifted his own glass. “And to Antoine Bernardi, pastry chef extraordinaire.”
“Hear, hear.”
“Speaking of which...” Mr. Bernardi rose. “I have a little something more.” He slipped from the room.
While they waited, they exchanged looks of questioning anticipation. A few moments later, he returned. In his hands he held another porcelain stand, this one bearing a large iced cake decorated with a colored sugar crown andpastillageswans.
Georgie gasped in delight and leaned close to explain the new arrival to Mr. Hornbeam. Around the table, people began to clap.
“Well done, Mr. Bernardi.”
He gave a modest shrug. “It is Twelfth Night, after all.”
Was it? Sarah stared in surprise. She had forgotten. Next year, she reminded herself, they would celebrate the holiday season properly.
12
There is a certain romantic appeal in fencing.
—Kay Geyer,The Sportswoman
The next day, Sarah gave Emily and Georgiana each a list of chores to accomplish. With only one housemaid and a few hours’ help from Bibi, they all had to lend a hand with the cleaning. Emily resisted complaining, for she knew Sarah’s list would be far longer than either of theirs.
An hour later, she and her younger sister worked in the library together, Georgie on the ladder dusting shelves and Emily polishing the windowpanes. Sarah had rightly assumed that if she’d asked Emily to dust the shelves she would be distracted by the books and not get any work done. Georgie was clearly distracted, but not by the books. She glanced often at the clock as she worked.
Finally, she said, “I had better go up and change for my fencing lesson.”
Emily sent her a knowing smirk. “Since when does it take you more than five minutes to dress?”
A rattling sound drew Emily’s attention outside, to a small cart coming up the drive. Georgie hurried down the ladder and joined her at the window. “It’s Hannah!”
She jogged from the library to open the front door, and Emily followed, curious. Georgie’s friend Hannah usually came on foot.
Mr. Gwilt was there before them, hastily donning a coat as he strode to the cart. He helped the girl down and held the horse.
“I’ll be just a moment,” she called to him over her shoulder.
Hannah came to the door, smiling eagerly at Georgiana. “Mother wants to take us to the York Hotel for tea and cake. A belated birthday celebration, now that my cold is better.”
“When?”
“Now. I know it’s last minute, but please say you’ll come. Mother let me have the pony cart to come and fetch you. She will meet us there.”
“I would like to go. Let me ask Mamma.”
Georgie ran across the hall to Mamma’s room and returned in less than a minute. She looked at Emily imploringly, eyebrows high. “She says I may go if you will clean the bath and gather the towels for me. The dusting can wait, but that cannot.” She clasped her hands in supplication. “Please!”
Emily sighed. “Very well.”
“Huzzah!” Georgiana retrieved her cloak from the closet, then paused, eyes wide. “Oh! I forgot. My fencing lesson...”
“I am sure Mr. Thomson will understand.”
“You will explain?”
“I shall. Now go and enjoy yourself.”
A short while later, at the time appointed for Georgiana’s fencing lesson, Emily removed her apron and went up to the attic alone. Mr. Thomson was already there, stretching his long limbs.
