Page 15 of Lady Edith and the Registry Office
“Good day, Miss Tilford, Lord Harbury.”
The baron bowed elegantly, his dark blonde hair glinting in a ray of sunshine radiating through the window near the front door. She’d thought his eyes were hazel. Today, they were a light green color.
“I’ll leave you ladies to it.” Lord Harbury gave her a bright smile as he took his leave.
Diana approached them. “Good afternoon, Lady Edith, Miss Tilford. Let’s get you two ladies to work.”
In the back office, one desk held an employer ledger, the other a veteran ledger.
“Mrs. Stafford distributed the cards to matched veterans this morning. The cards you write up today will be handed out tomorrow.” Diana smiled briefly before exiting the room.
“I’ll work with the employee ledger,” Edith said to Alicia, taking a seat behind one of the oak desks. “You can have the employer ledger.”
“Very good. Now what?” Alicia was seated.
“Start at the beginning of the employer ledger and look for employers without a veteran’s name next to their entry. If you can briefly tell me what position they have open, I will start looking for matches.”
Alicia opened her ledger and glanced over a few pages.
“Lord Mayton. Oh my, a viscount no less!”
“And what does he need?”
Alicia frowned. “Two gardeners for his estate in Devon. No provision for a family will be made.”
“Hmmm... So we need men with an aptitude for gardening and willing to leave London. Thankfully, the ledger states whether a man is married or not.”
Edith scanned the entries.
Alicia let out a squeak. “Oh! I also see Lord Davenport. I believe he served with my brother on one of his ships.”
Edith dearly hoped Alicia would be able to stay on task.
“The baron left the navy recently?” Edith didn’t know much about Lord Harbury. To be truthful, she’d never been interested in his background.
“Oh yes!” She sighed dramatically. “He left it for me. Our parents died, you see.”
“Charlotte told me. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“It hasn’t always been easy, but Nathaniel has been wonderful. He loved the Navy, but after the sinking of the HMSSt. George, he wasn’t the same. I was young when he went away and wasn’t used to seeing him often, but after the sinking, his letters were not as light and cheerful as they had been.”
She thought the baron appeared cheerful most of the time. If he were indeed haunted by inner demons, today he’d looked to be in control of them. “He surely wasn’t aboard theSt. Georgewhen it sank. None of the officers survived.”
“He’d recently been transferred. Several of his friends perished when the ship went down.” Alicia added softly, “My brother doesn’t talk about it. I’ve overheard Lord Ashford say he believes Nathaniel pretends to be happy to mask his melancholia. He says my brother feels guilty for not being on the ship when it sank.”
Nathaniel pretends to be happy.Could Ashford be right? Lord Harbury was one of his closest friends. Edith thought about observing the baron more closely when next in his company but told herself the baron’s demeanor was no concern of hers.
She remained silent and studied her ledger as Alicia chatted about other employers in the book.
“I’ve found someone!” Edith took one of the pencils on her desk and handed it to Alicia. “Write this name next to the employer.”
Edith then took one of the cards on the corner of the desk, walked to Alicia’s desk, and explained that she was to write down the employer’s information for the chosen veteran on the card.
Returning to her desk, she scanned the ledger again for another possible gardener.
“I’m not finding another candidate without a family. Oh yes! Here’s one. Thank goodness! Nearly the last name we have. Write this down, Alicia.”
Alicia picked up a card and wrote down the employer’s name, address, and who the veteran was supposed to report to at the residence.
