Page 17 of Lady Louisa and the Carriage Clock
She sat up in bed, stretching lazily. Her maid knocked and entered the room with a breakfast tray.
“Good morning, my lady.”
“Good morning, Lucy.”
The maid placed the tray on her mistress’s lap, and Louisa breathed in the rich aroma of her morning chocolate. “Lovely!”
“Are you staying at home this morning, my lady?”
Louisa shook her head. “I’m to meet Lady Edith at Thorne’s later this morning. Please lay out my new walking dress.”
The maid pulled the periwinkle dress from a wardrobe and placed it over a stuffed chair.
“Have you seen my brother Leopold today?” she asked the maid.
“He and your brother James have gone to Tattersall’s, my lady.”
Lucy usually knew the whereabouts of Louisa's brothers as her mistress often wanted to avoid them in the house. Years of teasing and having her hair pulled were hard to live down.
“I’ll return in a moment, my lady. I need to fetch my darning basket.”
When Lucy returned, Louisa had finished her breakfast, and her maid assisted her with her toilette. Afterward, Louisa had several minutes before she would leave for Berkeley Square. She recalled she’d planned on reading about the Gaston Jolly clocks again and pulled her copy of Thomas Hope’s Household Furniture and Interior Decoration from a drawer in her armoire.
She went downstairs to read, and a footman informed her that her mother was still in her bedchamber and her father was out.
There was a short paragraph in the book about the pair of clocks known collectively as the Roman mythology clocks. Louisa’s clock represented Cupid and Venus, while the other clock represented Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt. She had no idea what riddle might involve Cupid, Venus, and Diana.
She was no closer to solving the puzzle when it was time to depart for Thorne’s Lending Library. Edith was settled in the seating area when Louisa arrived at the library.
“Louisa!” Edith waved from her stuffed chair.
“Edith, you look just lovely in that shade of pink.”
The other girl grinned. “A color chosen by you.” She added in a whisper, “I brought Robby some lemon sours. With Charlotte in the countryside, somebody had to.”
Robby, thin and sandy-haired, was the only clerk employed at Thorne’s.
Charlotte often brought Robby sweets to share with his family on the pretext that she didn’t want them. Robby had four other siblings, and his eldest brother also worked to help provide for their three sisters and widowed mother. Although their mother had their deceased father’s military pension, it was not enough for their large family to live on.
Louisa frowned at the periodicals on the table in front of her. She’d already read them all. “I hate to admit this, but I wish we could return to volunteering at the registry office.”
“You must be bored. The Dulwich Picture Gallery is now open to the public. We should plan a visit.”
Louisa nodded. “It will be a nice change from the constant round of morning calls, balls, and routs.”
“Besting Cecil was only going to be a diversion for so long,” Edith said with a wink.
She frowned. “Lord Wycliffe taking his loss so calmly was very disappointing.”
“I’m sure it was,” Edith replied dryly. “Did you ask Leopold why he dislikes the viscount?”
She wrinkled her nose. “My brother was out this morning. I’ll corner him this evening.”
The bell over the library door rang, and she heard Robby ask if he could assist someone.
“I’m here to speak with friends.”
The words were said in a deep and husky tone, sending tremors down her spine. She sat still, willing herself not to look in the direction of Robby’s subscription counter.
