Page 48 of The Tart's Final Noel
Paul stood and tested the chair to see if it still wobbled.“Parsons has no sideburns and his features are rather distinctively angular and square.Elton...Rafe’s fairly accurate in his reports, but he only saw the man in lantern light.He said Elton is an older, balding blond man, larger than the clerk he arrived with but smaller than himself.Unrefined features, which reminds me of Parsons, but probably means weathered or tending toward jowls.Parsons has a full head of black hair.A Roman nose is rather distinctive and doesn’t sound as if it fits either.”
The logical exercise of describing potential thieves and killers soothed Minerva’s rattled nerves somewhat.“If Mr.Elton arrived by carriage at the same approximate time as Verity’s intruder was in the attic, we must assume they are two people.And Rafe says Parsons helped unload their luggage, so he couldn’t be at the manor either.”
“Which probably means that the intrusive valet was not one of your suspects and is quite innocent.”Mrs.Upton rose to set the table.“You are all just overwrought.”
Or there was a third villain, which unsettled Minerva all over again.She tried to let the more experienced woman reassure her, but she couldn’t.“Two womendiedand the children almost did.We need to reassure Verity that the orphans are safe.She’s under a terrible strain.”
Even worse so because soft-hearted Verity wished to keep the children and feared whoever had a right to them did not really want them.The letter from Bath, that Verity had told her about, had not been reassuring in the least.
Minerva gathered the pieces of her shattered self-esteem and went out to the kitchen to ask if she might help with the food Lady Elsa always prepared for them.
The kitchen was its usual chaos.Dinner wouldn’t be served soon.
Wrapped in a gravy-spattered apron and carrying a large wooden spoon, Lady Elsa stopped to offer Minerva a taste of her...Minerva wasn’t entirely certain what it was but it had carrots and wine and bits of beef and was temptingly delicious.
“Like it?”The blond, buxom, beautiful earl’s daughter had once made Minerva feel like an ugly bug, but she had learned Elsa was as beautiful inside as out.She beamed proudly at Minerva’s hum of pleasure.“It’s French.Let us see if the company turns up their elegant noses at something that isn’t bloody rare beef.”
“Will you be going up to dine with them so you may enjoy their reactions?”
“I think I shall.Anne is quite good at overseeing the staff, and my pastry cook has the puddings in hand.I’d like to hear more of what everyone expects from our Christmas feast.”Elsa wiped her hands on her apron.“I heard you had an intruder today?Who in their right mind robs a parsonage?”
“Possibly someone after the registry or the orphans’ birth documents.Rafe has stationed men there in case he tries again.We are staying out of their way.Did Verity ask you about the valets?”Mrs.Upton may have dismissed Verity’s fear, but Minerva simply could not.She had learned from experience that even children were capable of throwing grenades.
“Hunt asked me to watch for a servant with a big nose and a fat mouth and maybe a soldier’s sideburns.I don’t think I’ve seen anyone like that taking their meals down here.”
“That would have been too easy.”Minerva wrinkled her nose unhappily.“I’ll help serve Mrs.Upton when you’re ready.She and Paul need a little alone time.I might just come eat with the staff.Will they mind?”
“The visiting staff doesn’t know who you are and the others think of you as the curate’s wife and love having you to their selves.”Elsa chuckled.“You’ll hear more than you like.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.I’ll let you know what they’re expecting from Boxing Day.”Minerva let the cook go back to work and returned to inform Paul of her plan.
“They want coins and new uniforms for Boxing Day.”Mrs.Upton said comfortably from her chair.“Lavender and her ladies have been working all hours on the maids’ dresses.Henri has scavenged secondhand coats and waistcoats for the footmen that will have to be fitted.They’ll have new knee breeches and stockings this year.”
“Hunt says he can employ a large number of poorly dressed servants or a small number of smartly dressed ones.”Paul sat in the chair he’d just repaired, testing it with his weight.“He chose people over clothes.”
“Given how the rest of us dress, that was an excellent choice.”Minerva didn’t want to sit still.She paced.“And I believe the dowagers intend to contribute coins for all the work everyone does serving them in their lair.If enough people contribute, the ones who want new clothes can buy them.Should I run up and check on Verity?”
She wanted this mystery over and done so she could celebrate her first Christmas with her new husband as the first curate the village had seen in years.It should be a time of joy and festivity.After all the years of war, she hadn’t had much of that.
She despised her helplessness now.
“I’d check on Brydie first, if I were you,” Paul warned.“She’s in a stew over dining with gentry in fancy dress.She hasn’t quite accepted that she’s more than a farmer’s daughter.”
“I think it’s partially her size making her feel awkward among strangers.”Glad of a task, Minerva grabbed a shawl for the drafty walk upstairs.“The locals accept her as she is, but she has this foolish image of gentry being refined and elegant.We simply need to disabuse her of that fustian.”
“I never realized that.”Paul frowned, considering it.“She’s always amazingly self-confident.”
“You don’t understand women well.Yet.”She kissed his auburn hair and fled up the stairs, determined to solve some part of their plaguesome problem tonight.
Upstairs, a maid told her she’d find Lavender still in the sewing room.Minerva had lived in the manor and knew it was late.Most of the sewing ladies should have gone home.Entering the darkened ballroom, she noted the tables of uniforms neatly laid out to be sewed on in the morning.
But someone was working late.Minerva could hear Brydie fretting and Lavender soothing her, so they were about somewhere.Now that the tower had been opened to the ballroom, Lavender had moved her own workspace and dressing rooms in there.
The door between ballroom and tower was open, although Minerva needed a lantern to traverse the vast expanse of floor cluttered with wardrobes and boxes of old clothes.Safely reaching the tower entrance, she peered in.
Tall, not-quite-statuesque Brydie practically shimmered in the dim light, wearing an emerald gown Minerva almost didn’t recognize as one of her sister-in-law’s.On golden-haired Patience, the gown had been drab—probably because her bounteous bosom drew the eye.Brydie’s rich auburn brought the color to life.Lavender had concealed Brydie’s less voluptuous bosom with ruffles, but whatever corset she’d been given gave her cleavage Brydie hadn’t previously displayed.
Kate finished knotting a thread on the hem and gestured for her sister to turn around to face the mirror.
