Page 17 of The Counterfeit Scoundrel
A dog slinking out from beneath the shadows of a bush caught her attention and caused her to laugh withrelief. Her spy, no doubt. Ignoring her, he scampered toward the rear of the dwelling, where a servant would probably have a juicy morsel waiting for the scraggly interloper. Her aunt had a habit of taking in strays—as she had Daisy—and this chap was undoubtedly her latest charity case. Not that she’d ever made Daisy feel a burden, but it couldn’t have been easy raising her brother’s daughter by herself.
Twisting back around, Daisy shoved open the door and had barely entered the foyer when the woman who was more mother than aunt came flying down the stairs.
“Oh, Marguerite, I’m incredibly relieved to see you looking so well.” Her aunt’s arms came around her snugly and wrapped her in love. She was a stout woman, and it was like falling into a soft, thick feather bed. Daisy had never known anyone to give better hugs.
“Aunt Charlotte, you worry for naught.”
Stepping back, curling her hands over Daisy’s shoulders, her aunt held her at arm’s length, her gaze scrutinizing. “I would feel more comforted if you would marry. It’s what we women are made for. Marriage.”
“You never married.”
She released her hold. “Not for want of trying, but it was not to be. However, I have the trust that my father established for me and an older brother to see to my care. You have neither of those things, dear child. Whatever will you do in your waning years?”
“I’m setting aside some of my earnings.”
“I daresay it won’t be enough. I shall leave you this residence, of course, but it does have upkeep and the servants—”
Before her aunt could go on a diatribe regarding her niece’s lonely fate, Daisy interrupted. “Speaking of servants, how is Annie working out for you?”
In order for Daisy to get a position in Bishop’s household, there had needed to be a vacancy. After discreetly observing the servants from a distance, especially the younger girls when they’d gone to market, she’d managed to catch Annie when no one was around and told her the fabricated tale that Bishop had wanted to give her a secret assignment in another household for a short period, in the household of the sister of an earl. Soon after, Daisy had delivered the excited servant to Aunt Charlotte’s abode. While her aunt preferred that Daisy marry, she was also agreeable to being a willing partner when Daisy required assistance with her sleuthing. Her aunt was seldom seen without a detective novel in hand.
“Lovely girl, terribly sweet, although I’ve had to get after the staff not to take advantage of her. She just wants to be fancied.”
“I think I’ll pop downstairs before joining you for luncheon, as I’d like to have a word with her.”
“Why do I have the impression that you’re not telling me everything?”
“I promise you that I’m not up to no good.”
“You never were, and that worried me as well. Although yourworking”—she uttered the word as though it involved touching offal—“is a bit of a rebellion. I suppose I should have been more specific regarding what I was wishing for when it came to you doing what you ought not. I was thinking more along the lines of dressing outrageously in trousers in order to ride one of those bicycle contraptions.”
Leaning in, she pressed a kiss to the parchment-like cheek. “I love you, Auntie.”
“Check on the girl, and then join me in the parlor for a bit of sherry before luncheon.”
She knew her aunt wouldn’t wait for her arrival in order to imbibe, but still she left her there and made her way to the kitchen, where she found Annie darning in the staff’s main hall. Three other servants were also engaged in one sort of activity or another. Her aunt gave them all time off after Sunday luncheon was served as well as a different half day, so she was never completely without servants except for Sunday afternoon.
Annie’s button-shaped dark eyes brightened at the sight of Daisy. She immediately came to her feet and bobbed a quick curtsy. “Lady Marguerite.”
“Hello, Annie. My aunt is a lady because her father was the Earl of Bellingham, and while he was my grandfather,my fatherwas his youngest son. Because he never inherited the title, I haven’t the right to such a distinction.”
Annie blinked, blinked, blinked.
Daisy smiled gently. “I shouldn’t be addressed as lady, nor should I be curtsied to.”
“But ye is still nobility.”
“I have precedence, yes, but it doesn’t truly mean anything. I’m simply Miss Townsend.”
“It’s so confusing.”
“It is indeed. I don’t know what our ancestors were thinking when they came up with this system so long ago. It’s much easier to understand if you’ve grown up in it.” She glanced around, noting that, although the others continued their chores, they were definitelymore alert and listening in. “I wondered if you might take a walk about the garden with me.”
“I don’t know that I’m allowed.”
“This was my home for most of my life, so you are allowed if I ask. You shan’t get into any trouble.”
“I’d like that then.”
