“Do you like it?” Bentley asked, patiently waiting for her to take her seat.
Nodding, she had trouble tearing her gaze away from the landscape. She wanted to study it, to learn from it, to use it to become better herself. “It’s breathtaking.”
A short woman bustled through the open door with a basin of water in one hand and a mound of clean rags in the other.
“Ah, Mrs. Notley, allow me to introduce our neighbor, Miss Hattie Green.”
“How do you do, ma’am?” Mrs. Notley asked, bobbing a quick curtsy. Her gray hair was mostly covered in a white cap and thin, silver-rimmed spectacles perched on her pointed nose.
Hattie had seen this woman at church many times but had never had occasion to speak to her. The housekeeper’s voice was warmer than she expected. “I’m well enough. Except for this.” She raised her arm and Mrs. Notley clucked her tongue, scurrying across the room and taking order of the situation at once. She sat Hattie in the chair nearest the warm fire and set to work helping her remove her arm from the spencer’s sleeve.
Bentley allowed them room, seating himself on the sofa opposite. His pale gray eyes were steady, alert. They were trained on Hattie as though she was a wild animal and he was curiously waiting to see what she would do next.
Hattie liked being in that position very much, indeed.