Arlen ruffled his hair with familiarity. “What if I have cook send up your favorite biscuits? Do you think you would mind a tea party so much then?”
He squinted up at her. “Do you even know my favorite?”
Miss Arlen squinted back at the challenge. “Of course I do. The cinnamon biscuits made with molasses.”
The boy feigned a deep sigh. “I suppose you can come to tea, then.”
Miss Arlen and Alice both laughed. “Do not be too difficult for Miss Sharpe. Show her how charming you can be.” Miss Arlen looked up at Alice again, her eyes bright. “I have known the family all my life. If any of the children give you trouble, tell me. I can offer up wonderful ideas on bribes or torture, whichever you prefer.”
“Let us hope the torture is unnecessary.” Alice narrowed her eyes at the boy but did not hide her smile. “I look forward to our tea tomorrow. I have the feeling it will be most informative as well as enjoyable.”
“Very.” Miss Arlen curtsied. “Until tomorrow.” When she closed the door behind her, leaving only Lord James and Alice in the room, Alice came closer to the table to examine the boy’s map. He had made substantial progress since starting that morning.
It seemed a shame to keep him cooped up in the schoolroom when his sisters were away doing something else.
“Would you like to go play in the garden, my lord?” Alice asked. He immediately dropped his pencil and looked up at her, eyes hopeful. “I think you could use some fresh air before you go to your art lesson.”
“Yes, please.” He pushed away from the table. “Can we go right now?”
Alice laughed. “Let me get my parasol and a few other things, then we can enjoy the sunshine.”
“I’ll get my skipping rope and chalk.” The boy vanished out of the schoolroom, calling over his shoulder. “I’ll meet you in the hall, Miss Sharpe.”
It only took Alice a few moments to gather bonnet, gloves, parasol, and her sketchbook. After wandering about unprepared the day before, she had placed her things at the ready for another garden adventure. When she arrived in the hall, she saw her young charge with arms full of his own entertainments.
“Have you seen the big lily fountain yet, Miss Sharpe?” he asked, leading the way down the corridor to the main staircase. “It’s sunken into the ground, so it looks like a pond. There are even frogs living inside of it.”
Although trusting the young boy when so near amphibians gave her misgivings, Alice responded cheerfully. “I have not seen more than a few of the statues. Is the lily fountain a favorite of yours?”
He started rattling off all the reasons he enjoyed that corner of the gardens. Most of them seemed to be related to the general wildness of the plant life there. “It almost looks like no one ever gardens there, but I know they do. Because the grass is always short, and the pavers never grown over. But plants are everywhere.”
The fashion of allowing gardens to appear as wild as woodlands had not entirely gone out of style, and with someone like the countess promoting such a thing in her gardens, it was likely to be popular for some time yet.
Alice followed Lord James all the way outside, then down the terraced levels of the garden. A large willow tree was the first sign that they had entered a new section of cultivated land. They passed beneath it, the long delicate limbs parting as easily as curtains to allow them through. When they stepped out on the other side, Alice gasped.
The spot might well become her favorite, too.
The fountain was sunk beneath the ground, and the only way to recognize it was manmade rather than a pond was its near perfect circular shape. In the middle of the fountain was a gray stone statue of two swans, heads bent toward one another. In the water itself grew lily pads, tall rushes, and the brilliant purple-loosestrife. Alice had only encountered the tall, bright spikes of flowers once before, visiting a family member who lived near King’s Lyn.
There were long grasses scattered about the area, but a cobbled walking path going around the fountain was perfectly maintained. There was a bench on the other side of the fountain, and a tall oak shading half of the area bore a swing, too.
“This is beautiful,” she whispered, and immediately went to sit on the clover path near the flowers. Alice opened her