Keeping the Castle - By Patrice Kindl Page 0,34

it was an astonishing fact that the sun had only advanced a few degrees towards the horizon.

“I’m hungry,” Mr. Fredericks reminded me.

We investigated the uneaten food left for us by Jock.

“Althea, I pray you, do not touch anything. You are most dreadfully wet and dirty,” said Charity, making a little moue of distaste. “And you have dead plants in your hair.”

Mr. Fredericks could be heard laughing in the mine shaft. “You are indeed a spectacle, Miss Hrrm. I did not like to say so, but really, you ought to see the condition of your face.”

I lost my temper.

“My name is Miss Crawley, Mr. Fredericks. My mother’s name is Mrs. Winthrop, the young lady who fell into the gorse bush is Miss Winthrop and her younger sister, the lady beside me, is named Miss Charity Winthrop. I will thank you to remember and use our proper names when you address us. We, as well as males like yourself and your friends and my brother, Alexander, are thinking and feeling creatures deserving of courtesy and recognition.

“And I should like to point out that it was largely on your authority that Master Alexander was included on this outing, and that you swore that once Alexander had claimed your care and protection, you would never let him down.”

“Oh,” said the voice from the mine shaft, and then fell silent.

And remained silent for the remaining half an hour until the rescuers arrived, during which time I fed him half of the pie (he gave the contents of this pastry several sharp looks, but said nothing—I find that sugar reconciles the palate to most things) and administered several draughts of barley water. He barely uttered a sound while enduring what I am sure was a most uncomfortable extraction process, and did not speak at all on the long, long ride home over the eight miles of rough road.

10

WAS I EMBARRASSED BY my lack of control over my emotions and my tongue? No, certainly not. Mr. Fredericks’s bad behavior had earned my scorn and open condemnation.

Of course, on the other hand, he had saved my brother’s life. I loved my brother dearly, and this man had risked his own life to rescue Alexander. So yes, I was mortified by my own behavior. Dreadfully so, the more I thought of it.

But he had saved my brother’s life only after first endangering it. He had promoted Alexander’s presence on the trip without any consideration of our mother’s wishes. And . . . oh, in general, he was so rude and inconsiderate!

Still, he had undergone great discomfort for the sake of my brother. Not, of course, without a number of complaints, but yet . . .

In the weeks that followed our ill-fated journey to the Screaming Stones, I would have been glad to exchange my mind for almost anyone else’s. I grew so weary of trying to judge who was in the right that I could happily have changed lots with a turnip or a cabbage.

I was not called upon to speak to the unspeakable Mr. Fredericks again, as he abruptly went away to London—on business, Lord Boring explained. Perhaps His Lordship had sent him away, perhaps even because he knew how I disliked his cousin. However, perhaps not. If he was Lord Boring’s man of business, he must have had to go away to tend to that business from time to time instead of merely adding up sums in his offices at Gudgeon Park and otherwise lolling about eating and drinking at his cousin’s expense.

And London being so far away, I had hopes that I should not have to entertain Mr. Fredericks again any time soon. After much fruitless soul-searching I banished all thought of him from my mind and fixed it upon its proper object: the Baron. Oh, and also the Marquis, as that pleasant gentleman continued his stay at the Park and seemed to consider it a matter of course to accompany the Baron whenever he chanced to call on us.

I still believed that a marriage so grand as one to the Marquis was beyond my grasp, and in truth, I should have been sorry to be the means of causing a rift in the friendship enjoyed between the Marquis and the Baron. So obvious were the attentions the Baron had paid me that I could not imagine how the Marquis could court me without putting that relationship in danger. In any case, I enjoyed his company, and he amused my mother.

Although my high hopes for the