A Lady's Dream Come True - Grace Burrowes Page 0,37
I’ve misplaced my penknife and thought to borrow one from the desk.”
Vera folded up the little note and tucked it under the rest of the stack.
She opened the desk’s center drawer and found three penknives in a tray. “This one looks sharp.” She passed over a pewter-handled blade. “Would you like some tea or sandwiches? I haven’t much of an appetite, and Bracken will be disappointed if I send the tray back with food on it.”
“Can’t have that,” Miss Diggory replied, choosing a sandwich and taking the seat opposite the desk. “I never know what to make of that man. If he’s ever smiled, it was in the dark of night long, long ago.”
“He lost a wife and child to smallpox. Dirk shared that confidence only after we’d been married for several years, and you must never refer to it. Bracken’s lot has been difficult, and he has been unfailingly loyal to me and to the Hall. Tea?”
“Please. It’s as well I found you here, for I’ve a request.”
Tamsin Diggory was pleasant company. She had the gift of a light, cheerful touch with everybody, from the servants, to the governesses and companions she socialized with on her days off, to elderly ladies looking for assistance crossing a muddy churchyard.
And Tamsin was pretty, having the classic blond, blue-eyed coloring of the Saxon maiden. She’d disclosed her age as five-and-twenty. Old enough to claim some common sense, as she’d said, young enough not to take life too seriously.
“And what is your request?” Vera asked, retrieving a spare tea cup and saucer from the sideboard. “Have the charms of Hampshire in summer paled? Are you ready for a holiday?” Tamsin and Jeremy had begun at Merlin Hall within a fortnight of each other, though Catherine’s adjustment to a new governess had been swift and easy compared to Alexander’s ongoing discontent.
“No holiday quite yet,” Tamsin said. “Catherine is now putting up her hair.”
“I thought it was time. Catherine more than agreed.”
“As do I, but the decision was yours to make and mine to accommodate. We will end lessons a little earlier in the afternoon so Catherine has time to change for dinner.”
“Gracious. That didn’t take long.” The topic was a happy one, and yet, Vera knew a pang of loss. Must Catherine be so pleased to put childhood behind her?
Tamsin helped herself to a lump of sugar. “I suspect she’ll lose interest in the preening and fussing once she finds a few hairstyles she likes, but she has mentioned letting her hems down the rest of the way.”
“Of course.” Except that figure of speech actually referred to making up a young woman’s entire first adult wardrobe rather than turning a few seams. “I have some fabric in the attic suitable for starting that project.”
“Might we plan a trip into Winchester, perhaps?”
To buy more fabric, to order slippers, gloves, bonnets, and other fripperies necessary to properly ornament a lady. To acquaint Catherine with the process of procuring her needs from a shop.
“Next month,” Vera said. “Start making a list, and I will do likewise.”
“Excellent.” Tamsin chose a second sandwich, having finished the first. “That was not the only question I wanted to ask you, though. With Mr. Dorning underfoot, I thought we might put him to use of an evening.”
Vera glanced up from stirring her tea. “I beg your pardon?”
Tamsin grinned. “That came out wrong. What I meant was, Mr. Dorning is clearly a gentleman and can be relied upon to act as one where Catherine is concerned. I thought we might try adding a hand of cards to the after-dinner routine. You have a foursome, if Mr. Forester and Mr. Dorning are both pressed into service, and Catherine can get some experience with polite play before she starts socializing as an adult.”
Well, of course. Cards were an essential skill for anybody of sufficient station to circulate in society.
“This is all happening rather quickly,” Vera said. “If you’ll be on hand to partner Catherine, I don’t see that much could go amiss, though.”
“Me?” Tamsin chose a square of shortbread from the tray. “I would far rather have my evenings at liberty, if you please. I thought you might sit down with the gentlemen over a hand of cards, while I enjoy a long soak in a hot bath.”
The tea wasn’t sitting well with Vera, or perhaps the conversation wasn’t. “I am happy to play a few hands for the sake of Catherine’s social skills, but you must also take your turn, Tamsin.”