“It’s a wreck, Henry!” I called out the window after them.
Mother craned her neck. “That porte cochere isn’t original to the house. I’m sure the outhouse is.”
I touched Mother’s sleeve. “Must you bait Henry, Mother? Hasn’t he proven himself by now? He lives to please us.”
Mother turned to face me. “This place is quite a project.”
“I was immensely lucky to meet Henry. He’s spontaneous and colorful and dedicated to seeing the world with me.”
Mother kept her attention on the house so I played my trump card, her words. “And after all, Mother, aren’t the principles of good breeding found in generosity?”
Mother patted my hand. “He’s a fine man, dear, and seeing the world is an admirable pursuit.”
“If I could sprout wings, I’d be gone again today.”
“But ‘though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.’ ”
“Can you just say what you mean, Mother?”
“Just remember to appreciate your own backyard.”
* * *
—
THOMAS PARKED AT THE side door of the house and after a suitable interval to show her displeasure, Mother agreed to let Thomas help us out of the car. We stepped onto a side porch, under a Chippendale trellis, heavy with an ancient wisteria vine thick as an elephant’s trunk, and entered the house into a small dining room. The empty house had a musty smell, which came from being closed up too long, layered with that New England–house scent of beeswax and honesty.
We walked about the dining room, a plain space with so many doors it recalled the theater set of a French comedy, and then wandered into the living room with its small fireplace and steep staircase rising from the front door.
Mother opened a window and the scent of fresh-mown hay wafted in. “This old place has potential, actually.”
“So does the tomb of Queen Tiyi, but would you want to live there? Besides, there is nothing to do up here.”
“It’s the country, dear. That’s the point.” Mother stepped to the front entry. “What a lovely staircase for Caroline to walk down on her wedding day.”
Energetic young Noel came in pursuit of us. “Theological students lived here while Reverend Bellamy grounded them with preaching instruction.”
I shook the banister and it wobbled. “Too bad he didn’t preach indoor plumbing. It’s like the Dark Ages.”
We stepped back through the dining room to the kitchen, trying to shake Noel, but he stuck with bird-dog zeal. “The young seminarians lived dormitory-style on the third floor. It’s been used to store apples but it could be put to better use.”
The kitchen floor sagged as we stepped onto it. “Careful, Mother, these floorboards are worn through. I can see the cellar, here.” A deep, white porcelain sink stood on one wall, and long glass-fronted cabinets down another.
Noel followed. “It just needs a woman’s touch. The Hulls have enjoyed it here, left a few bottles of wine in the root cellar. This place can be your Alamo. Papers say if the war ever makes it to our shores they’ll have us all talking German.”
“Perhaps then we’ll have the stomach to join the fight,” I said.
Mother stepped through the doorway and swatted a cobweb away. “If those Huns make it to Bethlehem, Connecticut, we’ll have worse problems.”
Mother bent and peered up the dining room chimney. “You’ll need to bring staff up, dear.”
“No maid will set foot up here. And who would dress Caroline?”
We stepped out the back door to the yard. Mother ran one hand down the trunk of a massive maple tree and waved toward a stand of lilac bushes. “Lilacs grow like weeds here. Nothing lovelier. And you can plant a garden.”
I laughed. “Wouldn’t that be a sight? Me in overalls and a straw hat.”
Caroline ran to us, one hand to her ribs. “Thomas and I found grapes growing on the arbor, so warm and sweet. And you should see the barns, Mother. Father says they could hold any number of animals. Horses, cows.”
“Animals require hours of care.”
Caroline stood her ground. “I’ll do it.”
“You say that now, but when your friends call, Peg will be stuck with it.”
Caroline sulked and Mother wrapped her arms around her. “Animals can be of tremendous comfort, dear.”
“Don’t wish a little dog on us, Mother. Another clubwoman with her flat-faced Pekingese? That would be the death of me.”
Henry called out from the west barn and Caroline hurried out. I followed across the side lawn in the direction of three large, white barns,