I must admit—though you must promise not to tell any of my former schoolmates—that I grew to like it quite a bit. Then, of course, I grew older and wiser and knew it was folly to care for poetry, so I gave it up. Mostly. With my mind so much clearer than it has been for some time, however, it overtook my more practical thoughts, and I remembered that I have no will of my own when it comes to meter and rhyme and tempo.”
He let out a dramatic sigh but did not laugh, which led Sabrina to believe he was being honest about his relationship to poetry yet stating it in a way that she could take it as a joke if she chose to. Many a truth was hidden in jest with Mr. Stillman, apparently. Though not well hidden—he was being surprisingly candid.
“There is a solid collection of Shakespeare in our library here,” she offered.
He crinkled his nose.
“Donne?”
He brightened. “I do quite like Donne.”
“I shall have Therese bring you a volume, then.” His later work, she decided, after he’d joined the clergy. Some of his early work was rather scandalous, and Mr. Stillman did not need any more of that.
“That would be much appreciated,” Mr. Stillman added. “Though a man cannot live on poetry alone. Do you think the chessboard could be found tomorrow? I think Donne can manage to keep me from madness if I have chess with you to look forward to.”
With you, she repeated in her mind. “I shall see that it is found as soon as possible. Is there anything else I can do for you tonight?” She could have slapped herself—her offering to help him!
“Just having the chance to find accord with you has quite satisfied me. The only thing that could improve upon it would be a glass of warm milk.” He smiled in such a way that the rake showed straight through.
She heard herself offer to tell Therese he was ready for his nightcap, then picked up the spent roses on her way out of the room. She paused in the hallway, holding the vase to her chest and reviewing the exchange. Even with all the associations she had enjoyed this week in London, none had left her feeling quite as light as this one.
Mr. Stillman is a dangerous man, she told herself, shaking her head. A woman best be on her guard.
He had managed to overcome one vice through Lord Damion’s generosity and a second due to being unable to get his hands on a bottle. That left just one of his former vices for him to indulge in, and she would as soon swim across the channel as be the woman to fall in his way of becoming a better man.
Dangerous or not, though, she smiled on her way down the stairs. Only a little.
Joshua located the chess set in one of the storage rooms at the top of the house. Made of mahogany and alder squares, the board fastened to a pedestal, making it into a small table. The matching chess pieces were individually wrapped in felt and stored in a latched cherrywood box.
Sabrina inspected the set, imagining Richard’s parents playing the game in the evening, though she’d never seen them do so. They had both been in poor health by the time Richard and Sabrina had married; she’d later learned they had practically begged Richard to find a wife before they died. Of course, they had wanted a grandchild from that union, but that was not to be.
Sabrina would never understand how such kind and devoted parents had produced such a cruel son. The best she could determine was that he’d been mistreated in his early school years and, over time, learned to be the bully instead of the victim. He’d also become a gambler and a drunk, which only fueled his baser traits. Saving young men on a similar course was in part an attempt to save them from becoming like Richard themselves.
“Please have this taken to Mr. Stillman’s room,” Sabrina said, stepping back from the chessboard.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She fetched her wide-brimmed straw hat, the one with a tear in the center where she’d stepped on it a few years earlier, then found the leather gloves, clippers, and basket she used for tending Hortencia’s roses. For the next three hours, she weeded, pruned, and inspected each shrub, taking immense pleasure in seeing how each one was flourishing while also planning out the things she needed to do