I choked on my toast. “My sister’s sweetheart?”
“Oh yes, didn’t you know? Last time Lady Margaret was home, I opened my window one night to get some air and I saw her and a man kissing on the terrace.”
I didn’t know how to respond, but Hannah must have seen the stunned look on my face because she said, “Oh, I don’t gossip about it. Miss Tanner wouldn’t like that. I asked Lettie who it was and she didn’t know. He is a tall, thin man.” She stopped talking, looking at me as if waiting to see if I might provide an answer. I had no idea. It was probably someone stationed at Cranwell.
When I didn’t offer up any possibilities, Hannah said, “Lady Margaret seems terribly burdened with worry, though. I can sense worry in people. Mother claims it’s a gift I have.”
“I think everyone is very worried these days,” I managed to say, preoccupied with who my sister had been kissing. She’d been a widow for years, ever since her husband was killed at the Battle of Ypres, but I hadn’t known there was anyone special in her life. Whoever it was, I knew I probably shouldn’t encourage Hannah to talk more about it. If Miss Tanner overheard her gossiping about one of the family, she’d be very angry with the girl. I’d have to find out from Margaret.
Hannah chattered some more and then said something about dusting. After I finished eating, it occurred to me that if Margaret was meeting someone at the house, it might explain Lettie’s belief that there was a “presence” roaming around. It didn’t explain the night before, however. I couldn’t imagine anyone who had been there to see Margaret running off into the woods.
It occurred to me that if there were hungry soldiers in the neighborhood, Mrs. Brickles might know about it. Even before the war, we’d occasionally had a person stop at the back door and ask for a bit of bread. She’d always send them on their way with far more than that.
I decided to ask her and use that as an excuse to visit the kitchen as well. It had long been my favorite place in the house—ever since I was old enough to tag after Crispin and Andrew. The boys had usually stopped in at some point in the day to beg Mrs. Brickles for jam and bread, though it didn’t take much begging; Mrs. Brickles doted on Crispin. And when Crispin was at school, I’d still go there, happy to sit and listen to everyone talk.
As I went in, Mrs. Brickles came in from the scullery carrying a large stockpot. “How are you, Mrs. Brickles?” I asked.
“Fair to middling, Lady Thomasina,” she said, setting the pot on the stove. “How nice to see you!” She studied me. “You are a mite pale, if you don’t mind my saying. Some good fresh air will put the roses back in your cheeks now that you’re away from that air down south.” Mrs. Brickles was convinced that anyplace outside of Lincolnshire had an unhealthy climate that would eventually lead to illness and decline.
“It’s nice to be home,” I said. “I hope it’s not too much work for you with both Margaret and me home at the same time, and now the two guests as well. I know you are very short-staffed.” I looked around. It was odd to see the kitchen so empty. Something besides people was missing, but I couldn’t pinpoint the change.
“Of course it’s not too much work! We manage, some days better than others, though I wish some of the old staff was still here.” She picked up what looked like a bunch of weeds. “Look what that girl Hannah brought me—weeds! I sent her out to get parsnips and she brought me back these. The girl doesn’t seem to know a cabbage from a carrot,” she grumbled.
She tossed the weeds in a bucket and took an onion from a basket on the table. “I am as prepared as I can be for whatever guests may arrive. Lord Tretheway doesn’t have to say it, but we all know he brings important guests here. We’ll do our part. It’s little enough.” She motioned to the shelf behind the table, which held the canisters and the spices. “Though with the sugar rationing, and the new butter rationing starting soon, I don’t know how I’ll give them a decent pudding.”
I realized then what was different about the kitchen. Mrs. Brickles was renowned for her lemon tarts, and normally the kitchen smelled of lemon.
“You’re too modest, Mrs. Brickles,” I said. “Everything you send up is delicious, even with all the shortages. It’s too bad there are so many.” It seemed like a good opening for my question. “I hear there are even hungry soldiers about here in the county, not just in the cities. In fact, I think Jove might have spotted one this morning on the grounds. Have you seen any?”
She frowned. “I haven’t heard anything like that, and I’d be the one to know. People should be taking care of them that served, those who are trying to keep us safe. Even if they can’t go back to the fighting, work could be found for them. Guarding places against spies and such should be something they could manage. Just yesterday I heard they’ve caught a spy in Lincoln! That’s far too close to home! Who knows how many people he might have murdered in their beds before he was found out!” She sliced into the onion with sudden ferocity. “Gives me the horrors to think of someone like that sneaking around after dark.”
I hadn’t realized that Miss Tanner had come into the room until she spoke. “You could have rung for me if you needed something, Lady Thomasina.”
“I just came to say hello.” I felt a little defensive because Miss Tanner seemed irritated whenever she found me in the kitchen.
“Now, Mrs. Brickles, we don’t yet know any details,” Miss Tanner said, disapproval clear in her voice. “They are investigating the man to see if he actually is a spy.”
“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Mrs. Brickles muttered as she diced the onion.
I saw a frown cross Miss Tanner’s face. She cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Lady Thomasina. May I speak to you? Perhaps in your mother’s sitting room?”
That seemed an odd place to have a conversation. It was on the other side of the house and up two flights of stairs. Then I realized it was where housekeepers had always discussed household matters with my mother.
“Of course.” I smiled and tried to sound as if there was nothing I’d rather do than talk to the housekeeper, quelling the impulse to make up an urgent need to write a letter or knit a sock for a soldier. “We could talk in your office instead,” I suggested. “I may go out to the kitchen garden when we are finished.”
“Very well,” she said, though I could tell she didn’t approve.
Inside her office, I sat in the chair in front of the housekeeper’s worktable, feeling like a maid about to be scolded. Miss Tanner kept the room free of decoration, except for a strange little pewter curio of the “speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil” monkeys on the table. I wondered if Miss Tanner kept it as a silent reminder to the staff of her expectations for their behavior.
Miss Tanner sat down, brushed an invisible speck of dust off the table, and then peered at me over the tops of her spectacles, which she wore pushed down on her nose. As usual, she didn’t blink. I didn’t know how she managed that. “I should perhaps speak to Lady Margaret as well, in light of your mother’s absence, but I don’t want to upset your sister unnecessarily.” That was code for needing to maintain the facade that everything was “just so” to keep Margaret happy. “We have some girls coming in during the day to help Mrs. Brickles when we need them,” she continued, “but as for the meals, the new girl, Hannah, will have to serve. Lettie has too many other chores and can be clumsy, though Hannah has her own flaws. She has not adapted to her new situation as well as I had hoped. I’ve given her extensive instructions, but it appears to go in one ear and out the other.”
“It’s fine,” I said. “Everyone has grown used to the change in standards everywhere.” It felt silly to be worrying about the standards of the house when our soldiers in France were sitting in the mud, eating cold tinned beef while shells landed all around them.
Miss Tanner sighed. “I do feel I’m letting down Lord Tretheway. I interviewed the girl and hired her myself. I’m afraid I’ve slipped up, but I thought since she has a local connection, she would do. She was quite eager for a job s
ince her mother is ill.” The housekeeper frowned and flicked another speck of invisible dust off the desk before she continued. “There’s another problem. She’s also far too talkative, as Lady Margaret indicated. I’ve had to speak to her already. When Lord Tretheway was last home, I caught her telling your father about her mother’s neighbor! Some trifling gossip. It’s unheard of!”
I had to hide a smile over the scandalized tone of Miss Tanner’s voice. I wished I had been there to watch that scene. Most servants were too intimidated to utter a word in my father’s presence, though if they did, he was perfectly polite to them.
“Let’s give her a chance,” I said, feeling like it was what my mother would say. I stood up, wanting to get outside.
Miss Tanner stood up as well. “Very well. I hope you will be so good as to let me know if you notice any of the servants behaving oddly or remarking upon anything unusual. I had to confiscate one of the more lurid newspapers from one of the scullery maids who came in from the village to help out for a few days. She read bits of it to the others and it inflamed their fears. I’ve found it’s best to put a stop to such nonsense as soon as possible. This spy news will just add to their fear if we don’t keep it under control.”
I didn’t answer. I had no intention of reporting on the servants like I was some kind of household snitch. I made some excuse about the garden and went outside.
It occurred to me then that I should look for footprints. Surely there’d be some with the wet ground. But I combed the lawn and didn’t find any, except what were probably Mr. Applewhite’s because they were so small. He was a very small man, and while I’d never actually paid attention to his feet, I was sure they fit the rest of him. It was frustrating to find nothing. I had seen someone. The wristlet proved a stranger had been there.
I went in search of Mr. Applewhite. If anyone had seen anything unusual, it would be him. I found him right beyond the terrace, inspecting one of the Lady Banks roses. It was among his favorites, and we’d nearly lost it the year before.
“Good morning, Mr. Applewhite. It’s looking better.” I touched one of the tiny yellow flowers.
“That she is, Lady Thomasina. Can I help you with something?”
“I wondered if you’d seen any strangers about. I think Jove tried to chase someone off the property this morning.”
“Oh, I don’t think so. I haven’t noticed anyone about. Jove used to have quite an interest in rabbits when he was a pup. Maybe the interest came back.”
I didn’t remember that, but Jove was only a few years younger than I was. “If you see anything unusual, will you let me know?” I asked.
“Of course. I’ll keep a sharp eye out.”
“Thank you.” I left him and wandered around the garden, trying to decide what should be done first. I was about to go get some gardening tools when I heard the sound of an aeroplane. Shading my eyes from the sun, I could see one coming from the direction of Cranwell, flying very low. As I watched, the front of it tipped even lower. It was coming down, and it was coming down in the pasture behind the gardens.
CHAPTER
SIX
I RAN TO the pasture as fast as I could, horrified that the plane might crash. But as it dropped even farther, I realized it didn’t look completely out of control. Someone was landing in the pasture on purpose.
It came down fast and hard, hitting the ground and bumping back up in the air, then down again in a series of strange little hops, turning to one side before finally coming to a stop. The pilot cut the engine, jumped out, and pulled off his helmet and goggles. It was Lucas.
Andrew climbed down from the rear seat of the aeroplane more slowly. Neither of them saw me. By the time I reached them, I could hear Andrew taking Lucas to task. “Why didn’t you listen when I said you were coming in too fast? You’re going to have to listen to my instructions if you want to survive this, and we don’t have much time for practice.”
That stopped me. Survive what?
“I didn’t think I was going too fast,” Lucas said. “And better too fast than too slow. I don’t want to drop out of the sky like a lead weight.”
Though I wanted to know more, I didn’t want Andrew to think I was eavesdropping. “Hello,” I called.
Lucas spun around. “Hello, your ladyshipness.” He grinned and did an absurdly exaggerated bow, nearly losing his balance. “Want to go for a ride?”
“No,” I said. “And please call me Mina. I think I’d rather learn to fly myself and be the one in the pilot’s seat. It would be safer that way.”
Lucas laughed. “I could teach you, and you’d learn fast. It’s fantastic being up in the air. There’s nothing else like it.”
I didn’t tell him that I had seen the bumpy landing and overheard Andrew berating him. He was certainly a confident young man.
Andrew shook his head at Lucas. “No rides. One minor detail: It’s not your plane. You do remember that it belongs to the Royal Air Force, don’t you?”
I could see that Lucas’s spirits were dampened for all of three or four seconds. He grinned again. “That’s true. Perhaps Lady Thomasina’s first lesson could involve her sitting in the pilot’s seat with me. I can show her all the controls. We couldn’t cause any damage that way.”
“Excellent effort, but no,” Andrew said.
“Why did you land here?” I asked. “Isn’t it dangerous to land just anywhere?”
“Pilots practice landing on all types of terrain,” Andrew said. “Lucas, we need to take off again. This time, try not to make me feel like I’m going to fall out the back. A little less steep on the ascent, please.”
Lucas put his hands up in the air like he was surrendering. “You take away all the fun, but if you insist, I’ll fly it like I’m driving my grandmother to church. Goodbye, Mina, my ladyshipness.” He attempted another elaborate bow and again nearly fell over.
“I hope you won’t be meeting the king soon,” I said. “It’s generally considered bad form to fall over in Buckingham Palace, especially if you knock the king over in the process.”
“You can give me lessons.” He went to the front of the plane and put a hand on the propeller. “We’ll trade. Flying lessons for bowing lessons. We could start with the bowing part. I do intend to meet the king someday.”
“I’m sure the king will be delighted to meet you, once you are presentable,” I said, trying to sound as serious as possible.
“I thought he would,” he said as he spun the propeller. “Must get dull sitting around in a palace all day.”
The engine started up. He said something else to me that I couldn’t hear and then climbed into his seat. Andrew just rolled his eyes and climbed into his own seat.
I watched them take off. Lucas got the plane up very high very fast. If he drove his grandmother that fast, the poor woman must spend the time holding on for dear life. I watched until the aeroplane was out of sight.
I walked back to the garden pondering what I’d just witnessed. Lucas had acted as if they were just out for a fun flying lesson, but Andrew’s words that I’d overheard chilled me. What was Lucas going to have to survive? I had already been suspicious of Andrew’s claim that Lucas was an aeroplane designer, and what I’d just witnessed confirmed it. How could Lucas design planes if he needed lessons on how to land them?
With nothing else to do, I spent the rest of the day in the garden weeding and pruning, except for a quick bite of bread and cheese begged from Mrs. Brickles. For the first time ever, the garden didn’t hold much interest for me. I kept looking up at the sky, imagining what it would be like to fly with Lucas. I’d never done anything as exciting as flying, but I didn’t think I’d be scared. I had a silly fear of bats and I wasn’t too fond of snakes, but I’d never had a fear of heights. Though anyone with a bit of sense would be a little nervous flying with Lucas. I could just picture him doing loops to impress a passenger.
I also tried to fit together their flying lessons with the possibility I would be helping Andrew. I couldn�
�t make a connection. Frustrated that I still didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t pay enough attention to the rose I was pruning until I realized I’d turned it into a plant small enough for a pixie garden. I groaned, wondering what I could say to Mr. Applewhite. I didn’t think I could convince him that pixieing roses made them grow better.
I straightened up, noticing the long shadows from the beech tree nearby. It was later than I had realized, and that meant I needed to figure out what I was going to wear for dinner. I was not going to appear before everyone in one of Margaret’s old garden party frocks. I could ask Margaret to loan me something, but I didn’t think she would. She’d tell me to wear something of my own because her clothes were too sophisticated for someone my age. That was true, but I still wanted to wear something nice. If my mother had been home, she would have intervened, but since she wasn’t, I needed a new plan.
Thinking of my mother gave me an idea. She had some lovely dinner dresses, and I thought they would fit me now. I knew exactly which gown I wanted. I hoped my mother hadn’t taken it with her on her trip. When I went into her dressing room, the dress was hanging just where it always had. My mother favored shades of blue, and this one was midnight blue velvet beaded with metallic thread. A silver beaded butterfly ornament decorated one side of the waist. It fit me perfectly.
Pleased with the result, I decided I might as well put my hair up too, even if Margaret would disapprove of that as well. I couldn’t wear my hair down forever, and I was old enough to be done with childish plaits. The only problem was that I didn’t know how to do my hair. I needed Lettie to help me. My mother had taught Lettie how to do hair, and the girl was very good at it. I went down to the kitchen to see if Mrs. Brickles knew where she was. Lettie had taken on so many tasks, she could have been anywhere.
Mrs. Brickles was rushing about the kitchen, which was unusual for her. “I haven’t seen her and I wish I knew where she was. I need her help. She was supposed to be back from the village an hour ago. She said she had an errand to do. It’s not like her to dawdle. Is there anything I can do?”
All Is Fair Page 5
