by Martha Keyes
His brows drew together. “You know what I mean, Georgie. Other families like ours. Genteel ones.”
Georgiana smiled at him. “There is Sir Clyde and Lady Gilmour at Amblethorne Park up the road. You are very welcome to befriend them. I imagine they will be over the moon to know of your presence here.”
Archie seemed content enough to know that there was at least one other genteel family nearby. No doubt he would drive over to the nearest inn and meet others soon enough.
Georgiana was glad to see Archie and yet, how would he feel once he knew what Georgiana did with her time there? He had teased her about becoming provincial, but what would he say if he knew she had agreed to labor on the roads with all the villagers?
Archie’s presence would add an interesting element to life in Rushbury—for however long he decided to stay. She suspected that he would tire of the place in a week or so, and she had a feeling she might be glad of it when the time came.
Chapter 14
Samuel suppressed a grimace at the sight of the Reed family in the pews as he stood to give his sermon. John was absent, and Samuel suspected that he was not doing any better now than he had after the machines had first arrived.
His eyes scanned the crowd and landed upon Miss Paige, as they so often did. She was flanked on one side by her aunt and on the other by an unfamiliar gentleman.
His stomach clenched. Who was he? He was dressed in the height of fashion—or what Samuel presumed that must have been. Having been so long away from Town himself, he couldn’t speak to the matter. But he was sitting far too close to Miss Paige to imply anything other than a very close relationship indeed. Had she mentioned a brother? He rather thought she had. He hoped it.
Her eyes met his, and she smiled at him. It was warm and familiar, and he felt his shoulders relax a bit at the sight of it. Was he merely seeing what he wished to see, or was there not something different in the way she smiled at him?
He shuffled the papers in his hands, giving himself a moment to shift his focus to where it needed to be. The village badly needed today’s sermon on the dangers of pride—he more than anyone—and he wanted to be sure that he delivered it in the most loving and direct way possible. If they let their pride guide them into making enemies of the Gilmours, he feared what would become of them.
When he had finished the sermon, he stifled his desire to walk straight up to Miss Paige to discover the identity of the newest stranger in Rushbury. Instead, he walked over to the Reeds, whose family required the better part of a pew for themselves. They always sat in the second pew on the right.
“How is John?” he asked after exchanging greetings with them.
Mrs. Reed grimaced, and there was a tight, disapproving turn to the expression. “Drowning his stress in drink, though where he thinks the money for such a thing is to come from when he is shirking his work, I couldn’t say. I shudder to think what might become of us if not for Patience’s employment.” She put a loving hand on her daughter’s shoulder, and Patience smiled back up at her.
“New employment?” Samuel asked. “What’s this?”
“With Miss Paige, sir,” Patience said in her soft voice. “She’s taken me on as a maid.”
Samuel’s mouth opened wordlessly, and he clamped it shut, his eyes wandering to Miss Paige, who stood speaking to Burke with her characteristic smile. She seemed to be introducing him to the man on her left.
She had brought on Patience Reed as a maid? She had been set against such a course, willing even to court the displeasure of Lady Gilmour rather than stifle her freedom. She would not have changed her mind without good reason, and Samuel suspected that it was yet another way of doing what she could to help the Reeds.
He had the overpowering impulse to take her in his arms and show her just how much he loved her kind heart.
“I hadn’t any idea of the arrangement,” he said, pulling his eyes back to the Reeds, “but I am very glad to hear of it. You will be an excellent maid, Patience, and Miss Paige an excellent mistress.”
Patience nodded and smiled. “She already is. I can’t imagine anyone kinder.”
Nor could Samuel.
Samuel’s sermon had seemed to hit its mark, for he was approached by a line of villagers commenting on it after he finished speaking with the Reeds. He caught eyes with Miss Paige a number of times but was always in the middle of a conversation so that, by the time the last of the villagers left, Miss Paige, her aunt, and the mysterious stranger were nowhere to be seen.
The disappointment he felt was only tempered by the knowledge that the following day was scheduled for statute labor, and she had assured Mrs. Green that she would be there. Would the gentleman come along? Somehow he found it difficult to imagine so. Surely Miss Paige was a rarity amongst her set.
“Looking for someone, Sam?”
Samuel turned and found Burke watching him with a knowing smile.
“What think you of the gentleman she brought to church today?”
Samuel considered playing dumb and asking what she Burke was referring to. But he knew they were long past that. Burke knew him too well to mistake the way things were trending.
“Who is he?” He tried to sound nonchalant, placing one of the prayer books in its proper spot.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Burke grinned widely. “I could throw quite a wrench in the works if I lied and told you he was her beau, couldn’t I? But I shan’t—not after I went to the trouble of seeking an introduction to see in what quarter the wind was blowing.” He paused for dramatic effect, and Samuel clenched his jaw in annoyance. Burke loved to tease him. “He’s merely her brother. Mr. Archibald Paige.”
Samuel nodded slowly, feeling relief flood him and hoping it wasn’t as obvious to Burke as it seemed it must have been. “What’s he doing here?”
“I believe he’s in dun territory and needed a spell away from Town.”
“Well,” said Samuel, “he’s welcome here as long as he doesn’t get up to any mischief. He could even make himself useful by coming to help with the roads tomorrow.”
Burke laughed. “That would be a welcome surprise.”
“I doubt we will see John Reed there.”
“No, I don’t think we will. But I’ve been thinking, Sam. Why shouldn’t Sir Clyde take on John to manage the mill’s affairs?”
Samuel shook his head. “I had the same thought. But he has a man—‘a very competent one, mind you,’ as Sir Clyde insisted—coming in from Leeds for the purpose, and you know how he looks down upon the villagers. And even if he offered it, John is far too prideful to accept such a position.”
“Aye,” Burke said. “You’re not wrong about that.”
Samuel sighed. “I’m afraid we will have to look for a solution elsewhere. I only wish I knew where.”
Monday dawned overcast and cool, but the clouds that lay in the sky did so unthreateningly—pale gray and inching along at the leisurely pace of clouds that had nowhere to go.
Samuel and Miss Paige had agreed that the first road to be addressed should be the one that ran from the main highway toward the village. It seemed fitting that the benefit of labor should be first and foremost to the villagers and the road they most often traveled. Assuming anyone else turned up for the labor—and Samuel had his doubts whether that would occur—they would move to the main highway.
He heaved the wheelbarrow, full of stone from the quarry, from the parsonage and up the small path that led past the church and to the village lane. He glanced up as he passed through the church gate, and his eyes met the welcome sight of Miss Paige, attired in a tan muslin dress and holding a shovel in her hand as she walked toward him.
His mouth broke into a grin. She was a vision even in a relatively drab dress, and he suspected it had much to do with what her appearance signified: she was dedicated to Rushbury—so much so that she was willing to dirty her hands in its interests. He had never met anyone like her.
He set the wheelbarrow down with a thud, breathing m
ore heavily than usual. He would sleep well tonight.
“What?” Miss Paige said, looking up and down the village lane. “Just you and me, then? Not even Burke this time?” She tilted her head to the side thoughtfully. “I promised Mrs. Green that I would work alongside her, but as she is not here, I suppose I am under no obligation....” She tossed an arch look at him and turned back toward Granchurch House, taking a few steps and then stopping in her tracks. She turned back toward him. “You seem indifferent on the matter. Am I to take that as a slight to the way you value my ability as a statute laborer?”
He shook his head, still smiling. “No. I merely know you well enough to know you would never leave me to the work myself.”
Her lips were pressed together, but they smiled. “Only because you present a very pitiful picture. And you obviously need my shovel.” She closed the distance between them, peering into the wheelbarrow.
His brow furrowed as he realized something. “You didn’t tell me that you had taken on Patience Reed as a maid.”
She prodded at a few of the rocks with her shovel, causing two to tumble from their place. “I have taken on Patience Reed as a maid, Mr. Derrick.”
He chuckled. “Yes, thank you. But why?” He knew the answer, but he wanted to hear how she would account for it. She was not the type of person to draw attention to her own kindness.
“To appease Lady Gilmour, of course,” she said, setting her shovel down soundly and leaning upon it. “Why else?” A smile quivered at the edge of her mouth.
He raised a brow. “You fascinate me. You see, I seem to remember you swearing that you would not let Lady Gilmour dictate your decisions.”
“I have repented,” she said simply, “of my pride, thanks to your sermon.”
He pursed his lips. “Believable perhaps but for the fact that my sermon occurred after you had taken her on. Besides, if you wanted to appease Lady Gilmour, Patience Reed would certainly not be the obvious or best choice. While she is a very amiable and capable young woman, Patience hasn’t a shred of experience to recommend her, besides being far too young to satisfy Lady Gilmour’s requirements.”
Miss Paige shrugged. “You yourself say she is capable. Why not capable of learning the duties of a maid, then? And I do think she was the most obvious choice. Her family is in need, and her younger siblings are growing old enough to take on more of the duties she has been carrying out up to now.”
He looked at her for a moment without saying anything, and he thought he saw her begin to squirm a bit under his direct gaze.
“Every time I think that I have your measure,” he said, “that I understand just how good and kind you are, you do something even more good and kind, and I am left in wonder.”
She met his eyes, her own searching his.
Footsteps sounded, and Miss Paige turned to look behind her. Her brother was jogging down the hill from Granchurch House.
“Archie?” she said, looking surprised.
He grinned widely and slowed to a stop beside her. “I changed my mind,” he said. “What kind of brother would I be if I let my sister labor while I sat inside? Besides, what else am I to do today?” He glanced at Samuel and inclined his head. “Vicar.”
“Ah, yes,” Miss Paige said. “I meant to introduce you yesterday, but as the entire parish was in raptures over your sermon and Archie’s stomach was grumbling loud enough to disturb the family in front of us, it was not meant to be. Archie, this is Mr. Samuel Derrick. Mr. Derrick, this is my brother, Mr. Archibald Paige.”
“Just Archie,” he said. “Very pleased to meet you, Mr. Derrick. I hope my sister has been behaving herself?”
Samuel looked at Miss Paige and pursed his lips. “Tolerably, I suppose.”
She raised a brow at him, and he smiled.
Samuel heard a noise, and he turned to find its source, his smile stretching wider at the sight before him. A dozen and more villagers moved in a pack toward them, carrying various implements to assist with the repairs and led by Burke.
“There are a few stragglers who should be here soon,” Mr. Burke said, planting his shovel in the softer dirt that lined the side of the road.
“Well?” Samuel said, looking around at the laborers. “Shall we begin?”
The work was hard and backbreaking. They had the moistness of the dirt, though, to thank for the fact that it wasn’t any more difficult. The shovels went into the dirt with much less effort than they would have on dry, dusty roads. Unfortunately, it was that same moistness that meant they would have more work to do in a matter of weeks—months if they were fortunate. But such was life in Rushbury.
And even as Samuel’s back groaned against the labor, he couldn’t find it in himself to complain. The sight of his village working together made his chest swell with pride. And watching Miss Paige wipe her dirt-streaked brow with her forearm, laughing every now and then with her brother or one of the villagers as she threw shovel-full after shovel-full of dirt and stone into the dips and holes that speckled the road—he thought she had never looked more beautiful or desirable than in that moment.
There was no denying it anymore: Samuel was very much in love with Georgiana Paige.
Chapter 15
Georgiana’s muscles ached in places she hadn’t known existed within her. Her dress was covered in a fine film of dirt, with large smudges in places that nearly blended with the tan fabric of the dress. She could only assume that her face looked much the same as did the faces of her fellow workers: streaked with dirt.
Her hands rested on the round top of the shovel handle, arms hanging limp and exhausted as she surveyed the work they had accomplished over the course of the past six hours.
She couldn’t remember ever having worked even half so hard, and yet there was a contentedness in her fatigue—a fulfillment that was as new as it was welcome. Gone were the great dips and pockets in the main highway, and the roads branching out from the village lane within half a mile of it were as smooth as anyone could wish for.
“A fine day’s work, miss,” said Mrs. Green, coming to stand by Georgiana and setting her hands on her hips to survey the road. The villagers were packing up their things and beginning to make their way home, where they would scrape together whatever dinner could be most quickly prepared. They would be hungry from their hard labor, but Georgiana was content that they weren’t starving. Aunt Sara had been thoughtful enough to employ the services of the cook and two of the Granchurch House maids, who had put together two large platters of cold cuts and bread for the laborers to eat at midday, conveyed on a small wagon.
Even better, they all went home with money in their pocket.
Georgiana glanced at Mrs. Green, smiling. The woman had warmed up to her considerably over the course of the day, and Georgiana found her to be a delightful surprise. Underneath her thorny exterior, Mrs. Green had a warm and caring heart. More than once, she had demanded the shovel from Georgiana, insisting in tones that brooked no disagreement that Georgiana rest for a few minutes. “Fine genteel folk like yourself aren’t cut out for work like this, miss,” she had said with only the slightest wink.
Archie strode over to them, his gait slower than usual, no doubt from the day’s work. He brushed his forehead with a hand and let out a long, vocal sigh. “What a day, Georgie! Remind me never to agree to one of your schemes again.”
Mrs. Green’s surliness returned, and she sent a sidelong glance at Archie before striding away. She seemed not to have taken to him. At least not yet.
“You were invaluable, Archie,” Georgiana said. “Thank you very much.”
Mr. Derrick and Mr. Burke approached with the empty wheelbarrow, and Georgiana felt the rush of her heartbeat as Mr. Derrick smiled at her. He had a particularly dark streak of dirt just below his right eye, which endeared him to her all the more, evidence as it was of his willingness to do whatever Rushbury required of him.
Archie clapped his hands slowly at the sight of the lightened wheelbarrow, and both men smiled in response.
“What say you, Derrick? Burke? Such a day’s work deserves to be followed by a bit of relaxation and a nice game of cards, don’t you think?”
The vicar’s eyes stayed on Georgiana for a moment, as if he wished to know what she thought of such a suggestion. She didn’t know whether to be glad or sorry that he couldn’t know how much she envied her brother. She smiled, and his gaze moved to Archie.
“Certainly,” he said, “though I will warn you that I haven’t played in months and make it a practice only to play for penny points.”
Archie laughed and clapped a hand on Mr. Derrick’s shoulder. “Even those stakes will be a stretch for me with my pockets to let as they are!”
“Then we are all agreed,” said Mr. Burke. He looked at Archie with a slight show of hesitation. “My home is humble, but you’re both welcome there if it suits you.”
Mr. Derrick shook his head. “You have a wife and children who need their sleep, Burke—and their peace.” He sent him a knowing look. “And I know how boisterous you can be when you are losing. Come to the parsonage, both of you.”
Archie nodded with a grin. “Then I shall just take a quick jaunt home to clean up. Grant me an hour, and I shall be ready.” He looked to Georgiana. “Ready, Georgie?”
She let out a large sigh, thinking how nice a warm bath would feel on her aching back. But there would be time enough for that later. “Thank you, but I shall only be a few minutes behind you. I was hoping to write down a few things in the record books at the church while everything we have done today is still fresh in my mind.” She glanced at Mr. Derrick. “Is the vestry open?”
“It is not, but that is easily rectified.” He put a hand to his coat, and the metallic jangling of keys sounded.
Why did the knowledge that he would be obliged to accompany her send a thrill through her?
“Georgie,” said Archie in a wondering voice, “you are very dedicated to your duties.”
Mr. Burke chuckled and nodded. “Never has our parish seen such a fine surveyor—nor any parish, I imagine.”
