he lives here.”
Miss Crislock said thoughtfully, her brow fur rowed, “The Lord works in
mysterious ways, Andy. Very mysterious indeed.”
I wasn’t about to ask her what she meant by that.
“Regardless,” I said, “he is now my step-nephew, surely somewhat odd, but we
will doubtless learn to rub together well enough.”
“It will prove interesting.” She had never said anything either for or against
my marriage to Lawrence. I suppose I had been afraid to ask her, and thus I hadn’t.
I smiled at her and picked up George, who was now bored and wanted attention. “It’s
rather a strange household, but then again, I’ve never been in a house that wasn’t
strange, each in its own way. The house is large and complicated. So many
different people building on over the years. You will want to go exploring. You
have met Mrs. Redbreast, the housekeeper?”
“Yes, Andy, she is a very nice woman. A fount of information. I shall begin my
explorations with her this afternoon.”
“I will send my new maid, Belinda, to you. You will find her delightful. She is
independent and brimming with tales about everyone who lives here.”
“Be careful, Andy,” she called after me.
Of what, I wondered.
I left her bedchamber, George trotting beside me. Because his legs were so short,
he had to do little leaps from step to step down the staircase. I was laughing
by the time he collapsed onto the ancient polished oak floor in the Old Hall. He
immediately went to sniff out one of the suits of armor.
“I hope he won’t pull one of them down on top of himself,” John said.
To my absolute horror, George raised his leg and relieved himself on a suit of
armor. “Oh, no. George, how could you?”
John was laughing behind me. The moment George heard his voice, the knight was
forgotten. This time, however, John just smiled down at him and said firmly, “George,
you will mind your manners. I know the armor was an overwhelming temptation. At
least you relieved yourself on Flemish armor and not on English armor. But you
will have to learn to contain yourself.”
I was horribly embarrassed. I stared down at George, who was gazing up at John
with naked adoration on his ugly little face, his topknot flopping up and down.
“I can’t believe you did that. You have never done anything like that before.
You are a heathen, George.”
“Has he ever been near so many old, smelly, and soon-to-be-rusted suits of armor?”
“No, he hasn’t. But Jasper took him walking just an hour ago. He is fully
housebroken. He shouldn’t have done that. Oh, dear, what am I to do?”
“I will inform Brantley that the Flemish armor needs to be cleaned down. Don’t
worry. I imagine that Mrs. Redbreast will turn up a recipe to remove any odors.”
He ruffled his hand through George’s hair. “If you wish, George, you may
accompany us to the breakfast parlor.”
“He loves bacon.”
“Yes, I remember you telling me that. I believe my uncle just went in. You are
an early riser.”
“Yes.”
“Somehow I am not surprised.”
When we came into the small, quite charming, circular breakfast room, with
windows bowing around its entire perimeter, Lawrence immediately rose from his
chair. “Good morning, my dear. I trust you slept well?”
“Immensely well. I instructed George to alert me if any otherworldly specters
paid us a visit. If any did, we both slept right through their welcome.”
“Don’t listen to Amelia. She’s her father’s daughter, and that means that she
must believe in ghosts and bizarre phenomena that naturally don’t exist here at
Devbridge Manor, or anywhere else for that matter.”
He turned to John. “You are the first one about, John. I am pleased. I have
alerted Swanson that we will be in the estate room promptly at nine o’clock.
Your education will begin.”
John only nodded then turned to the sideboard that held at least a half dozen
silver-domed trays. I joined him, delighted that the plates stacked at the end
of the sideboard were nice and large.
To Lawrence’s evident surprise, no sooner had John and I sat down to eat than