“Nonsense,” said Amelia. “What is it? The color of a certain flower? The scent
of Judith’s soap? What was your wager?”
Judith just blurted it out. “We bet on which bush George would use in the garden.”
“Which bush for what?” Amelia looked blank.
John was laughing so hard I thought he would drop my dog. George thought so to,
because he twisted about in John’s arms and licked his jaw to remind him he was
still there.
Lawrence looked from me to John, but he spoke to his daughter. “Judith, what is
this all about?”
“Sir,” she said, and immediately broke off, her innocent face flooding with
color. “Oh, dear,” she added in a whisper, her eyes, now pleading, on Miss
Gillbank’s face. Miss Gillbank cleared her throat, stoking up her nerve, I
thought.
John said, before Miss Gillbank could embark on what promised to be a delightful
recital, his voice still shaking with laughter, “George, Uncle Lawrence, is a
very selective animal. He needs to examine many bushes and plants and trees,
even low-hanging ivy, before he makes the choice of which to use to relieve
himself. It is nothing more than that. Judith, which tree or plant did you wager
on?”
“I said he would use the rhododendron bush, and he did. Andy couldn’t believe it,
since it’s the only one in the garden, and it wasn’t all that noticeable, but he
went right to it after sniffing, then passing by, ever so many others.”
Miss Crislock looked up from her tatting, and nodded as she said, “The next time
I walk George, I will make a wager with myself. Just maybe I will win.”
“Well,” my husband said, first eyeing Miss Crislock with a good deal of
fascination, then eyeing the rest of us, his own eyes alight with humor now, “it
appears that there will be no uncomfortable silences, no overly polite
conversations in order to get through the evening. Andy, do you have a shilling
to pay my daughter?”
“I shall present your shilling to you tomorrow, Judith.” I smiled around at all
the assembled family, remembered that Lawrence had said in passing that Amelia
was a snob, and said with a good deal of enthusiasm, “Sir, we are very fortunate.
Miss Gillbank agreed to dine with us tonight.”
I looked at Amelia as I spoke, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me. She
was kissing Thomas’s hand. I found this show of affection between the two of
them disconcerting. It made me uncomfortable, since this sort of thing between
married people simply wasn’t in my experience.
I added, turning back to my husband, “I believe I should also enjoy having my
new stepdaughter dine with us as well.”
At that addition, I thought Miss Gillbank would leap up from her seat and throw
her arms around me. As for Judith, she was so excited she couldn’t keep still.
She jumped up, let out a little squeak, then hurriedly sat down again.
“An excellent idea,” said my husband. Of course he knew blackmail when it
smacked him in the face. He was a gentleman, I’ll say that for him, and accepted
what the cards dealt him.
And so it was that Brantley sent George back to The Blue Room in the devoted
company of Jasper, but only after Judith had been allowed to pat his wet nose,
and hug him until there was a colorful selection of dog hairs on her lovely gown.
In the vast dining room, I was pleased to see that my husband had had several
sections of the table removed so we wouldn’t all be shouting at each other over
platters of food and a very ugly epergne made up of giant porcelain fruits.
I don’t know how Brantley managed it, but the two additional dinner settings
were in place when we came into the room.
To no one’s particular surprise, everyone rubbed along quite nicely. Judith was
very quiet, understandably, since she was crowded in among adults. But she
smiled a lot. Miss Gillbank didn’t have to worry about being condescended to.
Perhaps Amelia would have been a bit cool to her if she herself hadn’t been
found napping on the floor of an empty room that very morning, with no logical