Chapter Thirteen
Theo found the contract she wanted, went to Matt’s study and knocked.
“Come.”
She opened the door. “I hope you have worked things out. It was an unfortunate encounter, but that is all.” She held up the document as she turned to Chandos. “Shall we go to the morning room so that you can review this?”
He had turned to look at her when she entered the room. He now glanced back at Matt. “I interviewed Whiting yesterday and, after discussing it with Lady Theo, decided to make an offer of employment to him. However, I have never hired anyone before.”
“Exactly.” She smiled at her brother. “I explained he would need an employment contract and offered to show him a sample.”
The two gentlemen exchanged a look she did not understand. Matt cleared his throat. “I will send a servant to join you.”
“Very well.” To Theo’s mind it was a waste of a servant’s time, but proprieties must be observed. She raised a brow at Chandos. “Are you ready?”
“Never more so.” He smiled at her. She had seen him do that hundreds if not thousands of times before, but, for some reason, it caught her attention.
She shook it off.
Thorton entered the room. “My lord?”
“A servant to sit in the morning room with Lady Theo and his grace.”
The butler bowed and left.
“Well then. Let us get to it.” She walked out of the parlor and Chandos followed.
When they entered the room, a tall, dark-haired footman who was standing next to the bellpull bowed. “My lady, your grace.”
“Good morning.” A thought struck her. “Are you to act as my personal footman?” All her sisters had one during the Season, but hers had not yet been assigned.
“I am, my lady. I hope you will be pleased.”
He had a lilt she was certain she recognized. “Welsh?”
“Yes, my lady. I served in the Sixteenth Royal Carnarvon Rifle Corps.”
“What is your name?”
“Jones, my lady.”
“Excellent. You may have a seat while his grace and I do our work.”
She led Chandos to the rectangular table so that he could sit next to her while they reviewed the contract. “As you can see, this is the contract for Charlie’s secretary.”
Chandos appeared surprised. “Did you draft this?”
Theo wished she could have said yes. “No. I did sit in on the meeting when it was drafted. I made copies of all the contracts from Stanwood and anyone else who would give them to me. When we attain the age of sixteen, we begin visiting our married sisters to learn how different estates are managed and the challenges in different parts of the kingdom.”
“It almost sounds like an apprenticeship. How did it come about?”
“I suppose it is, in a manner of speaking.” She was surprised he was interested.
“I was quite young when the system developed. As I understand it, after Louisa, Charlotte, and Dotty wed they were writing to and meeting with Grace about running the different households and estates. At some point early on, they decided it would be helpful to the rest of us to be able to have practical experience on something other than our home estates.”
He leaned back in the chair. “Have you gone to Scotland?”
Theo resisted a chuckle. “Indeed. Unlike with my other sisters, who just had to establish that they knew what they were doing, Alice had a more difficult time. They called her a Sassenach, which means English in Gaelic, and it is not meant in a good way. She had to prove she was much stronger than she looked and more stubborn than they were. At one point, one of the servants—” No, that was not technically correct.
“You have to understand that everyone who works in the house is actually a family member of some kind. So, they are not the usual type of servant. In any event, one of them was rude to her, and she took him by the ear and marched him to where she wanted him to be and told him he’d not get dinner if he did not finish the chore to her satisfaction. ”
Chandos raised a skeptical brow. “And did he?”
“Not to her satisfaction, no. She refused to allow him in the hall to dine and told the kitchen staff and others that if they fed him, they would receive the same treatment. That did the trick.” A different footman brought a tea tray and Theo poured.
“The man was one who, apparently, challenged everyone.”
“I gather she is now established.”
“Yes. They treat her as if she is one of them.” She glanced at the contract. “Let us go through this.”
They spent the next hour poring through the terms.
Chandos’s black brows pulled together as he read. “When the period of employment ends, is it usual for the salary to remain the same?”
Theo was glad he was paying attention. “I suppose some do. In our family we like to keep our servants and employees. Therefore, we raise their wages. For the regular servants there is an increase built into the contracts. When it comes to employees, it is negotiated in the new contract.
“It is?” He put his elbow on the table and cradled his chin in his hand. “Why? Why not do it with the servants as well?”
That was an excellent question. “My understanding is that one reason is there are many more servants than employees, and employees have more agency. They are, after all at the very least gentry. Some, such as Mr. Whiting, are part of the aristocracy. Also, their duties are more likely to vary from employment period to employment period.”
Straightening, he nodded. “I can see that. Such as, at the present time, I will have my secretary do what I perceive are the most necessary tasks. Yet, as time goes on, he will take on more assignments.”
“Exactly.” This was surprisingly enjoyable. She never actually considered that Chandos thought about anything but himself. Yet, Theo had been wrong. He was, in fact, rather impressive. “An example is when Charlie had his secretary come to Town to obtain the special license.”
“I remember that.” Chandos pulled a sheet of foolscap over to him, picked up a pencil and made several notes, then slid it over to her. “This is what I believe I will need immediately and in the near future.”
Open, read, and sort correspondence.
Discuss with me the contents.
Reduce to writing my responses.
Keep my calendar, send copies to my mother, valet, butler, and anyone else I designate.
Become familiar with the senior staff and employees at the various estates.
Travel with me as required. Travel alone as needed.
“Do you have anything else to add?” Leo watched as Theo read the list.
“I would include whether or not you wish him to take his meals with you. Due to his status, he will not dine with the staff.”
That was a good point. “I will state that it is up to him. If he wishes to dine with me then he can.”
She appeared to think about it for a moment or so. “That will be satisfactory. Do you want to add the discretionary clause? I would advise it.”
It would protect him from his secretary talking about him.
Although, he couldn’t imagine the man would.
The punishment was quite severe. The loss of the remainder of his salary.
“Yes. Just to be on the safe side.” Leo straightened in the chair.
“Where is the most efficient place to have this drawn up quickly?”
“We can ask Matt’s secretary to do it. He has a clerk.”
“Very well then.” Leo stood and held out his hand for Theo. “I want to get this done as soon as possible. I really am drowning in correspondence.”
Instead of walking ahead of him, she took his arm. “I hope he is in.”
“When is Stanwood arriving?” It had to be soon. The last letter Chandos had received stated her brother et al. would be in Town for the first Almack’s assembly. That was in less than a week.
Theo glanced up at him and grinned. “Tomorrow. Constance came to tell me just as I was dressing to ride with you.”
“Excellent.” He hoped Mary would be with them.
Leo had heard talk that she might remain with Lady Stern to take classes with the lady’s daughter.
Not that he would tell Theo that. She was so ambivalent about having a Season it could very well make her decide to leave Town or, at the very least, cause the blue devils.
They arrived at a door next to Worthington’s study, and she knocked.
“Come, please.”
The man behind the desk looked to be in his middle forties.
He had thinning light brown hair and spectacles. “Lady Theo, how may I help you?”
“Do you have time to draft an employment contract for his grace?”
The man glanced over at his clerk, a younger man sitting at a much smaller desk. “Louis?”
He glanced up. “Yes, sir. It should not take long.”
Theo handed him the papers. “Thank you. When should we return?”
“Can you give me an hour? That will be sufficient time to make two originals and a copy.”
Leo inclined his head. “Yes, thank you. I greatly appreciate this.”
“We will return in about an hour.” She took his arm, and they left the room. “What shall we do until then?”
That was the wrong question to ask him. What he wanted to do was find an empty room and kiss her senseless. “I’m not sure.” The sound of horses galloping came from the main staircase. “It is time for dinner?”
Theo opened her brooch watch. “Not yet. Grace pushed back the time until seven.”
They strode to the hall as the children reached the last landing.
Hugh led the charge.
“Carriages!” one of them called as they raced across the hall to the door a footman had fortunately opened.
Theo’s normally smooth forehead wrinkled. “Who could it be?” Leo wanted to know too. “Let’s go see.”
They waited as the girls dashed across the hall, then followed. Carriages had been the correct description. There were three. One for baggage, one for babies, and a third for the adults and one almost adult.
“Mary!” He sensed Theo struggling to walk and not run to the coach. Fortunately, the path was short. She wrapped her arms around her sister. “I am so glad you are here!”
A footman handed down another girl about Mary’s age. She hugged Theo back and turned. “You know Martha Stern.” Mary pulled the girl forward. “She is staying with Dotty for the Season. We will be sharing classes and such.”
At first glance, Leo could see Martha definitely had the look of Lady Stern, girl’s mother as well as her sisters, Dotty, the Marchioness of Merton and Henrietta, Viscountess Fotherby.
Theo hugged Martha as well, yet he could feel the tension or maybe disappointment in Theo. She had wanted Mary to be here for her. “I am very glad to see you! Welcome to London.”
“The last time I was here was when Dotty and Dom married.” The girl smiled. “This is going to be so much fun. Dotty told Mama that as Mary and I would come out together, we should spend more time together.”
Theo nodded tightly. “That is an excellent idea. She is right.”
Lady Worthington and Worthington joined them. Leo took Theo’s arm, drawing her away. “You know that this is what Mary needs. She cannot wait around until you have the time to spend with her.”
“I know.” Theo rapidly blinked her eyes. “Thank you. I was being selfish.”
“Not selfish.” He lightly brushed away a tear that had fallen on her cheek. “You simply didn’t want anything to change. That’s normal. Most of us like to keep things the way they are.”
“Yes.” She nodded and gave a watery smile.
Leo handed her his handkerchief. “Dry your tears before she sees them.”
She dabbed her eyes and blew her nose, then started to hand it back to him. “I will have this laundered first.”
“Thank you.” He chuckled and was surprised to find her joining him.
“I feel much better. I do not know how you did it, but you seemed to know just what I needed.”
“I know how close you are with your sister, and how much you’ve missed her. You had no knowledge that she would bring a friend. It had to have been an unwelcome shock.”
“It was.” Theo slowly shook her head. “It is good for her to have someone with whom to spend time.”
“Someone her own age, who is engaged in the same activities as she is.”
“Yes. I think Mary was concerned that she would be left alone.” Theo gazed over his shoulder. “No. I know she was. She has been spending more time with Charlie and Oriana. And, I suppose, Martha. The Carpenters and Sterns have been neighbors for years.”
He took Theo’s cold hands and felt a jolt. “Perhaps they need each other.”
“You are right. She nodded sharply. “It is time we make our own way like our other sisters have.”
“While remaining close. I’ve noticed that about your family.”
“It is something on which we have prided ourselves. Our family just grows. No one goes away.”
It was a family he hoped to enlarge by his presence. “Are you ready to face everyone again?”
“I am.” She gave him a real smile this time. “I imagine Grace will order tea and dinner will be put back. Would you like to dine with us?”
His cook was going to be upset, but he couldn’t miss the opportunity to stay with Theo. “I would be delighted.”
When they turned to follow the others into the house, Worthington caught Leo’s eye and gave a slight nod.
He had to think that was a good sign. Then Mary glanced at him and her lips rose at the ends.
Was she happy with him too? Did she know he wanted to marry her sister?
What was he thinking? Of course she knew.
And, apparently, she was on his side. If only Theo was.
Dinner was so entertaining that Leo decided his children would be allowed to dine at the table when they were of an age. He returned home to find a missive from his mother requesting he attend her. But first, he wrote a quick note asking Whiting to meet with him in the morning.
Leo climbed the stairs to his mother’s apartments, knocked and entered.
Her companion greeted him. “She is waiting.”
“Chandos.” Mama’s tone took him by surprise. “When am I going to meet this paragon you have decided to wed?”
“I thought you met her at Lady Bellamny’s.”
She flipped her hand dismissively. “An introduction and a few pleasantries only.”
“Have you been invited to Lady Thornhill’s viewing?” That would make it much less fraught. He was not ready for Theo to come here.
“I have and shall attend.” His mother gave him a sharp look. “As will she and her family. That will do nicely.” Mama waved him away. “You may go now.”
Wonderful. Now he had to worry about what she would say to Theo. He didn’t need more complications. But it looked as if he was going to get them.