Chapter 10 #2
Which in turn sparked a sudden idea. He cleared his throat.
“A thought has just occurred to me. My youngest ward is a budding artist with an interest in botanical subjects. Alas, his art instructor recently passed away, and my wife and I are eager to find someone with both skill and imagination to help encourage his talent.”
“Oh, what a wonderful idea, Wrex!” interjected Eddy.
Raven, on the other hand, looked as if he had just swallowed a mouthful of nails.
“What about you?” Wrexford raised a questioning brow at him, offering an equal chance to voice his opinion “Do you think Mr. MacArthur would be a suitable match for your brother?”
“His drawings are good,” conceded Raven, and then fixed the young man with a challenging squint. “Have you any experience in teaching?”
“None whatsoever.” A hint of amusement seemed to shade the young man’s reply.
“Art is more about intuition and feeling than lesson plans,” murmured Eddy.
Wrexford considered the situation for a long moment.
“Allow me to suggest a proposal. We are looking to engage an instructor for, say, one lesson a week.” A nod at Egg.
“I would, of course, compensate you for the time Mr. MacArthur is absent from work—I daresay it will require no more than two hours.”
“It’s a very magnanimous offer, milord, and an excellent opportunity for Jack,” responded Egg. “I certainly give my blessing to the idea.”
“I—I am honored sir,” replied Jack. “But as Master Sloane points out, I may not be the right choice.”
“Come tomorrow and work with Hawk for a session,” suggested the earl. “And then we can come to terms on how to proceed.”
“An excellent suggestion,” said the gunmaker.
Eddy clapped her hands together. “Then it’s settled!”
“I …” Jack looked down at his sketchpad. “At what hour would you like me to present myself, sir?”
“Say an hour after noon,” replied the earl. “Does that meet with your approval, Egg?”
“Indeed it does, sir.” Egg cuffed the young man on the shoulder. “I hope you realize what a lucky fellow you are.”
Jack bobbed his head.
“Now, let us head back to the showroom,” continued the gunmaker.
“Lady Eddylina and Master Sloane must pick out the type of wood they want for the stock of their weapon. Juglans regia, commonly known as English walnut, is popular, though the finest grade of it grows in the south of France. However, American black walnut is also lovely, as are maple and briarwood. And then there is the color—my finishing oils range in hues from a warm cinnabar to a deep midnight brown.”
While Raven and Eddy pored over wood samples and various trigger guard designs, Egg and Wrexford returned to the gunmaker’s private office to enter the details of the order in the current volume of Egg’s folio-sized design ledger, which served as a record of the workshop’s creations.
“It was good of you to allow MacArthur to take on my commission,” observed the earl. “Not every employer would give up the hours of labor, no matter that I will pay his salary for the lost time.”
“Oh, my motives were actually quite selfish, milord,” said Egg with a smile.
“I expect that when word gets out that Jack has been invited to give art lessons to your ward, his designs will become the latest fashionable trend, and the ladies of the beau monde will encourage their husbands to buy a MacArthur-embellished pistol.”
“Clever,” remarked the earl.
“One must keep innovating or be left in the dust,” mused the gunmaker.
“But in this case, pragmatism is perfectly aligned with altruism. I like Jack, and I sense that his life hasn’t been easy.
His parents are—or rather were—originally from Scotland, but moved to Yorkshire when he was very young.
They died shortly after that, and the man to whom he had been apprenticed took him to America.
But as he now deems himself able to make his own way in the world, he decided to return to England, and wishes to work here in London in order to save some money, and then seek to reconnect with family in Scotland. ”
“Family is important,” murmured Wrexford, thinking of how his life had changed immeasurably over the last handful of years from his self-imposed solitary existence.
“Aye.” A pause. “Speaking of which, I hadn’t realized that you had a younger sister, milord.”
“A half-sister, from my father’s second marriage.
” Wrexford dutifully recited the short explanation of Eddy’s background that he and Charlotte had carefully crafted for introducing her into Society.
“She and her mother lived abroad for a number of years after my father passed away. But Fate struck again and made her an orphan, so much to my delight—and that of my wife—Eddylina is now part of our family.”
“A blessing,” intoned Egg.
Wrexford chuckled. “There are now four lively young people residing under our roof. There are times when what I wish to be blessed with is some peace and quiet.”
“Ha, ha—take heart, sir. They will grow up faster than you think.” Egg picked up the open ledger. “Shall we go learn what Lady Eddylina and Master Sloane have decided?”
Once the last choices were recorded in the duly recorded in the ledger—Eddy had chosen a burled walnut with a cinnamon brown finish, while Raven had opted for a straight-grained black walnut in chocolate brown—Egg snapped the pages shut.
“Come back in a week, milord,” He smiled at Eddy and Raven.
“I trust that Lady Eddylina and Master Sloane will be satisfied with our shop’s work.
” A pause as the smile segued once again into a solemn expression.
“His Lordship has shown a great deal of faith in your ability to handle a great responsibility …”
He wagged a warning finger at them. “Do not disappoint him.”