Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Oooh, Mavis is drizzling inside the rotunda!” Anna shrieked, which had them all looking toward the park where she was pointing.
She didn’t know the people in this neighborhood well yet, but Eliza was getting there. It was an odd little street but also a wonderful, caring one.
“And what is drizzling?” Eliza asked.
“Mavis finds tassels, fringes, tapestries, and other textiles and extracts gold and silver threads to sell from them,” Fred said. “Come on, we’ll show you.”
“Not a weather event then?” Eliza said, allowing Anna to take her hand and tow her to the pristine white rotunda.
Fred and Matilda climbed the steps first, with Anna and Eliza following.
They found Mavis Johns seated beside a small trestle table.
With her was Tabitha Varney and Miss Alvin, who was swaddled up like an Egyptian mummy again.
Several tattered scarves were wrapped around her neck and head.
She wore a blanket around her shoulders and fingerless gloves.
“Tabitha wants Mungo to marry her,” Fred whispered as they lingered on the steps. “She started with Leo, then Alex, Ram, and Charles. Gray, too, but they are now all wed, so she is focusing all her attentions on Mungo.”
Eliza studied Tabitha Varney. She always seemed to have her chest uncovered, even on a cold day like this one, and batted her eyelashes whenever a man was near—any man.
The first time Eliza had witnessed the brazen behavior, her toes had curled inside her boots.
She’d been mortified, but Mr. Hellion, who had been the recipient, had merely smiled and been polite.
“Wonderful. I’m sure they would be very happy together,” she said, stomping on the small kernel of jealousy she had no right to feel, especially after what took place on that staircase recently.
“Mungo calls her a silly woman,” Fred added.
“And here we are,” Eliza said, happy to finish the conversation. The less she spoke about that man, the better.
“Can we sit and help Mavis for a while, Miss Downing?”
“Of course. I think a drizzle break is a wonderful idea.”
Mavis didn’t speak but handed out the materials she wanted them to work with, and Eliza sat back to listen to Miss Alvin and Tabitha gossip, which she knew they would.
“The devil makes work for idle hands,” Miss Alvin said.
“Whistle while ye’re working,
Sing and keep it gay;
If gossip comes a-lurking,
We’ll sew its tongue away!” Tabitha sang.
Chester bounded up with a large stick in his mouth, that he managed to maneuver between Fred and Matilda.
“Did you enjoy your first Crabbett Close games, Miss Downing?”
“Very much, Miss Alvin,” she lied.
“Look. There is Leo, heading our way,” Anna said.
“He is wanting to speak with Miss Downing,” Fred added.
“How do you know that?” Eliza asked.
The girl shrugged. “I sometimes know things before they happen.”
“Ah… pardon?” Eliza said.
A few odd things had happened in the household that she’d been unable to rationalize. Like the day Mrs. Fletcher had asked her if she had any lasting effects from the fall she’d taken a few months ago. She couldn’t remember mentioning her injury.
Two days ago, Alexander Nightingale had asked her if anyone in her life had called her Lizzie—possibly a rational assumption, and yet it had made the hair on her arms rise. Her father had, but there was no way he could have known that.
“Hello, Leo!” Anna shrieked.
The viscount raised his hand in response, smiling at the little girl.
“Well now, imagine finding you all out here on this chilly day,” he said when he reached them.
“We are wrapped up warm,” Matilda said, tugging on a piece of braid. “We are drizzling. Do you want to join us?”
“Much as that sounds like a lot of fun, I actually came to ask Miss Downing a question.”
“How may I help you, my lord?” Eliza put down her braid to look at him.
“Have you by chance lost a necklace, Miss Downing? Gold, with a small symbol on it. A flower, I believe, but I’m unsure what kind of flower yet.”
Eliza thought that an odd thing to ask, but said, “No, my Lord.”
“Not you, then,” he muttered. “Ah well, never mind. I’m sure the owner will make him or herself known in due course. Now, what is drizzling, if you please?”
Anna explained as she held up the braid that she was pulling the gold threads from.
“That sounds like fun. I was just about to head to Appleblossoms to see how the apricotine recipe is going, but you all stay here and drizzle.”
Sly devil—he knew the girls would want to go with him the second he mentioned apricotines. The Nightingale family seemed to have a fixation for the sweet treats.
“Oooh, sorry, Mavis, but I’m going with Leo,” Fred said.
“If you bring me one back, I’ll allow it,” Mavis said.
“I’m never sure if she’s serious or not,” Leo whispered to Eliza. “Unlike our resident grumpy Scotsman, who is exactly as he seems.”
“Yes, he does not seem happy often.” She wouldn’t ask about him outright, but if someone was willing to give her information about Mungo, she’d listen. He intrigued her, and as yet, the only reason for that intrigue was that he’d saved her life.
What other reason could there be?
As it turned out, they all decided to walk to Appleblossoms Bakers.
“I’m quite sure you haven’t worked out all the nuances of the household and family as yet, Miss Downing, so let me fill you in.”
“Oh no—really, there is no need. I am a staff member, and—”
“Therefore unimportant?” Lord Seddon asked as they walked down the close toward the entrance.
Never gossip with senior staff or family members.
“What do you know about our household, Miss Downing?”
“It’s a lovely, happy place to work,” she said quickly. “I really should take everyone back there soon to continue with our lessons.”
“Life lessons are equally as important as teaching etiquette and manners, Miss Downing. The perfect apricotine is one such life lesson, as you will shortly find out.”
“If you say so, my lord.”
“I do. Now, our family is different, Miss Downing. We rarely stand on ceremony and don’t keep our distance from those in our employment, which is the first lesson you need to learn. We’re also clairvoyants. What surprises me is that no one has told you by now.”
“Ah….”
“I suppose it’s not really something you bring up in conversation, but surely you’ve noticed some odd goings on,” Lord Seddon asked.
“Yes.” She was in shock. Clairvoyants? How was that possible? Eliza didn’t believe in things like that. And yet Lord Seddon appeared entirely rational.
“Hello!”
Turning at the greeting, they noted Mrs. Fletcher approaching.
“Sister, how wonderful to see you, and just in time to assure Miss Downing I am quite sane. I just told her we are clairvoyants.” He said the words as if they were discussing the latest book he was reading.
Clairvoyants? Was that even possible?
“Did you? Well, I suppose it was well past time for that, or Miss Downing may think we are a little unsteady in the head with all the things we say and do sometimes. Like the time I asked if you were all right after that fall you took,” Mrs. Fletcher said, addressing Eliza.
“The maid who pushed you was punished, I hope?”
The hair on Eliza’s arms rose at that. She had been pushed, but no one had owned up to the act.
“Good Lord, you’ve really been through it, Miss Downing, but know you’re safe with us. We will protect you,” Lord Seddon said. “What has you here today, Ellen?” he added.
Eliza had to actually look away to stop the tears. These people who knew nothing about her, or her past, were willing to stand up for her.
“Are you all right, Miss Downing?” Mrs. Fletcher said.
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Thank you for your kind words.”
“Why are you here, Ellen?” Lord Seddon asked his sister, and Eliza took the opportunity to regain control of herself.
“Olivia had a wish to see her aunty Ivy and Lottie. They are visiting while I came to see what you were about.”
The deep pang in her chest was yearning. Being with a family as close as the Nightingales made Eliza remember what she’d lost.
“So, my heathens, what is Miss Downing teaching you today?” Mrs. Fletcher asked.
“Don’t start her on that. She’s displeased they are not in the classroom as we speak,” Lord Seddon said.
“It is highly unusual to treat your staff like you do,” Eliza felt she needed to say, then echoed her earlier statement. “I should be back in the house, preparing lessons.”
“It’s highly unusual to treat your staff with kindness?” Mrs. Fletcher asked politely.
“Of course not, but with familiarity, yes.” Eliza suddenly felt uncomfortable as they both looked at her.
“We’re different,” Lord Seddon explained.
“I’m sure you’ll get used to it in time.” Mrs. Fletcher patted Eliza’s hand.
“You have a wonderful family, and I have no wish to come across as ungrateful. You’ll forgive me—it’s just that I am unused to your ways.”
“It does take adjustment,” Lord Seddon mused.
The younger members of the family ran on ahead and into the bakery as they reached it.
“The tables and chairs are a new addition,” Lord Seddon said.
On the window, painted in gold, were the words:
Appleblossoms Bakers
the best apricotines in London
“Did you know that the Crabbett Close residents now run this place, Miss Downing?”
“I had heard that, Mrs. Fletcher.”
“What do you know of the Pavlov fortune?” Lord Seddon interjected.
“Not a great deal, my lord, but I do know it was recently found.”
“By us,” he said, shocking her. “She’s struck silent after that revelation, Ellen.”
“I—ah….”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is, our cousin, Charles, and his wife, Violet, were the ones to find it, and we are the family that benefited from it.
We’ve given a lot of money away, some of it to the residents of Crabbett Close.
We purchased Appleblossoms bakery for them,” Mrs. Fletcher said.
“Good lord” was all Eliza could come up with.
“We’ll purchase Nitpicks Trinkets and Treasures, too, when they sell, and likely the bookstore, but I don’t think that will come up for a while. Lovely family in there, but that’s another story,” Lord Seddon said. “One day we’ll tell you, but I think you’ve had enough shocks for today.”
“Why don’t you visit the bookshop, and we shall collect enough food to feed the small army that is my family,” Mrs. Fletcher said. “Nicholson’s Book Store is very popular. People come from far and wide to view it, these days.”
“I am working,” Eliza felt the need to say.
“I’ve heard they have a copy of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollenstonecraft. Excellent read. Perhaps you would enjoy it?”
She stared at Mrs. Fletcher. Surely, she wasn’t a suffragist?
“Miss Downing,” Lord Seddon tutted. “We in our family are champions for women’s rights. How is it you don’t know this already?”
“I did hear Mr. Fletcher speaking on the matter once,” Eliza conceded.
“Well, there you go then. Now go and see the bookshop. It’s a wondrous place. We shall see you shortly,” Mrs. Fletcher said.
They walked away, leaving Eliza contemplating the oddities that were the members of the Nightingale family. Not in a bad way, but an unexpected one. She’d never met people like them, and was now quite sure she was pleased that she had.