Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Alexandra strode briskly down the hallway. She was a woman on a mission, and she would not be deterred from it. As she made her way towards her husband’s study, she rehearsed what she was going to say.
You must never have danced before and desperately need some lessons… No, that’s far too harsh.
I’m going to teach you how to dance properly before you hurt somebody… No, I can’t accuse him of that. Surely, it will just hurt his feelings.
You didn’t seem too comfortable dancing at the ball. I wondered if you’d like to practice the steps with me? Yes, that’s the one. Perfect.
She hoped that he wouldn’t be offended by the offer, and the less spoken insinuation that he had no idea how to dance correctly and elegantly in such a setting.
She truly wasn’t trying to poke at his insecurities or to imply that he did not belong in the world of balls and prim and proper.
But his discomfort had been plain for her to see, and she was sure she could help him loosen up and enjoy the next ball more if she could just teach him the correct steps in the correct sequence.
Alexandra hesitated only briefly before knocking on the door to her husband’s study.
She waited and, upon receiving no answer, knocked again to cover her bases before pushing the door open.
The large, cozy room was empty, and Alexandra felt a strange pang of disappointment as she entered.
Of course, Hector wasn’t chained to his desk.
But she was so sure that she would find him that his absence felt rather distressing for a brief moment.
She shook her head with impatience at herself.
Casting her gaze around the room, Alexandra grimaced at the clutter.
Papers were strewn everywhere, chairs were pushed haphazardly back from the ornate writing bureau, and three tea sets crowded precariously on the edge of the larger desk.
The room was stuffed full of furniture, and Alexandra briefly wondered if Hector had really chosen it all, or if it was a mixture of his father’s effects combined with his own belongings.
She imagined him bringing his own desk and chairs and books down from Scotland.
She could see him organizing them in a space already full of items, unsure if he could remove the valuable hallmarks and trappings of a duke while also desperate to try and make himself feel more at home.
Alexandra flinched involuntarily when she noticed the stack of books, several left open with spines cracked, languishing sorrowfully in the corner.
She decided there and then that this would not do. This would not do at all.
Alexandra hurried back to the study door. She had been meaning to head down to the servants' quarters to collar Mrs. Hopsted, but as luck would have it, the housekeeper was passing by, trailed by Jenny and Grace. The three women stopped as Alexandra exited the study, dropping polite curtsies.
“Your Grace,” Mrs. Hopsted said, echoed by Jenny and, a half second later, by Grace.
“Mrs. Hopsted, just the person I was looking for. Good morning, Jenny, Gracie. How are you getting along here on the estate?”
“Oh, very well, Your Grace, thank you for asking. Mrs. Hopsted is a kind and diligent instructor, and I am enjoying my duties muchly.” Jenny was polite and sincere, and Alexandra smiled at her.
“That’s good to hear, Jenny. Are you finding enough to occupy your time when you have completed your duties? It must be strange, moving from the village to a house like this.”
“A little, Your Grace, but I’m getting along all right.
Mrs. Hopsted very kindly lent me one of her young Nancy’s books to read by the fire in the evenings.
I don’t really have any of my own, you see.
It’s about a man who told the king that his daughter can spin gold.
So the king takes the girl away so that she can make gold for him. ”
“Does she? Make the gold, I mean.”
“I don’t know, Your Grace. I haven’t got very far in it yet.
” Jenny looked to the ground, and Alexandra felt a pang as she realized the young girl was ashamed.
“I didn’t get much schooling, see. I’m not too good with my reading and writing.
But I’m keen to learn!” She looked up at Mrs. Hopsted, who nodded encouragingly.
“It sounds to me like you’re doing a wonderful job. If you ever wish to use the library for a quiet place to study or to borrow a book, please don’t hesitate to do so.”
Jenny looked up at her with wide eyes. “Really? That would be wonderful, Your Grace, thank you!”
Alexandra made a mental note to look into procuring some school workbooks that Jenny might appreciate. “You are most welcome. The same applies to your children, Mrs. Hopsted. I know they are trustworthy girls, they may borrow whatever they wish.”
Mrs. Hopsted dipped her head. “It’s much appreciated, Your Grace. I shall send the girls in to thank you personally just as soon as I get a hold of them.”
Alexandra smiled, thinking of the wild young things who were no doubt currently running around in the woods and getting up to mischief.
She was sure it would be an arduous task for the Hopsted parents to corral their girls long enough to tidy them up and present them to a duchess.
She turned to Gracie, who had until now been trying desperately to blend into the wallpaper.
“And how about you, Gracie? How have you been getting along.”
“M’fine thanks,” she mumbled.
Mrs. Hopsted let slip a long-suffering sigh. “Your Grace,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “I am fine thank you, Your Grace.”
Gracie went scarlet in embarrassment. “M’fine thank you, Your Grace,” she muttered quickly, eyes on the ground.
Alexandra couldn’t help but feel for her.
She was clearly a nervous sort of girl in the first place, and she had no doubt that Gracie finding her elderly former mistress deceased in a chair would have surely made the matter worse.
She tried her best to look approachable, though she was not entirely sure she had succeeded.
“Well, that’s certainly good to hear. Please don’t hesitate to come to me should you require anything. ”
Gracie nodded without looking up. “Thank you, Your Grace,” she said, even quieter and quicker than before.
Alexandra decided to release her from her torture. She straightened and addressed her housekeeper. “Mrs. Hopsted, I wonder if you would help me with something in His Grace’s study. If the girls can complete their tasks on their own, that is.”
“They surely can, Your Grace.” Mrs. Hopsted shooed the young housemaids away and stepped forward. “How can I be of assistance?”
“It’s certainly looking much tidier, if I may say so, Your Grace.”
Alexandra looked up from the desk and smiled at Mrs. Hopsted, watching the woman busily yet carefully dust the shelves full of trinkets and ornaments. “I think you’re quite right, Mrs. Hopsted. Thank you for helping me with the matter.”
“Not at all, Your Grace. Many hands make light work and all that. Besides, if I might be so bold, you have done me rather a favor. Breaking in new maids can be an ordeal, sometimes it’s ever so nice to have a bit of a breather from it.”
Alexandra laughed quietly, pleased that the housekeeper felt comfortable enough around her to make a joke.
They had been working in companionable silence for the past hour, methodically working their way around the room.
Alexandra had put Mrs. Hopsted to work dusting and tidying up the furniture.
Although she knew Hector trusted the woman, she felt certain that he wouldn’t appreciate someone rooting through his personal and business papers.
So Alexandra took on that duty herself. She was conscious not to read too much of the contracts and files, glancing at them just enough to decipher the subject matter so that she could add them to the relevant pile.
She organized them into what she hoped were useful categories before filing the older items away into the desk and cabinets.
The newer papers and those that seemed like they were in the process of being reviewed, she lined up on the desk in tidy trays.
She was rather pleased with herself as she admired her handiwork.
The documents were certainly much neater, and she hoped Hector wouldn’t be angry with her.
As she moved across to the bureau and began to open the drawers, she mused that she had never really seen Hector in an angry mood.
Even at the church that very first day of their acquaintance, as he was faced with his dastardly stepmother and absent brother, he was calm and assured, a master at commanding the situation.
Alexandra did not have much experience with men who refused to allow their negative emotions to best them.
Her brothers-in-law were all good and decent men, she knew, but she also knew that they had experienced their wild moments before time, and her sisters had helped them change for the better.
Her father had been joyless and easy to anger for almost as long as she could remember.