Chapter Nine #3
“It’s just this, Miss Millthorpe. I get a funny feeling from that baron. And what with you experiencin’ a violence last night…well I do wonder about it. Johnny’s wonderin’ too. We’re both wonderin’ mightily.”
Poppy was rather wide-eyed over that idea.
Jimmy and Johnny could have wild imaginations at times, but to hint that Miss Millthorpe’s robbery and the baron turning up were connected was really a step too far.
What next? Was the baron to be a suspect in the broken fence the viscount was just now fretting about?
Or maybe the baron had brought the snowstorm with him.
“First, young man, I did not experience a violence, but for shoving me into a chair and tying my feet to it. There was no gunfire or anything like it. Second, I am well past the fright, as I make it a habit to call on my own courage and fortitude. Third, I highly discourage you from throwing round any wild accusations suggesting that I was robbed by a lord of England who is just now a guest in the viscount’s house. ”
Jimmy shrugged. “I’ll be keepin’ an eye on him,” he said in a stubborn tone.
Poppy thought he was really allowing his imagination to take flight.
“You ought to be keeping an eye on him,” Miss Millthorpe said. “You are a footman, after all. Just be sure you keep any hint of suspicion from that eye.”
Jimmy nodded and turned to leave. As he was going out the door, the viscountess was coming in.
“Miss Millthorpe, I have been informed of your trial. Mr. Smuckers is sending a tea tray up.”
Poppy avoided Pansy’s eye lest they collapse in laughter. Poor Miss Millthorpe would be drowning in tea. It would be the third tray in as many hours.
“The viscount informed me that you were hesitant to sit at table. I cannot think why. Teddy does not need to be supervised through mealtimes in the nursery anymore.”
“It would be outside our usual practice, my lady.”
“We must throw over our usual practice at such a moment,” the viscountess said. “You have been through a trial and I cannot allow you to be alone.”
“I have not brought anything suitable to wear.”
“Come exactly as you are. Furthermore, your presence at table will put some starch into Teddy and Bertie. They have developed the habit of monopolizing the conversation with their boyish competitions.”
Miss Millthorpe stood a bit straighter. “I will put an end to that at once,” she said. “Teddy is well aware of how to conduct a polite conversation.”
“Yes, I am sure you have taught him well. However, I think Bertie gets him going, then he gets Bertie going, and then the two of them cannot seem to stop themselves. They have been out in the snow attempting to build something all morning so with luck they will be very tired.”
“Well,” Miss Millthorpe said slowly, “if I am needed at table…”
“Very needed. Now girls, do come away and leave Miss Millthorpe to have a moment of peace in her old quarters. Which, by the by, she is welcome to remain in as long as it suits. I would be pleased if it were permanently, though I know she likes her independence.”
Poppy was very well satisfied with the arrangements. Of course the viscountess always knew just what ought to be done. The footmen would come back to start the fire, and bring even more tea, and their governess would be safe and cozy in a room so familiar to her.
For herself, she felt she ought to really go back downstairs and see to Mr. Lelander. He was a guest, after all, and should be entertained. It would be rude not to.
As Smuckers stood at the sideboard, supervising the viscount’s dinner, he ruminated on the events of the day.
He really did not know what the neighborhood was coming to.
The idea that there were ruffians in the area that would attack a defenseless woman under cover of darkness—it was outrageous!
They should be hanged at once. Of course, so many judges were going soft on hanging these days.
He did not approve of the leniency, but there it was.
At the very least, if they could not be hanged, these louts must be put on a boat to the penal colonies at once.
Then they could try their luck robbing people who had been sent there before them because they robbed people.
What was perhaps even more aggravating about the situation was he felt as if his longstanding vow to defend Chemsworth Hall against all attackers, dying at the front doors for the glory of the house, had been somehow got around.
It was as if these criminals had found a loophole.
He could not be everywhere at once and these rogues had cheated him of his opportunity for glory by going to Miss Millthorpe’s cottage rather than Chemsworth Hall.
Well, if they dared turn up here, they would encounter a far different experience than they’d had with poor Miss Millthorpe.
They likely were still in the area, so it would not be surprising that they might try their luck for a bigger prize. He would be ready for them.
They would try to come in the front doors, or perhaps a window, while the family was abed. They would not try the servants’ entrance. It led directly into the kitchens and was rarely empty of people. There would be too high of a chance of encountering someone.
He must hope that nobody outside of the house understood where they kept the silver. It was not where most people kept it, due to the age of the house.
Smuckers took in a breath. What if they did? Let them try it. They would not succeed against him. His fury and courage would carry him to victory.
He had quietly moved a series of items near the front doors that he would employ if the house was breached.
There were several fire pokers in the umbrella stand and a number of heavy vases lined on the hall table.
He had taken a watering can and sprinkled the step outside the doors to make it a sheet of ice overnight.
His final weapon, his pièce de résistance, was a pump-can filled with gin.
One spray of that in the eyes and those ne’er-do-wells would be instantly blinded, giving him the upper hand.
He would stay awake tonight, biding his time in the darkness in the library. He would watch out the windows. If they approached, more peril to them.
Chemsworth’s defenses would not fall. Tiberius Smuckers would never let down the house.
On top of having the outside of the house to manage, there was the inside to think of.
He’d been suspicious of their newly acquired baron and had checked Debrett’s.
There was indeed a Baron Montachet emanating from Gloucestershire and it seemed that their baron was the right age.
So, his suspicions there appeared to be unfounded. And yet, the man was odd.
Where had he been all day? When Miss Poppy and Miss Pansy and Mr. Lelander and Lord Burkhart had returned from collecting Miss Millthorpe, they’d been engaged all day.
They’d had rousing games of whist, gone out to see the boys’ handiwork on their fort, they’d read books in the library, they’d had several tea trays and no end of talking.
Miss Poppy had showed off her book of sketches and Miss Pansy had played the pianoforte.
Where had the baron been for all of that?
Furthermore, Mr. Smuckers was beginning to wonder if the fellow had been raised properly.
At dinner this evening, the man had reached for his meat fork during the fish course, then seemed to notice what the viscount did, and changed his mind.
Did the baron not know which was the fish fork?
What sort of gentleman did not understand which was the fish fork? Had he been raised in a stables?
And why was he so quiet this evening when he’d had so much to say last evening? He’d been positively jocular the night before. Now, he seemed to shrink into himself and have little to say. And had the tone of his voice changed? It sounded a bit higher than he recalled.
Smuckers did not see how he could approach the viscount with his suspicions about the baron. What could he say? The man does not know his fish fork. The man had made himself very scarce all day—is he hiding something? The man seemed not himself this night.
He must be cautious about going to his employers about his suspicions until he had some sort of evidence he could positively point to.
Smuckers still recalled having an interview with the viscountess regarding his conviction that Mr. Hamilton was completely mad all those years ago.
That had turned out to be not the case. The twins had convinced the gentleman that Miss Rose was mad and likely to attack him with a knife, causing the gentleman’s nerves to shatter and driving him to act less than sane.
It was not an interlude he would like to repeat.
He must just keep a close eye on the fellow.
Just now, the viscount had inquired of Teddy and Bertie how they’d got on with the building of their snow fort. That had somehow prompted them to argue over who had made the most snow bricks.
Miss Millthorpe gently tapped her spoon on her glass, getting their attention. Then she gave them a terrible look and they stopped talking. There was nobody who could stop the talking of the young than a stern governess.
It was exceedingly odd that she was at table, of course. But he understood the viscountess’s liberality on the subject, considering what the lady had been through.
He fully expected that if he were to have to face down and fight intruders to the Hall, he also would be celebrated in some manner.
Perhaps tonight would be the night. Glory might be within his reach. He would meet the moment with courage, fire pokers, heavy vases, and spraying gin.