miss,” he said. “Where am I to begin?”
After I had set him to work, a young woman with a basket was shown in. Greengages explained that this was Susan, an expert seamstress employed by Mrs. Westing, who had been dispatched to mend our tapestry.
“Oh, and miss?” added Susan. “This basket here is for you.”
I took the basket from her, puzzled. Inside lay one of Lord Boring’s cards atop a quantity of fine woolen fabric. It said, “Hoping this will make some restitution.” Folding back the cloth I found that I was looking into two enormous brown eyes. “It—it’s a dog!” I said stupidly.
“Yes, miss,” agreed Susan. “A puppy. Two months old today.”
I sank down into a chair. What on earth was I to do with a puppy? Yet another mouth to feed!
“My—my thanks to His Lordship,” I said.
The tiny black and brown creature—a perfect copy of the dog in the Stubbs painting—had no doubts as to what I should do with him. He climbed out of his nest in the basket and began the arduous journey up to my lap, pawing and scrabbling with his fat little legs. He looked up at me, reproachful at my lack of response, and for a moment I thought I glimpsed a will of steel in those sweet, rather bulbous brown eyes. Obediently, I helped him up and, with a loud sigh, he curled into a ball and fell asleep.
Evidently I now had a dog.
Greengages reappeared, breathing hard from this unusual exercise. “ This person says he’s come to clean and repair the pictures,” he said.
“Well then, I suppose you had better show him to the picture gallery, hadn’t you?”
Perhaps, I decided, entertaining Mr. Fredericks was not without its benefits, if His Lordship always felt the need to make good the damages caused by his friend.
6
THE AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL assistance ladies can properly receive from a gentleman unrelated to them is limited. During the week following the first visit by Lord Boring and his cousin, workers swarmed over the castle: the drawbridge was repaired, the battlement stonework secured, the tapestries mended (save the largest and most dilapidated, which I was mending myself), and the paintings cleaned. This was delightful, but the expense on Lord Boring’s part could barely be justified as reparations for the damage Mr. Fredericks had caused. The drawbridge, for instance, had not been harmed, but it was indeed broken and since so much other work was being done, we allowed the repair to be made. But when the stone mason proposed rebuilding the fireplace in the small sitting room to a more efficient, modern design we felt it necessary to refuse, however regretfully.
Lord Boring and Mr. Fredericks called again, on their own this time, as most of their other visitors had departed. In obedience to a sharp look from His Lordship, Mr. Fredericks remained in his seat and broke nothing save a toy of Alexander’s, a small model of a horse and cart. However, as he spent the rest of the visit repairing it, pulling wire, pins, and other oddments from his pockets and modifying the fixed wheels so that they rotated like those on a real cart, and adding reins and a real horsehair mane and tail, we could not complain. Indeed, Alexander brought him all his other toys, in hopes that he would break themtoo.
“You must allow us to express our indebtedness for the repairs made to the castle,” I said in a low voice to Lord Boring, bending over my embroidery so as to avoid his eyes, “which have encompassed far more than was injured by Mr. Fredericks.” I halted, wishing that I possessed a tactful tongue. I could have expressed thanks without mentioning Mr. Fredericks—I did not want to sound as if I were reproaching Lord Boring for his friend’s loutish behavior.
“I pray you, speak no more of it to me . I did nothing of any importance,” said Lord Boring, looking rather self-conscious. We both glanced out of the corners of our eyes at Mr. Fredericks, who was running the little cart back and forth on the
After I had set him to work, a young woman with a basket was shown in. Greengages explained that this was Susan, an expert seamstress employed by Mrs. Westing, who had been dispatched to mend our tapestry.
“Oh, and miss?” added Susan. “This basket here is for you.”
I took the basket from her, puzzled. Inside lay one of Lord Boring’s cards atop a quantity of fine woolen fabric. It said, “Hoping this will make some restitution.” Folding back the cloth I found that I was looking into two enormous brown eyes. “It—it’s a dog!” I said stupidly.
“Yes, miss,” agreed Susan. “A puppy. Two months old today.”
I sank down into a chair. What on earth was I to do with a puppy? Yet another mouth to feed!
“My—my thanks to His Lordship,” I said.
The tiny black and brown creature—a perfect copy of the dog in the Stubbs painting—had no doubts as to what I should do with him. He climbed out of his nest in the basket and began the arduous journey up to my lap, pawing and scrabbling with his fat little legs. He looked up at me, reproachful at my lack of response, and for a moment I thought I glimpsed a will of steel in those sweet, rather bulbous brown eyes. Obediently, I helped him up and, with a loud sigh, he curled into a ball and fell asleep.
Evidently I now had a dog.
Greengages reappeared, breathing hard from this unusual exercise. “ This person says he’s come to clean and repair the pictures,” he said.
“Well then, I suppose you had better show him to the picture gallery, hadn’t you?”
Perhaps, I decided, entertaining Mr. Fredericks was not without its benefits, if His Lordship always felt the need to make good the damages caused by his friend.
6
THE AMOUNT OF FINANCIAL assistance ladies can properly receive from a gentleman unrelated to them is limited. During the week following the first visit by Lord Boring and his cousin, workers swarmed over the castle: the drawbridge was repaired, the battlement stonework secured, the tapestries mended (save the largest and most dilapidated, which I was mending myself), and the paintings cleaned. This was delightful, but the expense on Lord Boring’s part could barely be justified as reparations for the damage Mr. Fredericks had caused. The drawbridge, for instance, had not been harmed, but it was indeed broken and since so much other work was being done, we allowed the repair to be made. But when the stone mason proposed rebuilding the fireplace in the small sitting room to a more efficient, modern design we felt it necessary to refuse, however regretfully.
Lord Boring and Mr. Fredericks called again, on their own this time, as most of their other visitors had departed. In obedience to a sharp look from His Lordship, Mr. Fredericks remained in his seat and broke nothing save a toy of Alexander’s, a small model of a horse and cart. However, as he spent the rest of the visit repairing it, pulling wire, pins, and other oddments from his pockets and modifying the fixed wheels so that they rotated like those on a real cart, and adding reins and a real horsehair mane and tail, we could not complain. Indeed, Alexander brought him all his other toys, in hopes that he would break themtoo.
“You must allow us to express our indebtedness for the repairs made to the castle,” I said in a low voice to Lord Boring, bending over my embroidery so as to avoid his eyes, “which have encompassed far more than was injured by Mr. Fredericks.” I halted, wishing that I possessed a tactful tongue. I could have expressed thanks without mentioning Mr. Fredericks—I did not want to sound as if I were reproaching Lord Boring for his friend’s loutish behavior.
“I pray you, speak no more of it to me . I did nothing of any importance,” said Lord Boring, looking rather self-conscious. We both glanced out of the corners of our eyes at Mr. Fredericks, who was running the little cart back and forth on the
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