The Arrangement by Joan Wolf Page A

been napping while he had been doing my chores.
    “Hasn’t Grove returned yet?” I said a little stiffly. “It will be dark very shortly.”
    Savile tilted his head, as if he had heard something. Then I heard it too: the sound of a horse’s hooves muffled by the snow.
    “I believe he has arrived,” said the Earl of Savile.
    Grove brought the news that the Brighton Mail had gone through Highgate at two-thirty in the afternoon. “The storm is clearing from the west to the east, my lord,” Grove reported. “The mail’s driver is a friend of the local blacksmith, and he stopped long enough to tell him that while they hit some pretty heavy drifts, the horses had been able to get through without too great a struggle.”
    “That answers our question, then,” Savile said. “We shall set out ourselves directly after breakfast.”
    His eyes met mine over Nicky’s head, and he quirked an eyebrow in inquiry. I shook my head slightly.
    “Nicholas, my lad,” Savile said cheerfully, “I have persuaded your mama to come to Kent with me for a few days to take a look at a stallion I own. I have told her that I would be honored if she found him worthy to breed to her beautiful Maria.”
    It was growing quite dark inside the stable, but I could see the quick eagerness that lighted Nicky’s face. “Do you really have a Thoroughbred stallion, sir?”
    “I do.”
    “That is wonderful!” Nicky enthused. “Mama has wanted to breed Maria for years, but…” His voice died away as he remembered the reason why I had been unable to fulfill this longtime dream of mine. His eyes flew to mine.
    I said calmly, “Lord Savile has offered to let me defer payment of the stud fee until after Maria’s foal is sold, Nicky.”
    “Oh,” said Nicky. He turned back to Savile with a big smile. “I say, that is kind of you, sir.”
    I had never had to teach Nicky manners. Courtesy came to him as naturally as breathing.
    Savile ruffled Nicky’s hair, a casual gesture that looked as if he had performed it many times. I remembered that he had told Nicky he had nephews.
    The earl said to his groom, “Did you find Tim Haines?”
    “Yes, my lord, I did. He said he would be happy to come and stay with Master Nicholas and the Macintoshes until Mrs. Saunders returns home.”
    “Good,” said the earl. He turned to me. “Now you won’t need to fret about who is taking care of your horses, ma’am.”
    The nerve of the man!
    I believe my mouth might have been open as I stared at him. I finally managed to say, with biting sarcasm, “Thank you so much for attending to my business, my lord.”
    “You’re welcome,” he replied with imperturbable good humor.
    “But, Mama,” Nicky said in a small, puzzled voice, “aren’t I coming with you?”
    My heart ached. I had not informed the earl that I had never before spent even one night away from Nicky. It was only my horror at what would happen if Nicky found out about George that gave me the strength to say, “I will only be gone for a few days, sweetheart, and you ought not to miss your lessons with Mr. Ludgate.”
    “I’m afraid that I am the ogre who has insisted that you remain behind with your schoolwork, Nicky,” Savile said. “If either of my nephews ever learned that I had entertained a boy of their age during the school term, I should never hear the end of it. They are constantly trying to find reasons to come to Savile Castle, you see, and so far I have been very good about holding firm. I most certainly do not wish to give them any kind of a lever to use against me.”
    I saw Nicky duck his head quickly, a little gesture that wrung my heart even more.
    “You can come and see my stallion in the spring, when your mother brings Maria to be bred,” Savile said kindly.
    Nicky straightened up a little in the gloom. “That would be nice.” His voice was still very small.
    I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat, then said, “Have you finished mucking out your horses, my