tents? Oh yes. Quite true—except it is a rambling old walled structure and not a tent. In any case, I have worn such clothes ever since.”
“But not here?”
“I wouldn’t wish to give poor Jenna such a shock it sets her back to where Verity tells me she began. Jacob,” she continued, suddenly serious, “did you know she almost died?”
“I’m aware. I’m not happy she worked herself into such a tizzy just because of my expected arrival. Such nonsense.”
“She insists the house was in such a state no one could live here…and yet she didn’t seem at all bothered that Verity, upon her arrival a week or so before my father’s death, lived with rooms under covers and cobwebs in the corners and windows unwashed and…and I don’t remember what else was supposed to be wrong.”
“Verity is her niece. She never approved her sister’s marriage to your brother. As you are well aware.”
“Nor did Father approve of my brother wedding his housekeeper’s young sister.” She glanced at Jacob. “ Sister to his lover .”
“His… Jenna ?” Jacob’s brows arched high up his forehead. And then he gave a soft whistle. “Sounds as if he should have understood the attraction.”
His dry tone brought a chuckle to Mary’s lips. “I thought that would surprise you. Father and Jenna were lovers from before I was born. Heaven only knows which of my mother’s lovers fathered me. Your granduncle and Mother separated years earlier. Right after Verity’s father was born, I think. The heir and the spare, you know? Which weren’t,” she added on a sad note, “quite enough, were they? But let’s not think of Mud. I like that name for him, by the way. In any case, I am glad Father accepted me as his own when it wasn’t physically possible. I called him Father and he treated me as a daughter.”
Her voice trailed off and the look in her eye told Jacob she was indulging in happy memories. He allowed his soup to be served and waited for the footman to stand back before he responded. “As, in many ways, he treated me as a son.” Jacob sighed softly, thinking of his own father who had been rather distant. “However that may be, Verity is my cousin and I have tried to see she takes her place at this table in the evening. I hope you are more successful.”
Mary nodded. “We must hire a new housekeeper too and, once she has recovered enough to do so, Jenna too will join us. In any reasonable world, she’d have been my father’s widow rather than his housekeeper and would belong here by right.”
Jacob smiled, his eyes gleaming with good humor. “I always thought you a right one, Cousin Mary, but I didn’t know you were so, um, liberal as all that.” And then he remembered his suspicions of Prince Rube…and wondered…
“I lived in too many countries, learning about too many cultures, to think ours is perfect and shouldn’t be changed in any way. Jenna and my father were deeply in love, but by the rules of our society were not supposed to wed.” Her voice softened to a musing tone. “That my brother had the courage to wed Jenna’s younger sister… I sometimes think that shamed my father in some way, but he still could not bring himself to wed his housekeeper.”
Did too , said a soft voice near Jacob’s ear. Jenna ’ s the coward .
Jacob swung quickly toward the voice, inadvertently forcing the footman hovering near his ear back a step. The footman, quick on his feet, managed to recover and didn’t spill a single lamb chop from the gravy-covered platter, even though the food slid around a bit.
“Sir?” asked the footman, wondering what had caused Jacob to turn in that quick way.
There is nothing there . Nothing ,thought Jacob. “What?” He realized what he’d done and felt heat in his neck. “Nothing. Nothing at all,” he repeated a trifle grimly. The voice he’d heard sounded very like his granduncle’s, but that must be nonsense. Surely it is nonsense . There are no such things as
“But not here?”
“I wouldn’t wish to give poor Jenna such a shock it sets her back to where Verity tells me she began. Jacob,” she continued, suddenly serious, “did you know she almost died?”
“I’m aware. I’m not happy she worked herself into such a tizzy just because of my expected arrival. Such nonsense.”
“She insists the house was in such a state no one could live here…and yet she didn’t seem at all bothered that Verity, upon her arrival a week or so before my father’s death, lived with rooms under covers and cobwebs in the corners and windows unwashed and…and I don’t remember what else was supposed to be wrong.”
“Verity is her niece. She never approved her sister’s marriage to your brother. As you are well aware.”
“Nor did Father approve of my brother wedding his housekeeper’s young sister.” She glanced at Jacob. “ Sister to his lover .”
“His… Jenna ?” Jacob’s brows arched high up his forehead. And then he gave a soft whistle. “Sounds as if he should have understood the attraction.”
His dry tone brought a chuckle to Mary’s lips. “I thought that would surprise you. Father and Jenna were lovers from before I was born. Heaven only knows which of my mother’s lovers fathered me. Your granduncle and Mother separated years earlier. Right after Verity’s father was born, I think. The heir and the spare, you know? Which weren’t,” she added on a sad note, “quite enough, were they? But let’s not think of Mud. I like that name for him, by the way. In any case, I am glad Father accepted me as his own when it wasn’t physically possible. I called him Father and he treated me as a daughter.”
Her voice trailed off and the look in her eye told Jacob she was indulging in happy memories. He allowed his soup to be served and waited for the footman to stand back before he responded. “As, in many ways, he treated me as a son.” Jacob sighed softly, thinking of his own father who had been rather distant. “However that may be, Verity is my cousin and I have tried to see she takes her place at this table in the evening. I hope you are more successful.”
Mary nodded. “We must hire a new housekeeper too and, once she has recovered enough to do so, Jenna too will join us. In any reasonable world, she’d have been my father’s widow rather than his housekeeper and would belong here by right.”
Jacob smiled, his eyes gleaming with good humor. “I always thought you a right one, Cousin Mary, but I didn’t know you were so, um, liberal as all that.” And then he remembered his suspicions of Prince Rube…and wondered…
“I lived in too many countries, learning about too many cultures, to think ours is perfect and shouldn’t be changed in any way. Jenna and my father were deeply in love, but by the rules of our society were not supposed to wed.” Her voice softened to a musing tone. “That my brother had the courage to wed Jenna’s younger sister… I sometimes think that shamed my father in some way, but he still could not bring himself to wed his housekeeper.”
Did too , said a soft voice near Jacob’s ear. Jenna ’ s the coward .
Jacob swung quickly toward the voice, inadvertently forcing the footman hovering near his ear back a step. The footman, quick on his feet, managed to recover and didn’t spill a single lamb chop from the gravy-covered platter, even though the food slid around a bit.
“Sir?” asked the footman, wondering what had caused Jacob to turn in that quick way.
There is nothing there . Nothing ,thought Jacob. “What?” He realized what he’d done and felt heat in his neck. “Nothing. Nothing at all,” he repeated a trifle grimly. The voice he’d heard sounded very like his granduncle’s, but that must be nonsense. Surely it is nonsense . There are no such things as
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