A Gentleman's Homecoming by Ruth Axtell Morren

Author:Ruth Axtell Morren
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2011-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Bobbie peered out the rain-splattered window of the front parlor into the dark night.

Luke had taken Sam to the Chopin concerto as he had promised him. Bobbie had planned to go along with them, but her mother had complained of feeling faint after dinner, so she had felt obliged to stay home.

If Luke or Sam had been disappointed, she had seen no sign of it. Sam had been too excited by a night on the town with his father.

Bobbie had been on her way down to prepare some tea for her and her mother, when she’d thought she’d heard the sound of coach wheels. Her heart leaped, thinking Sam and Luke were already home.

Telling herself it was much too early for the concert to have ended, she nevertheless strained to see out the window. A lone streetlamp cast a yellow halo around itself, illuminating the steady rain that fell and reflected off the drops that slid down the windowpane. The wind howled outside, causing the newly budded trees to bend.

Bobbie made out the roof of a coach above the high hawthorn hedge. Who else could be out on a night like this? No one with any sense…except for Luke and Sam. But Luke had treated the weather as nothing at all, insisting he’d keep Sam dry with their mackintoshes and umbrellas, promising they’d take a cab to the station and from there to the concert in St. James’s Hall.

If things had worked out, she, too, would probably not have balked at a little inclement weather.

She let the drape fall back and made her way into the entry hall to open the front door as soon as the passenger had alighted from the coach.

She opened the door before hearing a knock, curious to see who would be paying a call. She gasped at the sight of the rector shaking out his umbrella. “Oh, my goodness, Mr. Southbridge, what are you doing out on this awful night?”

He smiled. “A little rain doesn’t bother me.” He closed the umbrella and doffed his top hat. “I thought your mother might like some company.” He peered at her as she stepped aside and urged him inside. “I thought she’d be alone, you see. Was it too nasty a night for you to attempt the concert after all?”

She flushed. “No…it wasn’t that.” As she helped him off with his topcoat, she explained. “Mother wasn’t feeling quite well, so I decided to stay with her.”

“I see.”

She wasn’t sure how much he did indeed see, from the kindly look in his gray eyes.

He tut-tutted. “That’s a shame. Well, I don’t want to disturb her if she’s not feeling quite the thing.”

“Oh, I’m sure she’d enjoy your company. I was on my way to fetch us both a cup of tea. Might I prepare you one as well?”

“That sounds lovely, my dear.” He walked beside her toward the staircase.

“Why don’t you go on up to the drawing room? I’m sure Mother would love to see you. I’ll be up shortly with the tea.

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