Behind the Shattered Glass by Tasha Alexander

Author:Tasha Alexander
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Historical
ISBN: 9781250024701
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Downstairs

xi

Alice had finished with Mr. Hargreaves’s room and was now in Lady Emily’s pale blue dressing room. The walls were close to the same color as that in the room Alice shared with Lily, and she liked to think this was because Lady Emily was so very pleased with their work that she wanted them to feel more like family than servants. It was a foolish notion, but there was no harm in it. She had everything just about ready for her mistress to dress for dinner. Really for dinner tomorrow, or maybe luncheon, as she and the master were to stay overnight in Dover. Alice had been to Dover once and had picnicked below the great white cliffs, where she felt so proud to be English she had belted out every verse of “Rule, Britannia!” She wondered if Mr. Hargreaves would show the cliffs to Lady Emily. She hoped he would. They were, she was certain, the best part of England.

Lily came into the room, breathless and flushed. “Good heavens, girl,” Alice said. “What have you been getting up to?”

“My book,” Lily said. “It’s gone. Have you seen it?”

“No.” Alice shook her head. “I know you told me I could look at it, but I felt funny taking it out without you there, so I thought I’d wait till you could show it to me yourself.”

Lily was glad she hadn’t gone through Alice’s drawers. She knew she could always trust her friend. Alice was closer to her than her own sisters had ever been. They had even traveled to York together last winter, for a little holiday, and had walked along the old city walls, arm in arm, watching the people on the pavements below. It was one of Lily’s happiest memories. “I think Pru took it.”

“Pru? Why would she do that?”

“I don’t really know, but who else? She can’t stand me.”

“What about Lord Montagu’s Red Indian?” Alice asked. “He was brought up a heathen savage.”

Lily crinkled her brow. “That is true, Alice, but he’s behaved in no way that suggests he’s still one. He’s extremely polite and helpful. I like him much more than I thought I would.”

“I am in absolute agreement,” Alice said. “Still, it’s something to think about. We don’t really know him. I do have another idea, though. Lord Flyte gave it you, didn’t he? The book, that is.”

“Yes.”

“Does Mrs. Elliott know?”

“I don’t think so. I haven’t told anyone but you.”

“I haven’t told her, but she has a way of knowing things. If she did get wind of it, she might have taken it, deciding it wasn’t appropriate for you to accept a gift from one of the master’s guests.”

“Do you think it’s inappropriate?” Lily asked, pouring fresh water into a ewer.

Alice finished wiping the large glass over Lady Emily’s dressing table before she answered. “I don’t know, Lily. You’re always so careful about things and are always warning me to watch myself with the gentlemen. Lord Flyte seems a nice enough bloke, but what

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