Eloisa James by A Wild Pursuit

Author:A Wild Pursuit
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-06-29T07:15:10+00:00

18

In Which Curiosity Runs Rampant

Rees Holland, Earl Godwin, was in a pisser of a mood, as his butler put it belowstairs. “Got some sort of note from his wife, he did,” Leke confirmed.

Rosy, the downstairs maid and Leke’s niece, gasped. “I saw a pantomime on my last half-day where the husband poisoned a love letter and when his wife kissed it, she died. Maybe the countess saw the pantomime as well and she’s poisoned him!”

“He deserves it then,” grunted Leke. He found Earl Godwin difficult to work for, and he didn’t like the irregularity of the household. On the one hand, his master was an earl, and that was good. On the other hand, the man had a dastardly temper, not to mention the fact that his fancy piece was living in the countess’s quarters.

“And there’s something to clean up there as well, so you’d better get to it.”

“Don’t tell me he spilled coffee on all them papers again,” Rosy said, scowling. “I’m finding another position if he doesn’t pick up those papers. How can I clean with that much muck about my ankles?”

“Don’t you touch his papers,” Leke said. “It’s worth your life. Anyhow, it’s not coffee this time. ’Twas a vase of flowers the strumpet was foolish enough to put on his piano.”

“It’s a wicked temper he has,” Rosy said with relish. “How the strumpet puts up with it, I don’t know.”

The strumpet was Alina McKenna, erstwhile opera singer and inamorata of the bad-tempered earl. The term strumpet wasn’t truly pejorative; both Leke and his niece rather liked Lina, as she called herself. Not that one could truly like a woman of that type, of course. But she wasn’t as hard to work for as a great many more virtuous ladies, and Leke in particular knew that well enough.

He shrugged. “Thank the Lord, the master’s taken himself off, at least.”

“Where’d he go?”

“How could I know? Something in response to that letter from his wife, I’ve no doubt. Time for you to go about your duties, Rosy, before the strumpet makes her way home.” The only reason Rosy’s mum allowed her to work in such a house of ill repute was due to her uncle’s presence. He took his responsibilities seriously and did his best to arrange her duties so that she rarely encountered one of the inhabitants of the house.

“I’d best go clean the sitting room then,” Rosy said. It was a rare moment when the master wasn’t in there pounding on one of them three pianos he had. And now there was likely water all over the floor.

A moment later she flew back downstairs, finding her uncle polishing silver. “I found the note,” she said. “The note from his wife. He’d crumpled it up and left it right there, on the piano.” She stuck out her hand.

Leke hesitated.

“Go on, Uncle John! You’ve simply got to read it—you know you do!”

“I oughtn’t to.”

“Mum will just murder you if you don’t,” Rosy said with relish. And that was true enough.

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