Miss Milton Speaks Her Mind by Carla Kelly

Author:Carla Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: inheritance, waterloo, aristocrats, tradesman, mill owner
Publisher: Camel Press
Published: 2014-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

She wondered in the next few days if her dismissal had been too abrupt. No doubt he was busy, dividing his time between the woolen mill in Huddersfield and the new cotton mill where Andrew and Jacob hurried every morning to watch the slum being torn down to make way for new housing. The boys—a stranger would have thought them friends for years—were filled with reports each evening at dinner, but Mr. Butterworth was conspicuous by his absence.

Emma, absorbed in her new daughter, only laughed when Jane expressed her worry about her brother overworking himself. “It is what he enjoys the most, my dear,” she said, easing herself into a comfortable position as the baby—named Olivia Rose by Amanda and Lucy, after considerable discussion—began to nurse. “Give him a problem, and he can hardly wait to solve it. Olivia, do have a care! They are attached to me, after all!”

Jane smiled as she watched the nursing mother. Obviously he has decided that he does not relish my problems, she thought, as the baby settled down to long, steady pulls. I cannot blame him; I do not relish them, either.

She knew that he came home at night because she heard him talking to Richard, and laughing at this or that, as the two of them sat in the breakfast room and rehashed the day. He came into the boys’ room one night as she was reading the nightly chapter of The Children of New Forest, and stood leaning against the door frame until she finished. “Well read, Miss Milton,” he declared. “You could probably make a factory invoice interesting, suspenseful, even.”

How does he do that, she thought, dispensing compliments as easily as some people breathe? He came closer; she wished he would put his hand on her shoulder in that careless way of his, but he did not.

“Andrew and Jacob, come with me to the woolen mill tomorrow,” he told the boys, sitting on their bed. “Christmas is nearly upon us and I have dismissed the workers so we can break down the machinery and make a few improvements before we begin work again.”

“Dirty work, sir?” Andrew asked, even as he looked at Jane for permission.

“Oh, yes. The worst kind. Jacob’s mother will cringe when we come home.”

“Mr. Butterworth, are you remembering that tomorrow night is the Board of Directors dinner here?”

“How could I forget, with so many females to remind me?” he replied cheerfully. “Amanda is wandering around in a distracted fashion, mumbling to herself about ironing tablecloths and polishing silver.” He laughed. “She is usually more concerned with slippers and matching ribbons. And I suppose my sister is just calmly watching it all.”

“Oh, yes,” Jane agreed, relieved at his light touch. “She tells me that nothing could be better for Amanda than to be overworked.”

“And you, Miss Mitten?” he asked. “Does all this rushing about, settling cooks’ quarrels, and wrangling with fishmongers give you a sound night’s sleep?”

“She could hardly finish this chapter, Mr. Butterworth,” Andrew confided, as she looked away from him in embarrassment.

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