Shelley Adina - 02 Her Own Devices by Shelley Adina

Author:Shelley Adina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

“D’you mean your mum ent got a steam landau, Lady?” Tigg asked, aghast, when he caught sight of the carriage and four waiting for them outside the airfield at Truro. “And there’s not a steambus in all of Cornwall?”

The shock of such provincialism kept him silent during the entire journey along the Carrick Roads, the great waterway that enabled seagoing ships to come and go between Falmouth and Truro. The north wing of Gwynn Place rose from the trees, and through the open carriage window they could hear the mewing of the gulls as they flashed and swung above the ocean.

When the carriage stopped under the portico, the great double doors opened and there stood Lady St. Ives with Nicholas upon her hip. Claire dropped reticule and traveling case and covered her little brother with kisses, then gave her mother a more dignified hug.

“Mama, it is wonderful to see you.”

“And you.” Lady St. Ives ran a critical eye over her. “You’ve grown. Filled out. Changed, somehow, and yet it has only been a matter of weeks since I left you in town.”

“More like two months, Mama. And here is James.”

Her mother dimpled like a young girl and handed Nicholas to Claire so that she could envelop James in a hug. “I am so glad to welcome you to Gwynn Place. Do come in.”

“Mama, I should like to introduce my young charges,” Claire said firmly, the weight of her baby brother a comfort against her chest.

“Charges? I thought these were the tenants’ children, being given a ride. What do you mean, charges?”

“I mean the young people for whom I am responsible. These young men are Jake, Tigg, and Willie. And the girls are Margaret and Elizabeth.”

To Claire’s astonishment, Lizzie and Maggie both dropped perfect curtsies, and Tigg bowed from the waist, as he had seen Andrew do that day in the Crystal Palace. Willie stood stock still, staring at Lady St. Ives as if seeing a vision.

Jake made a choking sound and turned away to haul Lord James’s suitcase off the rack on top of the carriage before the coachman could swing it down to him.

“Do they not have my goodness!” Lady St. Ives staggered back one step as Willie launched himself at her, hugging her legs through her voluminous skirts and bursting into tears. “Dear me, child, what on earth is the matter? Now, now. Dry those tears. Heavens, can you not ? Claire, what has possessed him?”

Try as she might, she could not detach the little boy from her mother’s skirts. Even Jake stopped his busy work, his brows wrinkling in concern, as if he were half undecided as to whether Willie needed rescuing or not.

“Willie, darling ... it’s all right.” With the baby on one arm, Claire tried to put her other arm around the little boy. “You’re quite safe. We’re home now, at Gwynn Place, where I was born. You shall see Polgarth the poultryman, and the hens, and we shall picnic on the beach tomorrow and try not to have our toes pinched by crabs.

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