The Madcap Masquerade by Miller Nadine

Author:Miller, Nadine [Miller, Nadine]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: RenegadeBooks
Published: 2014-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Theo returned in high spirits to the Ravenswood manor house some two hours later. His tenants had all responded to Meg’s quiet charm with the same enthusiasm as the Jennings family. She’d held their babies and admired their gardens, shook hands with the men and chatted with the women, and generally deported herself in a restrained but friendly manner which had obviously won the respect of one and all.

She’d even ducked her head, in that demure way she had, and admitted she’d often longed to speak to the women after Sunday service in the village church, but she’d always been too shy to do so. This, of course, had only endeared her more to the plainspoken people whose families had worked the land for as long as his family had owned it.

Yes, indeed, Meg would make a fine mistress for Ravenswood and for his two lesser estates. With her at his side, there would be none of the barely concealed animosity his tenants had shown toward his mother on the rare occasions when she’d accompanied him on his inspection tours.

Things were looking up—or so he thought until he handed his horse to a solemn-faced groom and entered the door of the manor house to find utter bedlam. Two of the maids were huddled at the foot of the staircase weeping copiously, a young footman appeared about to do the same and Mrs. Heatherwood, the housekeeper, stood above them on the landing, looking for all the world like one of the fire-eating dragons of ancient mythology.

The dragon advanced on him, eyes blazing, the moment she saw him. “Just like that, she sacked him, my lord, because his hand shook when he served the tea and a mite sloshed on the sour-faced duke—and him serving the Earls of Lynley for more than forty-five years. No disrespect to my betters, but it’s not right and it fair broke the old man’s heart.”

It took no imagination on Theo’s part to figure out who had sacked whom. His mother had apparently flown into one of her rages and discharged Doddsworth, the ancient butler who had served three generations of the Hampton family through triumph and tragedy with quiet distinction.

What in God’s name was the woman thinking of? Doddsworth was as much a fixture at Ravenswood as the bronze lions at the gate and the Gobelin tapestries and Baccarat chandeliers that decorated the drafty entryway.

“Where is Doddsworth?” Theo asked. Repairing the old man’s injured feelings was the important thing at the moment; he would deal with his mother later.

“In his chamber, packing his things. If you’ve a mind to speak to him, my lord, I’ll show you the way.”

Theo raised a hand to forestall her. “I know the way, Mrs. Heatherwood.” Many’s the time he’d sought refuge from his mother’s rigid discipline in Doddsworth’s neat little apartment when he was a lad. The one place the countess would never demean herself to enter was the servants’ quarters.

He knocked on the butler’s chamber door to find,

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