Christmas at Thornton Hall by Lynn Marie Hulsman

Author:Lynn Marie Hulsman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780007568871
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2014-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“You missed all the uproar,” Terrence said. He was scraping a plate into the trash. I recognized The Painter’s half-eaten mushroom omelet.

“I was barely gone for 20 minutes. And how could there be more uproar? What happened?” I asked.

“More like 45! For one thing, Rose walked in on Daffy and Lord Ambridge getting off in the toilet off the staff dining room.”

“Whaaaaat?”

“I tease you not. She walked in and I heard her scream, ‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph! And on Christmas Eve!’ Then she shut the door behind herself and the three of them were stuffed in there together for ages. There was yelling and crying from every vocal range on the scale! It was operatic! Daffy came out hanging her head and Lord Ambridge was bowing and practically kissing Rose’s ring. I guess she let them off with a warning and decided not to spill the beans. Rose is in the laundry, ironing costumes for tomorrow and Daphne’s being monitored by Chizzy. They’re decorating the tree in the ballroom. After they decorate it, they’re to wrap it in sheets so it’ll be a surprise tomorrow.”

“There’s a tree?”

“Wait till you see! During lunch, Seamus and Isaac heaved in the first tree that the nursery had delivered yesterday morning and left out by the vegetable garden. They set the great hulking thing up and Roth immediately started shouting about how it wasn’t big enough and it wouldn’t do. So, Seamus enlisted Isaac and Chizz, and they went out and took a chainsaw to the tallest tree they could find on the property. And in all this snow! Took three of them to move it, and they had to open the tops and bottoms of the lead-glass French windows. It looks like bloody Rockefeller Center in there!”

“Where are all the guests?” I asked.

“Oh, they were shooed upstairs. The tree’s to be unveiled tomorrow in a Hungarian secret ceremony.”

“Secret ceremony?”

“Oh, all right, a traditional Hungarian party. Did anyone ever tell you you’re no fun? Daffy and Chizz are covering the great, pine giant in szaloncukor – don’t mock my pronunciation, I can’t help it I’ve never been to Hungary on my poor butler’s salary – which are these frilly decorative candies which he ordered for, like, a thousand pounds, from the top confectioner in that exotic and far-away land. I think usually the shindig is supposed to happen on Christmas Eve, but you know Roth is a big drama queen. You get a bigger bang out of Christmas Day, don’t you? Legend has it that the angels and the baby Jesus bring the tree and the gifts. If you squint hard, you can sort of see Isaac as angelic and Jesus-like. The rest fall short of the mark, sadly.”

“A lot happens around here when you turn your back for a moment,” I said.

“Oh, that’s not the end of it, by far,” Terrence said. “P. S. – you’re i-in trou-buuuul!” he said in a childish singsong.

“Do you mean more trouble?” I asked. “For God’s sake.

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