“Hmm.”
“I must say, Miss Brown is wonderful about it,” Archie went on. “We’re lucky to have her. She plays the role of my grandmother with kindness and patience, gently trying to assure Mother that she grew to love and approve of Father.” He paused and cleared his throat. “There was a time when they had that conversation at least weekly.”
“Who does your mother think you are when these conversations occur?”
“No one. I’m no one.”
Something about the way he said that didn’t sit right with her. He’d spoken quickly and his tone had gone alarmingly flat, as if he meant the statement elementally, not just as it related to his mother’s affliction. But she thought that was an observation Archie would not appreciate, so she tilted her head back and said, “I am trying to locate the Pleiades.”
“The Seven Sisters,” he said, his voice restored to its usual timbre.
“It’s supposed to be near the horizon.”
“Yes, it’s that clump of stars there.” He pointed. “You see the ones that are very close together?”
“Hmm. That won’t do.”
“Won’t do for what? The heavens not meeting your expectations, Clem?”
She smiled. “Olive and I have struck a bargain in which each agrees to give the other’s favorite pursuit a genuine attempt while we’re here. I have been learning to embroider.”
“Truly? I’d heard something about that, but I didn’t believeit.”
“Embroidery fills the time in a way I must admit is not entirely unpleasant. Besides, after all the upset of late, I have been endeavoring to take a more concerted interest in Olive’s pastimes.”
“And what is Olive doing at your behest?”
“I have yet to decide. It is difficult to distill my interests into a single discernable pursuit. ‘Be out of doors’ is not a pursuit, perse.”
“Yes, I see your dilemma.”
“And I could hardly saywalking. That is not specific enough, and it wouldn’t be as if I’d be introducing Olive to something novel.”
“This is the part where normally I’d suggest hunting.”
“You would, wouldn’t you?” Honestly, Archie was one of her favorite people, or at least he used to be, back when they were children, so it was difficult to reconcile that with Archie the murderer of animals. But to be fair, he had always loved the hunt, so it wasn’t as if he’d changed elementally.
Perhapsshehad.
That was a disconcerting thought.
Not wanting to get into it—with him or with herself—she said, “I have been leaning toward stargazing, but I’m doing some preliminary investigation in order to make it more interesting.”
“These majestic stars on their own are not sufficiently interesting?”
She smiled, something in her warming at his gentle teasing. “You know what I mean! Olive will respond better if I can superimpose a story on what she’s seeing.”
“Luckily, the ancients did exactly that.”
“Precisely. I found a star chart in the library, and I’m endeavoring to match up what’s on it with what I can see—and with what I can remember of the myths behind the constellations.”
“The Seven Sisters is thematically apt for you and Olive, I suppose.”
“That’s what I thought. Daughters of Atlas, turned into stars. Alas, though, it doesn’t make a picture. It’s merely a clump of stars. I thought if they were bright enough, or . . . clumpy enough, it might not matter, but now that I see them . . .” She shrugged.
“You think they will underwhelm Olive.”
“I fear so.”
