The cook took a moment to realize that the goat was not being proposed for somebody’s dinner. He said, “I see your plight, old fella, but I can’t give out food and drink to everybody who comes along and asks. I’d be dismissed.”
“I don’t know what to do,” the old man said, shaking his head. “This here is the last goat and a billy at that, all but useless as we won’t get no milk from it. Aye, the wife wants to cook him up but I can’t bring myself to do it. She says I’m soft and I’m afraid I am.”
Cordelia looked at her aunt and Juliet. They looked back. They all three nodded.
They burst into the kitchen. Cordelia said, “Sir, we cannot allow you or that darling little baby to suffer. You must tell your wife that adorable creature has been adopted into a loving home.”
“Adopted?”
“This is Lady Cordelia and that is Lady Juliet, daughters of the Earl of Westmont. I am Miss Mayton,” her aunt said, “I can assure you, this enchanting creature shall live in the lap of luxury.”
“Luxury?” the man asked, seeming as if he had not considered that outcome as a possibility.
“We will pay you handsomely,” Miss Mayton said. She turned to Cordelia and Juliet. “Your father still gives me a clothing allowance, though I only wear the black bombazine.”
“You are so good, Aunt,” Cordelia said. She turned to the elderly gentleman and said, “Tell us, what is the little fellow’s name?”
“Name?”
“Goodness, he does not even have a name yet,” Cordelia said.
“My own name is Jim Carpenter,” the man said, doffing his hat.
“That does not help us, I do not think,” Cordelia said.
“I think we should call him Lord Darling, Marquess of Basingstoke,” Juliet said.
“Oh that is perfect,” Cordelia said. “Lord Darling.”
“Lord…”
“Here is three pounds, Mr. Carpenter,” Miss Mayton said. “Now what will we require? How much milk will we need for Lord Darling?”
Mr. Carpenter took the money and handed Lord Darling into Cordelia’s arms.
He was a lovely little thing, round eyes drooping with sleep and little tail wagging.
“I brought a glass bottle, works just fine, been using it for years,” Mr. Carpenter said, pulling out a small bottle from his coat. “You’re gonna need a mixture of half milk, half buttermilk, dosed with a bit of sugar. He drank the last of what I had not an hour ago so he should be set up for now.”
The cook had been looking back and forth at the goings-on, and probably wishing everyone would leave his kitchen. Miss Mayton said to him, “Please prepare the mixture, my good sir, and have it ready for when we dine. You may put it on the earl’s bill.”
The cook nodded, and Cordelia got the feeling he viewed them all as eccentric. They were not though—who could leave adorable Lord Darling to the winds of fate?
“Now,” Miss Mayton said, “we’d best go and acquaint your father with this turn of events.”
“Poor Papa,” Juliet said. “He is bound to be very surprised.”
Mr. Carpenter looked alarmed over the idea of the earl being surprised. He said, “No returns!” and fled the kitchen.
Cordelia carefully carried Lord Darling into the inn, while Juliet and Miss Mayton cooed over him and petted his head.
“Papa,” Juliet said, stepping in front of Cordelia just as their father came inside. “A very surprising thing has happened that absolutely could not be avoided but you are not to worry as it has all come out right.”
The earl was such an even-keeled sort of fellow, but even he must show concern when a young Bennington explained that something was surprising, could not be avoided, and there was no need to worry.
“Oh dear,” he said, “what has happened?”
Juliet stepped aside and Cordelia said, “This is Lord Darling. We discovered him in terrible straits in the kitchen.”
