Mrs. Right nodded, satisfied she’d scored her point.
“I understand Mr. Cremble has strapped a bible under his coat,” Serenity said. “Verity thinks he is convinced you will shoot him.”
“That child,” Mrs. Right said with a chuckle. “Her imagination never takes a nap. The very idea I’d visit the hangman over one of Lady Marchfield’s butlers. No, I think the bible is there to ward off the evil he supposes just now surrounds him.”
“I presume that means he still fears you are somehow connected to the devil?”
“Aye, last evening, when we had our tea before retiring, I suddenly clutched my head as if a great pain had struck it. Charlie and Thomas, having been briefed on the gambit, both looked at the ceiling and shook their heads in a disapproving way. Mr. Cremble was all aflutter and asked what was wrong. Charlie told him somebody above stairs was praying before bed and it made my head ache.”
“And he believed it?”
“’Course he did,” Mrs. Right said with a sigh of satisfaction. “Butlers are all alike, a regular bunch of lunatics. If we all claimed that fish can fly in the Dales, he’d probably believe that too.”
“I do hope he moves on without inconveniencing you much longer. He’ll be ever so much happier when he takes on a family that wishes for a butler.”
“We’ll all be happy, but for Lady Marchfield.” Mrs. Right paused. “She’s not set to come this evening, is she? I’d not like for Mr. Cremble to describe what’s going on. She might just set him straight.”
“No, she knows nothing about the dinner. We all love our aunt, of course. She is our aunt, after all. It’s just that she’s so…stern.”
“That she is. There now, your hair and your person look charming enough to tempt a marquess, I think.”
Serenity certainly hoped so. She could already hear chatter from the drawing room. It was time to descend.
Mrs. Right fiddled with the hairpins on Serenity’s dressing table. Softly, she said, “It is the same old puzzle—I am glad to see all my girls well settled and sad to see them leave the house.”
Serenity kissed her cheek. “So far, I am only to leave the house for dog walks. Do not pack my trunks just yet.”
“By the by, as fast I would pack them, Valor would unpack them. I caught the naughty little thing rearranging the seating but an hour ago. She had things set so you would be surrounded by your sisters at one end of the table, with Lord Thorpe and Lord Charles on the other end. I rectified it and you’ll have the gentlemen on either side of you.”
Poor Valor. But then, it had been fixed and Lord Thorpe would sit right beside her.
