“I saw his chest.”
“Well I’m sorry for that,” Lady Winsome said. “But I’m sure it was just an accident.”
“You don’t understand,” Lady Valor said. “There was hair on it.Hair, Winny. Black hair all over it. Not like on your head, but patchy. Inever saw anything so bad in my life. It was horrible.”
Leland wrapped a sheet around himself and sat on the bed, really not having the first idea of what he should do next.
He heard the sound of a door and then the housekeeper’s voice. “What’s this now? Thomas said he heard a shriek up here—is it another spider?”
“Mrs. Right,” Lady Valor said, “did you know Lord Manderbey has hair on his chest?”
“Not specifically, no.”
“It’s horrible.”
“He was looking out his door as Valor came down the corridor,” Lady Winsome said by way of explanation.
“I was just coming for Sir Galahad and I had to seethat,” Lady Valor said. “You would not even believe what it looks like.”
“Ah, I see,” the housekeeper said. “Well I’d best have Thomas bring his clothes back to him. Reynolds was putting them in order. Now, Poppet, put the whole thing out of your mind.”
“Out of my mind!” Lady Valor cried. “I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life! I’ll have nightmares about it!”
Leland did think nightmares was going a bit far.
“Lower your voice, Val,” Lady Winsome said.
“I feel like my eyes are burning!” Lady Valor cried, not lowering her voice one decibel.
Her eyes were burning? Now that definitely was going too far.
“Your eyes are perfectly fine,” the housekeeper said. “Forget you ever saw it.”
“Why, though?” Lady Valor asked. “Why is he like that? Is there something wrong with him?”
Leland heard the housekeeper sigh. “Valor, men are different. That’s all. Some of them have hair on their chest. Perhaps most of them, though I cannot say that for certain.”
Lady Valor gasped. “I would positively die if I had that living onme. Winny, you cannot wish to ever see that. I thought Mr. Stratton staring at Felicity while she was sleeping was the worst of it, but it’s not. You really could not bear the sight of it, trust me. What I saw will haunt me forever.”
Leland found he was beginning to feel a little offended at this point. He understood a lady would be more delicate in her sensibilities, but being haunted forever by the hair on his chest seemed more extreme than it needed to be.
“Go downstairs to have your breakfast, Valor. Toast and eggs will make you feel better,” Lady Winsome said.
“Maybe,” Lady Valor said. “Mrs. Right, can you check the corridor? I could not bear to see that abomination a second time.”
Now he had reached the heights of abomination?
“Valor, I know you just learned that word, but I’m not sure you entirely understand it,” Lady Winsome said.
“I understand it, and I’ve seen it,” Lady Valor said.
Leland heard the door open. “It’s quite safe,” the housekeeper said. “Come now, I’ll take you downstairs and then arrange to have Lord Manderbey’s clothes returned to him.”
“He really needs to cover that up! Be careful when you go out there, Winny, just in case he hasn’t,” Lady Valor advised.
Leland listened as the sound of footsteps retreated. He looked down at his chest. He had not thought, until this moment, that it would be capable of scarring a person’s psyche.
He heard another sound from the direction of Lady Winsome’s room. It sounded like a window sash being opened. He tied the sheet around his apparently deeply offensive chest and walked over.
