“Well, could we just put an egg on them instead of throwing it? We could just smear it on them.”
Cecily had to laugh at that.
“I don’t think that your father is going to stand still long enough for you to smear him with eggs,” she observed. “You must think of something else, Lilian. Now, enough talk of human tricks. I want to see what else Buster can do.”
To her relief, Lilian grinned and immediately turned her attention to showing off her little dog again. Hopefully, she would quickly forget this talk of pranks and punishments.
Her ideas for revenge on her father had indeed been entertaining, but Cecily did not like to think of how Nathaniel might react. Would he see the funny side of such a joke or not? It was not a risk she felt like taking at the moment.
* * *
“Damn it all! I want to know who is responsible for this!”
The sound of Nathaniel’s angry voice echoed into the breakfast room the following morning as Cecily and Mary were enjoying their bread and coffee.
They looked at one another with alarm, and then Cecily put down her coffee cup and rose without a word, going into the hallway to find out the cause of the disturbance.
Nathaniel stood barefoot at the bottom of the stairs with a face like thunder and a pair of shoes in his hand. Nearby, Rogers and Mrs. Barnes were looking at him open-mouthed while more junior servants peered around corners and doors to see the cause of the commotion.
“Who the hell has put eggs in my shoes?” Nathaniel demanded. “Has this house gone mad?”
“There were eggs in my shoes too!” Patrick called out from a landing above, before rushing down barefoot with his shoes and socks in his hand. “I thought it was you, Nathaniel.”
“Me? Have you lost your mind, Patrick?” Nathaniel snapped. “It’s more somethingyouwould have done once, but not at the age of eight-and-twenty, surely.”
In the pause that followed, Mary giggled.
“You!” Patrick pointed an accusatory finger at her. “You put eggs in my shoes!”
“Of course I didn’t, Patrick,” she replied. “But you’re exactly the kind of man whoshouldhave eggs put in his shoes. That’s why I’m laughing.”
“Enough!” Nathaniel thundered, cutting across their squabbling as though they were foolish children. “Someone must know who is behind this, and I want to be told now. Who has been putting eggs in shoes?”
“Oh God, Lilian,” Cecily murmured as realization struck her, not even conscious that she had spoken aloud.
Lilian had not forgotten the conversation about tricks at all. She had carried it with her and planned more on her own. She must have sneaked eggs from the kitchen, entered both her father’s and uncle’s rooms, and set her trap.
“Lilian?” Nathaniel repeated sharply, yet again showing that he was never quite as inattentive or detached from his surroundings as he liked to pretend. “Where is she? Get my daughter down here now, Mrs. Barnes. I want to get to the bottom of this.”
Cecily’s heart sank. This was the last thing Lilian needed right now. She certainly should be called out for playing such a trick, but arguing with her father would not help either of them. All of Cecily’s efforts could be undone in an instant, and any hope of Nathaniel building a better relationship with his daughter would be lost.
“It is not Lilian’s fault, Nathaniel,” she stated boldly, stepping forward as a young maid scurried off to the nursery to fetch the child. “This was a mistake. I think Lilian may have gotten the wrong idea.”
“It takes more than a mistake to do something like this,” Nathaniel retorted angrily. “Shoes, socks, and floors must be cleaned. Food has been wasted. These things matter.”
“I am well aware of that,” Cecily shot back, thinking of all the days she had gone without food while under her uncle’s roof. “I am only telling you that?—”
“Did it work? Oh yes, how funny!” Lilian crowed as she danced down the stairs toward the assembly of unhappy adults. “Look at Papa and Uncle Patrick. I have taught them a lesson just like you told me, Cecily!”
“Be quiet, Lilian,” Cecily told her. “I was explaining to your father that you made a mistake. You overheard Mary and me talking yesterday about how your father deserved some punishment, and you began suggesting outlandish ideas for such punishment. I believed you had forgotten this, but you had not.”
Lilian blinked, seeming surprised. Cecily had the terrible feeling that the little girl had been expecting some kind of praise, at least from her.
Oh, the poor little creature!
“Let me get the facts straight here. Lilian, you put eggs in our shoes?” Nathaniel demanded.
“Yes, I did,” the child declared, pushing out her lower lip stubbornly. “I wish I’d put spiders on your pillow too, and worms in your washbasin, and…”
