buster, 1840-1848.
may he rest in peace.
bluebell, 1829-1839.
chasing rabbits in heaven.
clover, 1850-1851.
taken too soon.
‘I think these are pets,’ I said, reading as we walked through. ‘Look. There are at least ten of them.’
‘Lord Albert loves his dogs, it would seem.’ William shrugged. He walked ahead of me and looked down at another stone on the other side of the fountain. ‘Huh,’ he said, looking confused.
I caught up with William and knelt down to read the stone he stood by.
mary elizabeth favisham trevarron
1852-1865
blessed child
‘Oh, no.’ I held my hand to my mouth. ‘This wasn’t a pet.’
‘It looks that way.’ William nodded solemnly. ‘Presumably a child of the family.’
‘But why would you bury your child alongside your pets?’ I looked up at him in deep consternation. ‘Isn’t that… in quite poor taste? And she died just a couple of years ago.’
‘It certainly seems that way, yes.’ He made a face. ‘When I was lord we had a small pet graveyard, under the trees. I wouldn’t have interred the dogs in the rose garden. And certainly not… a human, alongside them.’ He met my expression with similar distaste.
‘Well, I suppose that tells us something about the current Trevarron family, although I’m not sure what,’ I said. ‘Anyway. Let’s do what we came here to do.’
‘So, this thing works on an eclipse, but it’s not an eclipse now?’ William said in a low voice.
‘Yes. It does. And no, it isn’t. But Evelyn said in her book that she thought two people could sort of… make it happen. By concentrating,’ I said. ‘It sounds stupid when I say it out loud.’
‘It’s not stupid. Though I doubt we can just concentrate our way into another time.’ William frowned. ‘I have to return to my own time. I must rescue Edith.’ He took my hands in his. ‘Tell me that you understand.’
I opened my mouth; the words sat heavy on my tongue, but I had to speak them aloud.
‘William… I don’t?—’
I broke off as a woman’s voice rang out from behind me. ‘Excuse me, should you be in here?’
I turned around to see a smartly dressed maid looking us both up and down with a doubtful look on her face. ‘Because if you’re here for the party, the entrance is through the main house.’
‘Of course. Thank you. We were just admiring your beautiful rose garden,’ I simpered, taking William’s hand. ‘We will make our way there now.’
THIRTEEN
William and I stood at the fringes of the ball, watching the dancers.
I had changed into a dress that Nancy had procured for me, not wanting to get it dirty on our walk over here. I smiled, remembering how I had tried it on and carefully walked down the narrow cottage stairs that afternoon and William had stared at me, astonished, for a long moment, not saying anything.
‘Am I not beautiful, Lord Trevarron?’ I’d teased him, twirling my teal blue silk skirts.
‘You are. Ravishing,’ he had replied, seriously.
