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I was so busy staring, I didn’t realise someone else had approached me until that someone cleared her throat. Glancing up, I noticed the tall, proud, black-haired girl standing in front of me with a chagrined expression that she clearly had to work hard to maintain.
‘Mr Linton, is it? Mother told me what you did,’ she murmured. ‘How you helped her get through to my brother. I’m sorry if I came off a bit…gruff during our first meeting back in London.’
I smiled at her. ‘No problem. Confident, strong-minded women are the future of this world.’
She blinked. ‘You really believe that?’
‘Oh yes.’
‘What a refreshing change to meet a man with sense for once. You and I,’ she declared while, behind her, her brother was trying to pry free of the tentacles of the Pink Mother Kraken, ‘are going to be great friends.’
Turning to the servants she clapped her hands. ‘All right! Have the doors opened, Hastings. Everyone inside. Mr Linton, let me introduce you to the staff, since my brother thinks himself too high and mighty to bother.’
We started up the stairs, surrounded by a gaggle of servants. I glanced back once at Mr Ambrose, who still seemed to be wrestling with an overdose of motherly affection, and wondered whether I should go rescue him. But he was a big boy. He could take care of himself. Probably.
‘Well now…let’s get the introductions out of the way - first of all my own, since I neglected introducing myself the first time we met. My name is Lady Adaira Louise Jannet Melanie Georgette Ambrose. But since I don’t want to give you a headache, Lady Adaira will be fine. Now, as for the staff…Elsby and Hastings you’ve already met, I believe. This is Sally, along with her fellow housemaids, Ethel, Grace, Edna and Mabel. Then we have the parlourmaids, Ada, Cora, Jennie and Daisy; the chambermaids, Kathryn, Eva, Jennie - not to be confused with the other Jennie! - and Frances; the footmen, Jack, Oscar, Willie, Roy, Reginald and Allen; the second footman, Albert; the first footman, Floyd…’
Soon, my head started buzzing with names, and I didn’t even try to pay attention anymore. It was hard enough to hold on to any of their names, let alone all of them. What did it matter if I was a little inattentive in regard to the servants? It wasn’t as if this was life and death situation, right?
Boy, was I ever wrong.
‘…and this is Marsden, who will be attending to your personal needs.’
Screech! Halt! Complete and utter brain stop! What did she just say?
‘Um…’ I cleared my throat. ‘Attending to my personal needs?’
She gave me a smile. ‘Yes. While you’re our guest, he’ll be your valet.’
‘My valet. As in…the man who will help me dress every morning and undress every evening?’
‘Yes.’
I glanced at Marsden, an older, friendly-looking man with a bald spot on his head and a slightly vague smile on his face. I didn’t think he was prepared for what would pop out when he helped me undress in the evening. And to be honest, neither was I!
‘I, um…don’t think that will be necessary, really. I, err…am very self-sufficient. Besides, I am not really a guest. I am part of the staff myself. I should stay in the servants’ quarters.’
‘Aww! Do you hear that?’ Suddenly, Lady Samantha was beside me, squeezing my hand. ‘Such a nice, modest young man! Wherever did you find him, Rick?’
Mr Ambrose muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘in the madhouse.’ His mother ignored him, instead smiling up at me.
‘Really, Mr Linton, you must think of yourself as a guest. Without you, this reunion would never have happened.’
‘Very true,’ came Mr Ambrose’s cool voice from behind us. Everyone ignored him.
‘I won’t hear of you staying anywhere else but with the family,’ Lady Samantha was telling me, patting my hand. It made me feel oddly warm and squishy inside. ‘I won’t force Marsden on you if you’re used to getting along on your own, but you’ll be in our second-best guest chamber, right next to Rick.’
Oh? So I’ll be right next to Rick, will I?
I smiled. ‘That sounds like an excellent arrangement.’
Behind me, Mr Ambrose muttered something too low to understand. Maybe it was better that way.
*~*~**~*~*
Once I’d seen my room, I decided that fate had to be in a good mood right now. It was a palatial place with a king-sized four-poster bed, damask curtains, wood panelled walls decorated in gold and silver, and, most important of all: a connecting door to the rooms of Mr Rikkard Ambrose. Without a lock.
A fact which he, happily, hadn’t noticed so far, being far too busy with aggressively not answering his mother’s questions about life in London.
