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As he watched, Andre carefully brought the pot with the tiny plant in it closer to him and then put the new pot down right beside it. He took some soil lying on the table and gave the bottom of the pot a good layer. Then, he gingerly dug his fingers into the dirt beneath the reddish plant and pulled it out. Then, he began gently tugging on the roots one-by-one.
“What are you doing that for?” Robert asked inquisitively.
“Making sure that there’s as little of the old soil on the roots as possible,” Andre informed him confidently. “If the roots are clogged, they won’t take to the new soil or the pot.”
He then gingerly embedded the plant in the new soil and covered up the top so that no roots were exposed. When he was finished, he put the newly potted plant back in its spot and clapped his hands together to remove the dirt. He looked quite proud of himself.
“That was brilliant,” Robert said, genuinely impressed. He so wished that he could have congratulated his nephew as the boy’s uncle so that his accolades were not just coming from some strange new property manager.
Andre looked back at Robert, and for a fleeting moment, he thought that the boy would accept the praise, unlike his father. But then, Andre shrugged and began walking towards the door back out to the rest of the house.
“It was nothing. Come on; I’ll show you where everything is,” he said very matter-of-factly.
Robert wanted to stop and make the boy appreciate how impressive what he had done was, but he knew that it was not his place. He could do that as his embarrassing uncle, but not in the false position he was in now.
Instead, Robert jogged dutifully after Andre, and the two young men set off on their tour around the estate. Though Robert thought he remembered much of the home, Andre’s tour showed him just how much Eponine and George had changed it for the better.
For example, the dining room, which used to be an echo-y, dark chamber, was now a bright, inviting one. The great hall once filled with heads of animals that Lord Graham had killed now only had beautiful flowers in hanging baskets hooked to parts of the ceiling. Finally, when they got to the library, Robert was very relieved to see that the room, which was once painted a horrifying reddish hue, had now been wallpapered and looked as though one could pass a perfectly amiable afternoon within its walls.
It wasn’t until the young men got back to the conservatory that Robert made an awful realization; he had never informed Anne or anyone else that he had found Andre and had been with him for the past while.
“Andre,” he said urgently, “I do believe that we must rush and find your governess, as I failed to inform her …”
“I knew the two of you would be somewhere together,” Robert heard his brother’s voice call from down the hall. He whirled around to face him just in time to see him calling back to someone. “Miss Watkins, Eponine, I have located both of them down here by the conservatory.”
Robert smiled apologetically at George. “I do apologize, Lord Graham; this was entirely my fault. I asked …”
But George did not seem annoyed in the least. In fact, he was smiling at his brother. “Lord Graham is my father, Mr Austen. I do hope that you’ll refer to me as Lord George.”
George gave him a very subtle wink, and Robert had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. “Certainly My Lord. But I do once again apologize. I asked Andre to take me on a tour of the estate, and the young man was kind enough to oblige me. I do hope if there is any punishment to be given for our absence it be put upon me.”
“What do you think, Andre?” George asked his son. “Shall we let Miss Watkins have her way with him, or shall we save him from a certain death?”
Andre laughed a little and smiled at his father, and then looked to Robert. “Annie will be very cross with you, Freddie. Are you prepared for that?”
Robert presented his wrists as though he was about to be led off in handcuffs. “I shall endure whatever punishment Miss Watkins feels is appropriate for my crime.”
He was only kidding, of course, but when Anne rounded the corner, and he saw the enraged expression on her face, he wanted to crawl into a wall and hide from her.
“Where on earth have you been?” Anne asked them in a very tense voice. “I have been worried sick! Mr Austen, why did you not inform me that you had found Andre? What has kept you for so long?”
Robert felt the uneasiness that came along with guilt hitting him hard. “I am so very sorry, Miss Watkins. Andre is such a marvellous tour guide that I got swept up in all the things he was telling me. But I do not say this to try and blame Andre in any way for this; the fault was entirely mine.”
Anne looked from Robert to Andre, to George, and then back again. She still looked incredibly upset, and Robert couldn’t believe that he’d somehow managed to make such a massive error in front of her on his very first day in the house. If he could have kicked himself right then and there, he would have.
“So long as this does not happen again,” Anne said seriously, “and you both understand that this type of behaviour will not be accepted... I suppose that I could forgive you this time.”
Robert felt slightly relieved, but Anne was still looking quite unhappy. But at that moment, Eponine rounded the corner with the two girls and distracted everyone.
“Mr Austen!” she called to him with her delightfully thick French accent. “How lovely it is to see that you’ve finally arrived. I hope that you have found your accommodations to be suitable?”
It took Robert a moment to realize how Eponine already knew his fake name, but he thought Anne must have mentioned it, and then George must have explained everything to her. Of course, there would have been no way that his own sister-in-law wouldn’t have recognized him, and he was sure that George expressed the seriousness of his fake identity while he was in the house. He was not worried for a moment that Eponine would give away his true identity.
“Lady Eponine, I don’t believe you could have made my quarters to be more comfortable if you had tried,” Robert responded, feeling very strange referring to Eponine by her formal address. “I should apologize to you as well for our absence; I’m terribly sorry about that.”
Eponine smiled and shook her head. “Don’t worry about that for a second, we knew that you would both turn up quite quickly, but no matter how many times we reassured Anne, she insisted that we search for you both.”
It was then that something hit him: of course, George and Eponine weren’t worried when Anne informed them that he and Andre had disappeared. They knew that the boy was with his uncle, and so he was safe. However, Anne thought that Andre was with this strange new property manager who hardly anyone knew, so that was why she was so frantic about finding the two of them.
Robert looked to Anne, who now seemed rather embarrassed by her actions. Her cheeks were growing increasingly red, and she was avoiding eye contact.
“That was a sound thing to do, Miss Watkins,” he said respectfully. Her eyes flicked up to meet his, and when they did, his stomach fluttered delightfully. “Thank you for giving search.”
The two smiled at each other, and then Robert became vaguely aware that his brother was saying something about it almost being time to eat, and why didn’t he and Anne join them. Robert absent-mindedly agreed, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off Anne. He only hoped that in time, she might come to forgive him for his foolish actions this afternoon.
