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Ben sighed. She hadbeen generous in her opinion of him; he supposed reading to her was the least he could do. “Very well,” he said, seating himself again.
She nodded, looking satisfied as Annie set the tray on the table next to Miss Rebecca.
“Annie, would you be so kind as to pour? It would be so much easier if you would. How do you take your tea, Mr. Fortescue?” she asked as the maid began pouring the tea.
Before he could answer, the door opened again and a young boy of about eight bounded into the room, followed by a little girl who appeared to be a couple years younger.
“Auntie Rebecca! Oh, hello, sir,” the boy exclaimed, making a stiff little bow to Ben before hurrying over to Miss Rebecca and wrapping his arms about her neck. “Wynn said that as it wassuchhorrid weather, we could visit you instead of going outside. Isn’t that brilliant? Oh, look! Biscuits, Mary!”
The little girl, Mary, had already spied the biscuits and had one in each hand.
“As you can undoubtedly guess, Mr. Fortescue, these are my undisciplined and entirely lovable nephew and niece, Edmund and Mary Jennings. Mary, sweeting,” she added softly, “make your curtsy to Mr. Fortescue.”
Mary put one of the biscuits between her teeth and attempted an awkward curtsy that Ben couldn’t help but smile at, then she took a bite out of the biscuit in her mouth and grinned at him, crumbs speckling her rosy lips.
Ben bit his own lip so as not to laugh. “Edmund, Mary, how do you do?” he said in a serious tone as the maid handed him his tea—plain.
“We’re brilliant, aren’t we, Mary?” the boy, Edmund, said with enthusiasm, his own fists filled with biscuits now.
Mary nodded energetically and chewed her biscuit.
“Remember your manners, Edmund,” a woman’s voice said from near the door. “Oh, Rebecca, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you had a caller.”
“It’s quite all right, Isobel,” Miss Rebecca said to the woman, whom Ben could now see was expecting a child. A raw pain seared through him. “Come join us,” Miss Rebecca continued, “and I will introduce you to our new neighbor. Mr. Fortescue, please allow me to present my sister-in-law, Mrs. Isobel Jennings.” He swiftly stood again and offered a bow to Mrs. Jennings. “Isobel, this is Mr. Benjamin Fortescue,” Miss Rebecca added.
“How do you do?” he said.
Mrs. Jennings, a beautiful woman with golden hair, beamed at him. “Ah, the gentleman who came to your rescue,” she said. “I am well, thank you, Mr. Fortescue, despite my rather unwieldy appearance at present. Edmund, Mary, I believe you both have plenty of biscuits now, and I also believe you have better manners than you have shown our new neighbor.”
“I bowed,” Edmund said around a mouthful of biscuit. “And Mary curtsied.”
“It’s true,” Miss Rebecca said with a shrug, looking amused.
“Ah, well, I supposed I should be grateful for that, at least.” Mrs. Jennings seated herself on the settee opposite Miss Rebecca and heaved a sigh. “I told Wynn I would bring the children along to visit you,” she said. “They wrote a little song for you, with Wynn’s help. She’ll be here momentarily. I wouldn’t want her to miss the performance after all of her hard work.”
“I wrote it!” Edmund said.
“I did!” little Mary said, looking crossly at Edmund.
“I’m sure you both worked terribly hard to make it the perfect gift for me,” Miss Rebecca said to her niece and nephew. “I can hardly wait to hear what you’ve prepared.”
“Ah, here’s Wynn now,” Mrs. Jennings said. “Come in, Wynn, and meet our new neighbor, Mr. Fortescue.”
Ben stood once again and bowed to the nanny, who offered him a slight curtsy in return.
Wynn was a kind-looking woman of about forty years, her brown hair pulled into a neat bun. “Come, children,” she said softly, though with authority. The two children scampered over to her. “Are you ready now?” Wynn asked. “Do you remember how we start?”
“I do!” Edmund said.
Mary’s eyes grew huge with worry, as she’d just taken another huge bite of biscuit.
“Chew carefully, Miss Mary; we shall wait for you to swallow before we begin,” Wynn whispered.
Little Mary chewed and swallowed and then opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue to show it was empty.
“Sticking out our tongue isn’t ladylike, Mary,” Wynn said quietly to Mary so as not to embarrass the little girl. “I believe we’re ready,” Wynn announced.
Mrs. Jennings beamed at her children and nodded encouragingly.
