AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Twenty-Five
"Do you not ever get tired of that?" the dowager asked Bentley. "I should think that I am now above the category of people that need to be announced.” She proceeded into the room and when she observed Daphne coughing, she turned back to Bentley. “Why are you standing there like a stick? Get the choking girl some water.”
The butler disappeared. Daphne’s choking was not serious and she looked as though she was holding back a laugh. "Daphne, are you well?" Ernest inquired, a slight frown drawing his brows together.
“I am well now,” she replied when she seemed calmer.
The Dowager's eyes narrowed, then her gaze traveled from her grandson to Daphne and back, settling on him with a sly look in her eyes. “I see there is less formality in this house now.”
Bentley returned with some water for Daphne and Ernest raised one brow as he regarded him. “Bentley, you owe me a sandwich. I lost the last piece when you came in to announce my grandmother.”
“Do you mean the sandwich Miss Bexley choked on?” the dowager asked. Jenny could immediately tell the woman was planning something. The impish sparkle in her eyes told her as much.
“Yes, the very one,” Ernest replied.
"Then it is not Bentley that owes you a sandwich,” the dowager said, “but Miss Bexley.” Before anyone could respond, she looked Daphne over. "You, Miss Bexley, appear to have incurred a debt."
Daphne gave Jenny a confused look and she almost felt sorry for her…almost. "Ernest, you shall take her to Gunter’s for some ice. See it as an opportunity to settle your debt, Miss Bexley. You can thank me later."
Daphne gaped while Jenny hid her smile behind her teacup. She had been annoyed when the dowager had come but now she thought it was a fine thing that she was here. “Come now, Your Grace,” Ernest began to dissent but the dowager swiveled round, a broad smile on her face.
"Now would be a good time, Ernest. It is a fine day.” Her tone was very calm and sweet, entreating even.
“What do you say, Daphne? Will you come with me for ice at Gunter’s?” Ernest asked, rising.
Jenny gave Daphne an encouraging smile and she nodded. “Yes, I will be happy to.” She took his arm and they walked out.
"What a way of making them spend time together," Jenny murmured once she was certain they were out of the house. “Tea?”
“No, I will not have cold tea.”
“I shall ring for fresh tea.” Jenny summoned Bentley to order fresh tea for the dowager. She noticed the dowager peering at one of her books on the side table.
“For someone that disapproves of my reading habits, you appear interested in geology.”
The dowager harrumphed. “You are mistaken, girl. Now, where is Nicholas? I came to check on his health."
"He left quite early this morning. And he is well like he never suffered a fever.”
“Where did he go?”
“His offices in the House of Lords. He is taking his role more seriously and I am sure you will be pleased to learn that.”
“Yes, I am pleased but there is another matter that concerns me. Has he resumed his work to beget an heir?”
Jenny ought not to be surprised by the dowager’s question, yet she was. “Everything is going well in that venture.”
"Good." The Dowager suddenly stood.
"Are you leaving so soon?" Jenny asked, hopeful. She did not mind that the dowager had made her order more tea that was yet to arrive.
"No." She rearranged her shawl and gripped her cane tighter. "You shall give me a tour of the portrait gallery,” came her declaration.
Jenny's brows shot up in question. Certainly, the woman was not asking to be shown the portrait gallery because she had never seen it. Shehadlived in this house. “I have not made any changes to the place,” Jenny said to get the dowager to reveal the reason she wanted to see the place.
“Well, you ought to.” She waved her cane for Jenny to precede her. In the gallery—one of the rooms Jenny hardly visited—the dowager began down the road of the Brighton family history, criticizing Nicholas’s ancestors with every second breath.
“This is the third Duke of Seaton,” she said when they stopped before Nicholas’s great-great-grandfather. “What he lacked in looks, he made up for in the heirs he sired.”
