Lord Melvedere's Ghost (9 page)

With a
shiver, she glanced quickly around the room, swallowed and returned
to the bed, this time climbing between the sheets while still fully
dressed. She would have to apologise to the housekeeper and staff
in the morning, she thought morosely, tugging the covers up over
her head and sending a silent prayer she would still be there in
the morning.

Despite
her exhaustion, birds were heralding the start of a brand new day
before the growing tendrils of exhaustion finally pulled her into
oblivion.

Tucked
beneath the covers like a frightened rabbit, she didn’t see the
murky shadow in the far corner of the room disappear silently into
the wall. Or the quiet click of the doorway as it finally
closed.

To begin
with, it didn’t register when she first awoke the following morning
to find a maid quietly moving around the room, setting out a jug of
warm water, soap and towels. At first, Cecily only knew that at
some point during the night she had pulled the sheets down and was
now bathed in glorious morning sunshine. Glorious – warm – morning
sunshine. Now that she thought about it, this was about the first
time she had been warm for several days, and it was a glorious
feeling.

She
blinked sleepily for several long moments and slowly sat
up.

“
Oh, hello ma’am,” the young girl murmured, bobbing into a
curtsy. “My name is Doreen and I am your maid. Should you need
anything, just pull the bell over there and I will be up in a
thrice.”

“
Oh, thank you,” Cecily muttered warily. Her cheeks flushed and
she pushed uncomfortably at her hair.

“
I have got the wash things ready, but would you prefer a bath?
I can get one set up for you in no time at all,” Doreen offered,
nodding toward the fire roaring heartily in the grate.

“
I would love one if it isn’t too much trouble,” Cecily
murmured, feeling acutely embarrassed and uncomfortable at having
anyone doing anything for her at all, but she got no further
opportunity to say anymore. As quick as a blink, the girl
disappeared out of the door.

Cecily
threw her legs over the edge of the bed and studied the grubby
sheets behind her. She really must apologise to the housekeeper for
the mess, she mused, catching sight of the tray of breakfast things
on the table beside the bed.

Her
stomach growled at the delicious aroma of the toast, butter, jams,
meat, cheese and chocolate. Without hesitation, she slid down the
bed toward the tray and began to eat hungrily.

Curiosity drove her to wander aimlessly toward the window to
take a look outside. Although the sun was pouring into the room,
ominous looking clouds rattled along the horizon threatening a
deluge yet to come.

The
gardens beneath the window were simply beautiful. Box hedges were
decorously laid out in a criss-cross fashion. Unless she was much
mistaken, it was a herb garden because most of the plants didn’t
contain flowers but plants that were vaguely recognisable. As far
as the eye could see, there were rolling lawns, flower laden
borders and copious amounts of shrubbery and trees. It was
delightful. She briefly contemplated lifting the window to take a
sniff of the herbs beneath the window, but decided against it. The
lure of the sumptuous breakfast feast was just far too tempting to
resist and she returned to sit on the bed and help herself to the
meat and cheese.

She was
busy munching and watching the dark rain clouds edge toward her
when the door rattled and Doreen appeared in the room, followed by
several people each carrying two jugs. A huge man nodded meekly at
Cecily before placing a huge tin bath carefully in front of the
hearth. Cecily’s cheeks blushed and she murmured a quiet ‘thank
you’, feeling gauche and awkward for sitting back and allowing them
to do all of the work. Something inside her baulked at being lazy
and not offering to help, but she wasn’t sure what they expected of
her.

With
quiet efficiency the bath was filled with what appeared to be an
endless stream of hot water until Doreen stood back with a broad
smile of satisfaction and a towel.

“
Do you require me to wash your hair, ma’am?”

“
Oh, no thank you, I will be fine by myself,” Cecily replied,
glancing longingly at the breakfast tray. She was still ravenous
and wasn’t sure if she would ever stop eating. Although the bath
looked heavenly, she hated to leave the breakfast tray in case
Doreen took it away.

“
Finish your breakfast first, ma’am. Is there anything else you
would like? The cook and housekeeper, Mrs Nantwich, has just taken
a fresh batch of honey cake out of the oven,” Doreen declared
proudly.

Cecily’s
mouth began to water and she wondered if she had ever tried honey
cake.

“
I’ll bring some up while your finish your tray ma’am,” Doreen
replied, taking Cecily’s longing look as an affirmative for the
cake.

As soon
as the maid had gone, Cecily resumed her meal and ate in
contemplative silence for several minutes. She wasn’t sure what she
was going to do because although she could have a bath, there was
nothing for her to change into. She glanced down at the soiled
breeches she still wore and wondered what the serving staff thought
of her. She must look a fright. Although they had all nodded and
smiled at her in welcome, they had made no attempt to converse with
her and merely emptied their jugs and departed. Could she ask
Doreen for help?

She was
lost in the quandary of what to do about clothing that she jumped
in alarm when Doreen appeared silently, another tray in her hands
containing several slices of honey cake and another pot of
chocolate. Cecily stared with wide eyes at the huge mound of food
and glanced cautiously at Doreen.

“
Mrs Nantwich would like your opinion on it,” Doreen offered
with a grin.

Cecily
smiled, feeling more spoiled than she had ever felt in her entire
life. She spared a brief thought for Portia, and hoped her sister
was faring as well.

“
Thank you so much, Doreen, it is very kind of you to look
after me so well,” Cecily muttered, brushing off her fingers and
glancing regretfully at the sheets. “Can you tell me where the
sheets are? I need to change these.” She began to tug at the grubby
linen, ignoring the maid’s startled gasp.

“
Please, ma’am, you mustn’t do that. That is my job,” Doreen
gasped, staring at Cecily in horror.

“
Oh, but I have made such a mess of them, I am really sorry,”
Cecily replied, feeling awful for making the maid so horrified. “I
made the mess, it is only right that I should put it
right.”

Silence
settled between them for several moments.

“
Ahem,” Jamie coughed in the doorway. He had heard enough of
the last few minutes to understand that a few rules needed to be
outlined to Cecily, and he felt a bit of a cad for the rude way he
had simply abandoned her last night. He could only put his
ignorance and bad temper down to exhaustion, and a desperate need
to get a proper nights’ sleep in his own bed. It had been so long
since he had been there that he was surprised he could find his own
room still.

Now
though, he was well rested, well fed, and ready to begin to figure
out what their plan of action had to be. Cecily was now safe from
the Star Elite, French spies and her father. The staff had been
given strict instructions not to bother her unless she rang the
bell and to ensure that she had anything she wanted, whenever she
wanted it. Doreen was the downstairs maid by day, but used to be a
very good maid to a well-to-do socialite in London during her
youth, that is until she met her husband and moved to live in the
village with him. Jamie had no doubt that Cecily would be
thoroughly spoiled from now on and was glad of the chance to show
her how she should be treated.

“
Sorry to interrupt,” Jamie muttered, ignoring protocol and
entering the room. He halted Doreen as she moved to leave the room.
“I think, Cecily, that while you are here, Doreen is your maid. If
you need anything, just ring the bell. Doreen works until the
evening when she returns home to be with her family and, although
she works downstairs as well, she has kindly agreed to assist you
while you are here.” He knew he sounded officious but struggled to
find a way to define the boundaries between mistress of the house
and what were still, essentially, his serving staff, even if they
did feel like extended family instead.

“
I was just going to change the sheets,” Cecily muttered,
glancing down at her clothing. “I was so tired last night that I
couldn’t stay awake, and I am afraid I have rather made a mess of
things. I don’t mind looking after myself while I am here, if
Doreen doesn’t mind showing me where things are.”

Jamie
fought a grin and shared a glance at Doreen. Cecily didn’t know it
yet, but she had just scored a lot of points with all of the house
staff. It was the way they worked. Even Jamie, who should be master
of the house and expect to be waited on, wasn’t averse to helping
himself to the pies and foods Mrs Nantwich always had readily
available rather than bother the busy staff. It was rare, even for
him, to depend on the house staff for things he could manage
himself. Cecily had just fitted herself into his rather eccentric
home life, in a single sentence.

“
I am sure that Doreen won’t mind doing it while you get a
bath, especially given this is your first morning here and you have
spent the past two days travelling in extremely trying
circumstances.” It was all he was going to divulge to Doreen, but
knew the message had been received and understood from the knowing
look in the maid’s eye. “When you are finished, Doreen can show you
around the house and introduce you to the staff. I am sure Mrs
Nantwich will be more than happy to show you round the kitchens,
where to find the food and that sort of thing. We do tend to help
ourselves here,” he added ruefully, studying her carefully for any
sign of objection.

“
Oh, I am more than happy to help out,” Cecily gushed, glancing
down at her clothing cautiously.

“
I have arranged for Mrs Nantwich to go into the town and see
what she can find for you in the way of clothing. After your
travelling yesterday, I think it would be best if you remain here
and allow Mrs Nantwich to fetch what you need. Take a bath, get
some rest and try some of Mrs Nantwich’s honey cake, it is
delicious.”

He
turned to leave, but was stopped by Cecily’s next
question.

“
Have you heard from Archie and Portia yet?”

Jamie
slowly shook his head, flicking Doreen with a cautious glance
before turning a hard stare on Cecily. “Not yet, I am sure
everything is all right though. For now, concentrate on
yourself.”

“
Wait!” Cecily shouted as Jamie moved into the corridor. “What
are you going to be doing?” She knew it was impolite to ask the
master of the house what his plans for the day were. It was, after
all, none of her business, but seeing as he had brought her here,
he couldn’t seriously expect to simply abandon her and go about his
business. Could he?

Jamie
sighed. He could hardly tell her that he was going to despatch one
of his most trusted men with messages for the Star Elite before
settling down with Jonathan, and discussing what they knew about
the case so far.

“
I have some business matters to attend to,” he replied
briskly. “If you need anything, ring for Doreen.” He didn’t wait
for her to respond and stalked down the corridor toward his own
room.

“
I have just been incredibly rude, haven’t I?” Cecily sighed,
staring at the open doorway.

“
I wouldn’t worry about it miss. This isn’t a conventional
household. Never has been and never will be. We all have our jobs
you understand? But we all muck in and help each other out, even
the master. I don’t know why it is the way it is, but we are just
all one big happy family.”

“
Sounds wonderful to me,” Cecily whispered, staring down at her
toes morosely. She missed her sister more than ever and wondered
where she was.

“
Get yourself in the bath. I will see what I can do about
brushing off the worst of the muck from your clothes before you put
them back on. Mrs Nantwich is on her way to town as we speak, so
your new clothes should be here soon. If you soak for a bit longer,
she will probably be back before you get out.”

With
that, Cecily found herself alone again to contemplate just how
luxurious her new, if temporary, life was going to be.

CHAPTER FIVE

The rest
of what was left of the morning passed in a blur for Cecily, who
spent far longer in the bath than was wise. Her fingers had turned
to prunes by the time she stepped out of the bath, dripping water
all over the floor as she wrapped herself in a huge towel. She was
just about to reach toward the bed for her clothing when she heard
the quiet click of the door. Expecting to see Doreen returning with
yet another tray of food or chocolate, she frowned at the closed
doorway.

Frozen
in place, her mind raced as she considered the events of the
morning, and last night, carefully. Moving toward the doorway, she
stared down at the floor beneath the table she had dragged across
the doorway last night. The dull scraping sounds still resonated in
her ears, so she knew she hadn’t imagined it.