Daring Deception Part 8

"But my dear, you already know about her," Miss Milliken pointed out gently.

"Of course. But I do not intend to become Lady Sea brooke! I thought you agreed with me on that point."

"I thought I did, too," said Miss Milliken so softly that Frederica did not hear her.

EARLY THE NEXT MORNING, Frederica arrived at Lord Sea brooke's residence with a small trunk she and Miss Milliken had packed with items suitable for an upper servant in an aristocratic household, along with a few things Frederica had brought for Christabel. As before, she was admitted by the stout butler, whose manner was noticeably more friendly than it had been the previous day.

"So you're to be the new girl, are you, Miss Cherrystone?" he said with a suggestive grin as a footman carried in her trunk.

"Mrs. Abbott will be glad of your help, I don't doubt, and I can't say as I'll mind having a pretty young thing like yourself about the house, either."

Frederica smiled nervously and touched the bridge of her nose to rea.s.sure herself that her spectacles were in place.

"You flatter me, I'm sure, Mr." ah. "

DARIN(~ D~'~EPTION.

"Coombes," he supplied.

"But you may call me George. This is a friendly house--very friendly."

"Of course." She put a bit more distance between them, thinking that perhaps she should have considered wearing padding, after all. With more indignation than alarm, she wondered how such a man had managed to secure such a responsible post as that of butler; certainly, she was more selective in the hiring of upper servants! "I'd best follow my trunk upstairs now," she said politely, and hurried to catch up with the footman, leaving Mr. Coombes and his leer by the front door.

Her room adjoining the nursery was small but well furnished, she found, with a pleasant prospect of the back garden from its single window. Frederica waited a few minutes for someone to come and unpack her trunk before the realization hit her that the new nanny would almost certainly not be a.s.signed her own maid. Doubtless there were other privileges she had always taken for granted that she must learn to do without for the duration of her stay. The experience would likely do her good, Frederica thought with a smile as she opened the trunk and began to unpack.

She was putting away the last few items of her absurdly small wardrobe when she heard a tap at the door to the nursery. Opening it, she discovered Christabel with a little bunch of daisies in her hand.

"Mrs. Abbott says I am to come to you now. I'm glad, because you like to play and she doesn't. These are for you." She held up the flowers with a confiding smile.

"Why, thank you, Christabel," said Frederica warmly, touched by the simple gesture.

"Did you pick them yourself?"

The little girl nodded.

"Mrs. Abbott let me go into the garden before anyone else was up this morning. Do you like them?"

"They're lovely. I'll put them here in the pitcher until I can find a better vase. Would you like to help me finish unpacking?"

"May I?" Christabel's face lit up.

"Abby never lets me come into her room." ' "Well, you may come to mine anytime you wish." Frederica gave the child a quick hug.

"I.

know we are going to be very good friends. " Christabel returned the embrace with an enthusiasm that told Frederica that she had been hugged far too seldom.

Frederica had brought along a variety of items to supplement the meagre collection of toys in the nursery, and Christabel thanked her enthusiastically as each was revealed. It was obvious that she had never been used to having much.

"Now, what would you like to do this morning?" Frederica asked when they had closed the last drawer already good friends.

"Oh, I forgot. Abby wants me to say that she needs to talk to you right away. She'll be here in a moment, I think." As she spoke, the hallway door to the nursery opened, admitting the housekeeper. Frederica went into the nursery to greet her, with Christabel in tow.

"Why don't you draw me a picture while I speak with Mrs. Abbott?"

Frederica suggested.

She pulled a tablet of drawing paper and a box of pastels from the stack of things she had brought along for Christabel and settled her at the nursery table. Frederica and Mrs. Abbott then seated themselves at the far end of the room.

"Christabel said that you wished to see me?"

"Yes," replied the housekeeper.

"There are certain rules his lordship wishes you to understand, before you inadvertently break them." She looked past Frederica to the happily occupied Christabel.

"You do seem to have a touch with children, miss. I never thought to distract her like that."

But Frederica's attention had been caught by Mrs. Abbott's previous statement.

"Rules?" she asked sharply.

"What sort of rules?"

"I believe his lordship told you yesterday that he does not wish the child's presence in this house to become common knowledge. To that end, she is not to leave the nursery except when it is least likely that she will be seen."

"Do you mean that the rest of the staff is unaware of her?" asked Frederica in astonishment.

"How can that be? I cannot imagine her being silent enough, even in here, to escape detection."

"Only the female servants live on this floor, and all of us know about her.

Mr. Coombes and the footman do not, but should have no reason to come up here." Her expression was prim.

"You will fetch her meals, and yours, from the kitchen, or Lucy, the chambermaid, will bring them up."

"But surely Lord Sea brooke does not think he can keep Christabel caged in the nursery forever.

A child needs exercise, and fresh air! " Mrs. Abbott pursed her thin lips.

"To tell the truth, I am not certain that his lordship has thought very far ahead.

He only had the child brought to this house ten days ago. There wasn't much else he could do when her nurse left her, her mama being dead and all. ""

"Oh! Poor thing!" exclaimed Frederica sympathetically, glancing over her shoulder at Christabel.

"But I should say it was the least he could do, under the circ.u.mstances."

She was not schooled enough in the ways of the world to realize that most men would ignore such a child.

"He's always been good as gold to the little mite, and to Miss Amity, too.

Some may call him a bit wild, but his heart is in the right place."

"Miss Amity is Christabel's mother?" Frederica knew Milly would not approve of her asking, but she was here to discover all she could, after all.