Storming the Castle
Page 8
“I shan’t change,” Philippa said, shocked. “Nursemaids don’t eat in company.”
“Nursemaids don’t call their mistresses Kate, so you are obviously an exception.”
“What about the baby?” Philippa asked. “I wouldn’t want to leave him.”
“He will be with us, of course,” Kate said. “I don’t like to have him out of my sight.” And with a last touch of Jonas’s nose, she went out the door.
Chapter Four
Three hours later, Philippa was reconsidering her chosen profession. It seemed impossibly exhausting and boring. Jonas had woken, cried for an hour or so, taken some water, and gone back to sleep. Then he’d woken again, and cried again—but had fallen back to sleep just when she’d been trying to decide whether he was hungry.
She unpacked her tiny bag in the room next to the nursery, and, during one of Jonas’s quiet spells, brushed and rebrushed her hair, thinking all the while about Mr. Berwick. Wick, the princess had called him. He had lovely eyes, rather brooding, as if life wasn’t giving him what he wanted.
That had to be because he was a butler. He didn’t seem like a butler.
Jonas whimpered from the nursery, and she hastily pinned up her hair and went back into the room to soothe him.
She thought her uncle would be quite pleased with the way the baby now looked. The pinched look was gone, which meant that he had some water in him. What he needed now was more milk. And when she didn’t instantly produce it, he started crying again.
“I’m sorry, little scrap,” she murmured to him. “It’s going to hurt your tummy. But we just have to do it.”
She wrapped him in a light blanket and wondered what to do. She hadn’t the faintest idea how to find the dining room. By the time she opened the door and headed into the corridor, Jonas was wailing so vociferously that his face was purple.
A tall, yellow-haired footman with a nice open face was waiting for her. “Oh, thank goodness. What’s your name?” she asked over Jonas’s sobs.
“William, miss,” he said. “Mr. Berwick said I was to escort you to the dining room. It’s awfully easy to get lost in this castle.”
“It’s big, isn’t it?”
“Huge,” William said feelingly. “The time it takes just to bring the linens round about, well, you wouldn’t countenance it.”
They made their way down some stairs, through the portrait gallery, down the main stairs. “Shouldn’t we be going down by the servants’ stairs?” she asked.
He glanced at her. “Not you, miss.”
Philippa didn’t know quite what to say to that, so she jiggled Jonas against her shoulder—which had no effect whatsoever on his wails—and followed William through the vast entrance hall to the dining room.
When she entered the room, she was very relieved to find that it wasn’t a cavernous formal space but a tidy little room with a table set for six. What’s more, Kate was the only person in it. She rose the moment the door opened and hurried toward them. “I wanted to come to the nursery, but my foolish husband forced me to wait for you here instead. How is he?”
“Just fine,” Philippa said. “He’s hungry, as you can hear, but I think he feels a little better.”
Kate cocked her head. “You can hear a difference?”
“Yes,” Philippa said, though in reality she wasn’t at all sure. Being a nursemaid was making her into a terrible fibber. “He’s saying he’s hungry, but not in pain.” She said it firmly, the way her father would say, England’s coast is undefended. A fact.
Kate reached out and took her baby. “There’s my sweetheart,” she cooed. “I’ll just take him to my sitting room and feed him.”
She left, and Philippa drew in a long breath and reached up to check her hair. She’d pinned it on the back of her head, but it felt as if it might all tumble down her back any moment.
Just then the door opened, and Mr. Berwick entered.
“William left me here,” she said, feeling foolishly out of place.
“Where’s Jonas?”
“The princess took him to her sitting room in order to feed him. She’ll bring him back in a moment, then I’ll go straight back to the nursery,” she promised.
“You won’t,” he said, walking around the table and straightening a napkin. “You are eating with the prince and princess tonight.”
“I really shouldn’t—”
“A place for you has already been set,” he said, cutting her off. “We’ll be joined by Princess Sophonisba, the prince’s great-aunt, who will undoubtedly appear in an inebriated state, which is merely a hint at what will happen after she has had more to drink during supper.”
Another princess? She, plain Philippa Damson, who had only rarely been out of Little Ha’penny, and never even to the city of London, was to dine with not one princess but two? “I couldn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m just a nursemaid.”
“I forgot that!” he said. His eyes laughed at her. “You’re a nursemaid. I suppose you don’t know how to use a knife and a fork.”
Philippa drew herself upright. “You may jest, Mr. Berwick, but I certainly do know how to use proper cutlery—as does every well-trained servant.”
“Are you well trained?” he asked cordially. “We never quite got around to that part of the interview.”
“Of course!”
He walked around the far end of the table and back toward her. “Do you know that there are a thousand things I ought to be doing at this moment?”
“I quite believe you,” she said. “Please feel free to attend to them.”
His dark eyes met hers, and he cocked a mocking eyebrow. “I can’t leave new staff alone in a room with the silver.”
Philippa suppressed the impulse to give him a set-down, reminding herself that she was now a servant—just a servant— before saying, as haughtily as she could, “Do be sure to count the forks after I leave the room.”
He came a step closer. “You would make an enticing thief. How did you hear of our need for a nursemaid, by the way? You simply appeared out of thin air, and the footman whom I sent to Manchester hasn’t even returned yet.”
“I didn’t come from Manchester,” Philippa said. His eyes made her feel rather hot, a feeling that Rodney’s gaze had never aroused. Though the very thought of Rodney was dispiriting.
“Then where did you come from?” He drifted a step nearer, and now he stood directly before her. Mr. Berwick wore beautiful claret-colored livery with frogged buttons. Somehow on him it didn’t look like livery but like the uniform of the Queen’s own Hussars. And, like them, he was broad-shouldered and muscled and immaculately kempt.
Philippa pulled herself together, and said, “I grew up in a village not far from here. When I heard about the baby, I thought I might be able to help.”
“You did?”
Perhaps he was more like a magician than one of Her Majesty’s Hussars. Something about his eyes was making her feel quivery. “And I have helped,” she stated, confident that this, at least, was not a fib.
“You are a mystery.”
“Nursemaids don’t call their mistresses Kate, so you are obviously an exception.”
“What about the baby?” Philippa asked. “I wouldn’t want to leave him.”
“He will be with us, of course,” Kate said. “I don’t like to have him out of my sight.” And with a last touch of Jonas’s nose, she went out the door.
Chapter Four
Three hours later, Philippa was reconsidering her chosen profession. It seemed impossibly exhausting and boring. Jonas had woken, cried for an hour or so, taken some water, and gone back to sleep. Then he’d woken again, and cried again—but had fallen back to sleep just when she’d been trying to decide whether he was hungry.
She unpacked her tiny bag in the room next to the nursery, and, during one of Jonas’s quiet spells, brushed and rebrushed her hair, thinking all the while about Mr. Berwick. Wick, the princess had called him. He had lovely eyes, rather brooding, as if life wasn’t giving him what he wanted.
That had to be because he was a butler. He didn’t seem like a butler.
Jonas whimpered from the nursery, and she hastily pinned up her hair and went back into the room to soothe him.
She thought her uncle would be quite pleased with the way the baby now looked. The pinched look was gone, which meant that he had some water in him. What he needed now was more milk. And when she didn’t instantly produce it, he started crying again.
“I’m sorry, little scrap,” she murmured to him. “It’s going to hurt your tummy. But we just have to do it.”
She wrapped him in a light blanket and wondered what to do. She hadn’t the faintest idea how to find the dining room. By the time she opened the door and headed into the corridor, Jonas was wailing so vociferously that his face was purple.
A tall, yellow-haired footman with a nice open face was waiting for her. “Oh, thank goodness. What’s your name?” she asked over Jonas’s sobs.
“William, miss,” he said. “Mr. Berwick said I was to escort you to the dining room. It’s awfully easy to get lost in this castle.”
“It’s big, isn’t it?”
“Huge,” William said feelingly. “The time it takes just to bring the linens round about, well, you wouldn’t countenance it.”
They made their way down some stairs, through the portrait gallery, down the main stairs. “Shouldn’t we be going down by the servants’ stairs?” she asked.
He glanced at her. “Not you, miss.”
Philippa didn’t know quite what to say to that, so she jiggled Jonas against her shoulder—which had no effect whatsoever on his wails—and followed William through the vast entrance hall to the dining room.
When she entered the room, she was very relieved to find that it wasn’t a cavernous formal space but a tidy little room with a table set for six. What’s more, Kate was the only person in it. She rose the moment the door opened and hurried toward them. “I wanted to come to the nursery, but my foolish husband forced me to wait for you here instead. How is he?”
“Just fine,” Philippa said. “He’s hungry, as you can hear, but I think he feels a little better.”
Kate cocked her head. “You can hear a difference?”
“Yes,” Philippa said, though in reality she wasn’t at all sure. Being a nursemaid was making her into a terrible fibber. “He’s saying he’s hungry, but not in pain.” She said it firmly, the way her father would say, England’s coast is undefended. A fact.
Kate reached out and took her baby. “There’s my sweetheart,” she cooed. “I’ll just take him to my sitting room and feed him.”
She left, and Philippa drew in a long breath and reached up to check her hair. She’d pinned it on the back of her head, but it felt as if it might all tumble down her back any moment.
Just then the door opened, and Mr. Berwick entered.
“William left me here,” she said, feeling foolishly out of place.
“Where’s Jonas?”
“The princess took him to her sitting room in order to feed him. She’ll bring him back in a moment, then I’ll go straight back to the nursery,” she promised.
“You won’t,” he said, walking around the table and straightening a napkin. “You are eating with the prince and princess tonight.”
“I really shouldn’t—”
“A place for you has already been set,” he said, cutting her off. “We’ll be joined by Princess Sophonisba, the prince’s great-aunt, who will undoubtedly appear in an inebriated state, which is merely a hint at what will happen after she has had more to drink during supper.”
Another princess? She, plain Philippa Damson, who had only rarely been out of Little Ha’penny, and never even to the city of London, was to dine with not one princess but two? “I couldn’t,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m just a nursemaid.”
“I forgot that!” he said. His eyes laughed at her. “You’re a nursemaid. I suppose you don’t know how to use a knife and a fork.”
Philippa drew herself upright. “You may jest, Mr. Berwick, but I certainly do know how to use proper cutlery—as does every well-trained servant.”
“Are you well trained?” he asked cordially. “We never quite got around to that part of the interview.”
“Of course!”
He walked around the far end of the table and back toward her. “Do you know that there are a thousand things I ought to be doing at this moment?”
“I quite believe you,” she said. “Please feel free to attend to them.”
His dark eyes met hers, and he cocked a mocking eyebrow. “I can’t leave new staff alone in a room with the silver.”
Philippa suppressed the impulse to give him a set-down, reminding herself that she was now a servant—just a servant— before saying, as haughtily as she could, “Do be sure to count the forks after I leave the room.”
He came a step closer. “You would make an enticing thief. How did you hear of our need for a nursemaid, by the way? You simply appeared out of thin air, and the footman whom I sent to Manchester hasn’t even returned yet.”
“I didn’t come from Manchester,” Philippa said. His eyes made her feel rather hot, a feeling that Rodney’s gaze had never aroused. Though the very thought of Rodney was dispiriting.
“Then where did you come from?” He drifted a step nearer, and now he stood directly before her. Mr. Berwick wore beautiful claret-colored livery with frogged buttons. Somehow on him it didn’t look like livery but like the uniform of the Queen’s own Hussars. And, like them, he was broad-shouldered and muscled and immaculately kempt.
Philippa pulled herself together, and said, “I grew up in a village not far from here. When I heard about the baby, I thought I might be able to help.”
“You did?”
Perhaps he was more like a magician than one of Her Majesty’s Hussars. Something about his eyes was making her feel quivery. “And I have helped,” she stated, confident that this, at least, was not a fib.
“You are a mystery.”
