stove burner. “Do you think we’ll ever get electric lights in this place? Most neighboring estates have been wired for it.”
“Being in this place is more and more like living back in the Dark Ages,” Michael remarked gloomily.
“I agree with you there,” Nora said, taking a cup down from the cupboard. “I’d hate to move on, though. It’s like home. If anyone knows about that, it would be you. Remember when we used to play out in the back with Wesley, Maggie, and Lila? We were all friends then and it didn’t make a difference who was a servant and who wasn’t.”
“That was a long time ago,” Michael said.
“Not so long. It’s not like we’re ancient now,” Nora pointed out.
“Well, it seems long ago,” Michael insisted. “And even then we’d have to sneak about. Lord and Lady Darlington would have sent us packing if they knew we’d been out playing with their children.”
The teakettle whistled and Nora turned off the flame. “What’s keeping you awake, Michael?” She sat down beside him with her tea.
“I’m worrying about having a job,” Michael told her. “The family barely goes riding anymore and they don’t need a whole stable. I’m only nineteen years old and already I’m a dying breed.”
Nora patted his arm. “It can’t be as bad as all that.”
“It is!” Michael insisted. “Horses are expensive to take care of and they would bring a lot of money if they were sold.”
“Hmm,” Nora replied. Michael was feeling so gloomy that she didn’t think that this was the right time to tell him about the letter she’d picked up from Lady Darlington’s desk the other day. It was from the Darlingtons’ eldest son, twenty-year-old Wesley, who had gone off to school at Oxford. He was returning home from America, where he’d been since the end of the school year, and bringing along his American friend before going back to university. Upon his return for the remainder of the summer, one thing he hoped to accomplish, according to his letter, was to enlist Lady Darlington’s help in persuading Lord Darlington to take certain measures to make Wentworth Hall profitable once more, inspired by what he saw while he was in America. One of his ideas was to sell off pieces of the estate. The letter hadn’t explicitly mentioned the stable, but it stood to reason the horses and the groom were on the chopping block.
“What does
“Nothing. I’m just listening to you is all. They’d never let you go, Michael. You’ve been here your entire life, and your father and grandfather before you. They would find a place for you.”
“It might be for the good,” Michael said. “If I get free of this place, maybe I could make my way in the world, make something of myself instead of always being a servant. I couldn’t leave my father behind, though.”
“What would you do?” Nora asked.
“I don’t know. That’s the thing. Maybe I could go down to the racetrack and become a trainer. One thing I know is horses.”
“That you do,” Nora agreed. “Nobody better with a horse. But isn’t the racetrack a bit… disreputable?”
“Why should I care about that?” Michael challenged. “It’s not like I have some big reputation to protect. If I could earn some real money, nobody would care how I got it.”
“By ‘nobody’ do you mean Maggie?” Nora probed.
“No, I don’t,” Michael said. “I’ve barely spoken to Maggie since she’s been back and that’s nearly two months now. She’s forgotten me and I’ve left her behind as well.”
Nora sighed, not believing a word of it. Maggie might have moved on from Michael, but he was as stuck on her as ever. Any fool could see that.
“I know what you mean about not being a servant forever,” Nora said, intentionally changing the subject. “I plan to put money aside until I have enough to open a little tea shop of my own.”
“That sounds nice, Nora, but how can you put anything aside with the pittance they pay you here? We’re little more than serfs living on the estate like in the feudal times.”
Smiling confidently, Nora tapped her forehead. “I have a plan and I’ve already begun. I’ve been taking on extra sewing jobs.”
“From who?” Michael asked.
“People in town,” Nora explained. “I’ve put up little signs in town and the jobs have already begun coming in. I pick them up and drop them off on my half-day off.”
“So you never have a moment when you’re not working,” Michael observed.
“I don’t mind. It’s going to bring me a better future. I don’t want to be sitting in this kitchen like Rose or Mrs. Howard when I’m their age.”
“Like my dad, working here in the garden all these years,” Michael agreed. “He’d never leave Wentworth Hall, and he’s getting on in years. I don’t know how he’d feel if I left the place. It’s part of what keeps me here.”
“Oh!” Therese startled at the sight of Michael and Nora as she entered the room. “I didn’t expect anyone to be awake so late,” she said. She was wrapped in a floral robe with pleated lace at the sleeves and delicate blue satin slippers. Her abundant blond curls were loosely tied in a ribbon. “I will go,” she added, backing up.
“No, no,” Michael said. “Come join the ranks of the sleepless and bothered.”
“Pull up a chair,” Nora seconded the invitation. Nora didn’t yet trust Therese but maybe she wouldn’t feel that way if she got to know her better. “So what’s keeping you up this night?” she inquired.
Therese sighed deeply. “They want me to start teaching the girls French in addition to my nanny duties,” she revealed. “I know how to speak French, of course, but I’m not sure I can teach someone else to speak the language. I was hired to take care of the baby, not to be a teacher. What if I fail? I will have to return to Paris.”
Something about Therese’s response didn’t ring true to Nora. Therese was clearly bothered by something. But what? “Why did you want to leave France?’ Nora asked, hoping she would learn some scandalous secret. Was there a ruined love affair? A crime?
“My mother,” Therese replied. “She died last year and Paris holds too many memories of her. Everything reminded me of our happy times together. I thought time would ease those memories. But I needed distance, too. And then I got the offer from Lady Darlington and it seemed perfect.”
Nora probed further. “What about your father? Where is he?”
“I never knew my father,” Therese revealed. “As I’ve mentioned, my mother worked at Lord Darlington’s sister’s estate. She never revealed to anyone who my father was. She just felt lucky that Lady Daphne let her keep her job despite her condition.”
“What a scandal!” Nora said, pleased to have unearthed a juicy detail. “Was everyone shocked?”
“The French are not as easily shocked as the English,” Therese commented. “And Lady Daphne was always kind to her. And to me. When Lady Darlington arrived from Nice with James, Lady Daphne acted as my reference.”
Nora patted Therese’s hand. “So, you’re a penniless orphan like me, poor thing.”
“Yes, but I hope to make money working here,” Therese said.
“Ha!” Nora barked with laughter. “Good luck.”
“You’re not earning very much, are you?” Michael asked.
“I have no expenses,” Therese said with a shrug. “Still, Wentworth Hall is not what I expected. I thought I would start a new life here… but I do not see any way for it to begin.”
“We know how you feel,” Michael commiserated.
Therese yawned, covering her mouth. “I should check on James,” she decided. “He wakes in the night and her ladyship does not hear him. She is a sound sleeper.”
Getting up, Therese bid them good night and departed.
“Nice girl,” Michael remarked after Therese was gone.
“Hmm,” Nora responded.
“What? Don’t you think so?”
“Do you believe that story about Paris having too many memories of her mother?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Michael asked.
Nora gave him a look, getting up to bring her teacup to the sink. “If she has such happy memories of her mother, why wouldn’t she want to be near them? Has she no friends or family in Paris that she’d want to stay close to?”
