“When will we be able to hire more servants?” she inquired of Alex. “I hate having to dress myself. It’s very awkward.”
“There isn’t any money for more servants,” Alex answered, his eyes still on the fire.
“Oh, of course there is!” May-Jewel exclaimed, elated over the prospect of a new challenge. “And I shall hire many to make Wistmere what it once was. There has to be money for that!”
Katherine sighed then said, “Really, May-Jewel, it would be wise to learn about the financial affairs of the estate before we go spending money we may not have.” She paused recalling the maid who had appeared to her before dinner. “But now that the subject of servants has been brought up, Alexander, tell me of the maid who was sent to my room earlier this evening.”
His eyebrows rose in question as he looked at her. “What maid?”
“The handmaid, Selina. Where is she from? English is obviously not her mother tongue. How long has she been in Scotland?”
Exasperation covered Alex’s face as he poured another drink. “I’ve no idea of whom you are speaking. As for any handmaid, I’ve already told you that the estate hasn’t been financially able to support a full staff, let alone personal maids. However, I’ll say it again, for the third time. There is the stableman, Brice,” he started in a monotone voice, counting on his fingers, “who, having only three horses and a few sheep to care for, also cares for the gardens. There’s the manservant, Charles, whom you’ve already met, though at times I wonder how he’s even able to function as he’s so old and addle-brained, and lastly there’s the cook.” He held up his three fingers before her as if she were a child. He was weary of being charming and of having to always say the right thing in front of the women for fear of offending them. He was especially weary of Katherine’s stone expression and wished she’d just leave. Hoping to get her to do just that, he added, “I think you’re suffering delusions of grandeur. It’s probably the cook who came to you. If you want to know more about her, ask Charles.”
But Katherine wasn’t to be dismissed so easily. She knew that something wasn’t right. The woman Selina was much too small to lift the heavy iron pots so vital to a cook’s position. No, Katherine was sure that the woman who came to her room wasn’t the cook. “I don’t suffer delusions of any kind,” she snapped. “There was a small, dark woman in my quarters earlier this evening. If she’s the cook, then what was she doing in my bed chamber offering to help me dress?”
“Wait,” May-Jewel interjected with a pout, “you have a maid?”
“No! All I know is that this woman came into my room. She said she was there to assist me. So what was she doing there if she isn’t a handmaid?
“I don’t know,” Alex retorted, suddenly intolerant of Katherine and her questions. He barely restrained himself from voicing the caustic remark that lay on the edge of his tongue but, he reminded himself, he would have to watch his manner toward her if he had any chance of winning her over. Alex put his drink down. Easing the lines of irritation from his face, and sitting himself beside her, he enfolded her hands into his. “Maybe you should call it a night. After all, it has been a trying day, all that traveling,” he said. “Sometimes tiredness pushes a woman’s mind beyond reality and into the realm of imagination. Imagination is very far from reality.”
As Alex’s condescending and patronizing words filled the room, Katherine wanted to slap his liquor-flushed face. But such impulsiveness wasn’t a part of her. Instead, she calmed the erupting rage that seethed within, pulled her hands from his, and gracefully rose from the sofa. “Perhaps you’re right,” she coolly replied, moving toward the door. “It is time for me to retire.”
As Katherine walked to the door, May-Jewel hurriedly followed her. “How insulting,” she whispered. “He has questioned your sanity and spoke to you as if you were a child! I would have slapped him if he had spoken that way to me!”
Katherine took a deep breath and then responded, “Shall I challenge him to a duel?”
“I only meant…”
“I know what you meant,” Katherine sighed, seeing the flush of embarrassment on May-Jewel’s face, “and your concern is touching.”
“Don’t go yet, Katherine.” She touched her sister’s arm. “I think we should stay a little longer. I’m sure Alex didn’t mean it how it sounded.” But she could see that Katherine wouldn’t be persuaded to stay any longer as she turned to leave. So she added, “Alex knows more about this place than we do and right now we need him. If you apologize, I think we can get him to discuss the manor’s finances. The sooner we learn about them, the sooner we can dispense with him altogether. Isn’t that what you want?”
For a moment, Katherine simply stared at May-Jewel then, wordlessly, she shook her head and walked away.
* * *
Prismatic crystals on the suspended chandeliers over the great hall sent a profusion of haloed light up the staircase. But the light didn’t follow Katherine down the shadowy expanse of the hallway, and, in her anger, she hadn’t taken a candle when she left the sitting room. As she moved slowly down the corridor, she wondered about the lack of illumination. Hadn’t the lamps in the hall been lit when she came down for dinner? A low mournful sound coming from the end of the corridor suddenly interrupted her thoughts. But the movement of her gown muffled the noise, and when she stopped walking, she no longer heard anything.
“Charles is
