“Good morning, Edward,” she greeted him as he came to a breathless halt before her.
“Teddy,” he corrected her swiftly. “Are you my aunt Minerva?” he looked her critically up and down. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“I am in mourning,” Mina answered firmly. She withdrew her hand from Jeremy’s arm and extended it to shake formally with Teddy.
“Have you come to see grandmama’s portrait?” Teddy asked.
“Yes,” Mina agreed. “And meet you too, of course.”
“Would you like to see my nursery, Aunt Minerva?” he asked breathlessly. “I’ve got a toy theatre and a sailboat that really floats.”
Mina hesitated, turning to Jeremy. “I should love to, if that’s agreeable with your father.”
“By all means,” Jeremy answered agreeably. “You lead the way; my boy and I will join you shortly for a game of At the Race Meet.”
“That’s my newest toy, Aunt Minerva,” Teddy enthused, towing her toward the staircase. “We’ve named all the horses after Papa’s.”
“Ah yes, I heard this morning that your papa keeps racing horses,” Mina remembered.
“Yes, and Son of Bucephalus is my favorite of all, but Jim calls him Pukey Bucey on account of his sensitive stomach.”
“Is Jim a groom or a jockey?” Mina asked as they reached the second floor.
“Stable boy,” Teddy answered with an enchanting smile that revealed his childish dimples. “But he’s my favorite cos he tells me things.”
“I see,” answered Mina.
“Father said I’m not allowed to go down to the stables unattended,” Teddy said sadly. “And Mama dismissed Nanny as soon as I went off to school, so I have no one to attend me now.” A gloom descended on him. “Colfax takes me sometimes, but only when he’s got time to spare.”
“Will you return to school soon?” Mina enquired as he led her down across a gallery lined with family portraits. “If not, your father must surely hire you a tutor.”
“Yes,” Teddy agreed without much enthusiasm. “Though I don’t want a tutor. Why can I not simply have Nanny back? She used to take me to the stables whenever I asked her.”
“Well, because I daresay she has another little boy or girl to take care of now,” Mina answered bracingly. “And you are a good deal too big for a Nanny and need to take some lessons.”
“Another little boy?” Teddy asked indignantly. “But she’s my nanny!”
“I daresay she had other charges before you,” Mina pointed out mildly.
“Them? Oh them,” he snorted. “She certainly didn’t like them as much as me.” His chest swelled out with the boast. “She couldn’t possibly like another little boy as much as she liked me.” He caught hold of a door handle to his right and swung it open to reveal a large nursery complete with a large rocking horse, a wooden fort, a mechanical carousel and all manner of picture books, marbles and quoits strewn about the floor and over the little round table.
“Goodness me, I’m sure Nanny didn’t allow your nursery to get in such a mess as all this,” Mina said disapprovingly.
Teddy gave her a sidelong look. “Annie should have come along and tidied it,” he said evasively. “Only she hasn’t.”
“I’m sure Annie has other duties than picking up after you, Teddy,” Mina said sternly and knew she was right when he reddened. “Let’s get these things tidied away now before your Papa comes up to play Race Meets with us.”
He perked up at this and started dragging a chest into the center of the room. “Let’s just throw it all in here,” he panted.
“Certainly not,” Mina corrected him. “For I can see a bookcase over there for your picture books.” She began collecting up the volumes, as Teddy sighed and started scrabbling to put the marbles back in their pouch. “There was a battle last night,” he confided. “These books were propped up to make the rival fort and these marbles were the cannonballs fired by my soldiers.”
“I see,” Mina answered, slotting the books back onto their shelves. “I did wonder how the devastation came about.”
“The Race Meet game is atop of that shelf,” he said, pointing.
“Well, we shan’t get that down, until we’ve tidied all this away.”
Teddy squinted at her. “You’re not like most aunts I’ve met,” he said accusingly.
“How many aunts do you possess?”
“Just one,” he admitted grudgingly.
Mina pointed to her own chest in query. He nodded. “Well, it doesn’t sound as though your own experience in aunts is extensive,” she told him. “And besides, this is what your aunt is like.”
He gave a snort at that and then started gathering up the hoops from his quoits set. It did not take long before they could once more see the large colorful rug, which must once have graced a far grander room but had been relegated to the nursery once it began to show signs of wear.
“That’s better,” Mina pronounced, reaching for Teddy’s game. “Now, let us set up this up on the nursery table as it needs a flat surface.”
“I usually just play with it on the floor,” Teddy objected as she set it down and lifted the lid off the box to show the six little painted horses and jockeys.
“I daresay,” Mina answered. “But you are not hampered by stiffened petticoats.”
“You could lie flat on your tummy,” he suggested helpfully.
“I most certainly could not!” Mina informed him tartly. “What objection pray; do you have to this perfectly civilized little table?” In truth, the chairs were a little small for grown-ups, but Mina lowered herself gingerly onto one and watched Teddy extend the six little horses and jockeys away from the box mechanism on their strings.
“What are their names?” Mina asked with interest as Teddy lined the little lead horses up on the starting line.
“Bucephalus, Trojan, Incitatus, Bombast, Braggadocio and Vainglory,” recited
