“I’m sorry. I don’t think there’s anything we can do with that. I don’t suppose he meant to.”
“He didn’t care!” Jemima retorted. “I told him to be careful.”
Charlotte looked at her, and imagined how tactful Jemima’s warning had likely been. “Yes,” she said calmly. “You’d better put it in the wastebasket, under the lid so you don’t keep looking at it. I’ll go and speak to him.”
Jemima did not move.
“Go on,” Charlotte repeated. “Do you want to make it better, or worse? If I talk to him about it in front of you, it will definitely make it worse, that I can promise you.”
Reluctantly Jemima turned around and climbed slowly back up the stairs.
Charlotte watched her until she had disappeared up the next flight as well, to her own bedroom, then she went along to the kitchen.
Minnie Maude was peeling potatoes at the sink. Daniel was sitting on one of the chairs at the kitchen table, swinging his feet and looking miserable and angry. He glared at Charlotte as she came in, ready to defend himself from Jemima if she was immediately behind.
“Did you break it?” Charlotte asked.
“It was her fault,” he responded. “She left it in the way!”
“Did you mean to?”
“Of course I didn’t!”
“Daniel, are you sure?”
“Yes! That’s not fair! I didn’t see it.”
“That’s what I thought. So what are you going to do about it?”
He looked at her resentfully. “I can’t put it together again,” he protested.
“No, I don’t think anybody can,” she agreed. “I think you’ll have to find her another one.”
His eyes widened. “I can’t! Where would I get it?”
“You won’t get one just like it, but if you save up your pocket money, you might find one nearly as nice.”
“She shouldn’t have left it there!” He drew in a deep breath. “It’ll be all my money for weeks! Maybe months!”
“What if she puts in half?” Charlotte suggested. “Her half for leaving the box in the way, your half for not looking where you were going and breaking it?”
Reluctantly he agreed, watching to see if she was pleased.
“Good.” She smiled at him. “Now Minnie Maude will get you a piece of cake, then you will go upstairs and tell Jemima you are sorry, and offer to share pocket money with her to find another box.”
“What if she says no?” he asked.
“If you ask nicely, and she refuses, then you are excused.”
He was happy. He turned to Minnie Maude and waited for the promised cake.
“I’m going out for a little while,” Charlotte told them both. “I may be an hour or two, or even longer. Minnie Maude, please tell Mr. Pitt, if he comes home before I do, that I’ve gone to visit my sister.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Minnie Maude agreed, reaching for the cake.
Charlotte did not bother to change. She took her coat, hat, and gloves and left immediately, before she could lose the conviction within herself that she must go to Emily and make peace with her.
She walked briskly along Keppel Street to Russell Square, where she caught a hansom. During the ride, she composed in her mind, over and over, what she would say, how she would vary her answers according to Emily’s responses, and how best to keep both of their tempers in check.
The weather was getting milder. She passed several carriages bowling along briskly with ladies out visiting, or simply taking the air. Another month and it would be a pleasure to go to the botanical gardens. Trees and shrubs would begin to show green leaves, even flower buds. There would be daffodils in bloom.
She arrived at Emily’s spacious, handsome house and alighted. She paid the driver, then walked up to the front door and pulled the bell.
She waited only a few moments before the door was opened and a footman greeted her with apologies.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Pitt, but neither Mr. nor Mrs. Radley is at home. You are welcome to come in and take a little refreshment, if you would care to?” He held the door wide and stepped back to allow her to pass.
Charlotte felt ridiculously disappointed. It had never occurred to her that Emily would be out at this hour, but of course that was perfectly reasonable. All her screwing up of courage, her swallowing of pride, was to no avail.
“Thank you,” she accepted, going into the warmth of the hallway. It was windy outside. Already the light was fading from the sky, and dusk was in the air. “That would be very pleasant. Perhaps I may leave a message for Mrs. Radley?”
“Certainly, ma’am. I shall bring you a pen and paper, unless you would prefer to use Mrs. Radley’s desk in the morning room?”
“That would be a very good idea. Thank you.”
“I’ll have your tea served here when you return. Would you care for hot crumpets and butter as well?”
She smiled at him, liking his thoughtfulness. “Yes, please.”
She found the paper in Emily’s desk and wrote:
She hesitated. Maybe she was taking rather too much of the blame for what had been, at the very least, quite as much Emily’s fault? No, better to continue in this vein. She could always be a trifle sharper if Emily took advantage. And it was true: none of the differences mattered, in the end.
She folded the note and put it in her reticule, then put the top back on the ink and laid the pen down.
She returned to the morning room, and hot tea and crumpets were served to her a few moments later. She gave her note to the footman, thanked him, and sat down to enjoy her treat, before going back outside into the cold to look for a hansom to take her home again.
7
Breakfast on Keppel street on March the fifth was as busy as usual. Daniel and Jemima had to get off to school, homework packed in satchels, boots on, coats buttoned, and with scarves and gloves that matched each other. No matter how much care was taken the evening before, there always seemed to be something to hunt for. It was a sharp, icy morning with a knife-edge to the wind. Scarves were tied tightly. A button was found hanging loose. Charlotte hastily fetched a needle, thread, thimble, and scissors to attach it more securely before she bundled them both out the front door. At least there was now a tentative peace between them and they went down the pavement side by side.
Pitt had been debating with himself whether to seek Charlotte’s opinion about the next step he planned to take in the case of Duke Alois, or not to trouble her with it. If he was mistaken, either way, he would jeopardize his position, and therefore the future of them all. Even Minnie Maude, standing at the sink washing dishes, would be without a job, or a home.
Did he want to tell Charlotte because she might actually help, or simply because it would be less lonely for him?
Charlotte took a small piece of cheese out of the cupboard near the door. “Have we got any more of this in the back pantry?” she asked Minnie Maude.
Minnie Maude took her hands out of the water. “I’ll go an’ look, ma’am,” she said quickly.
“No, it’s all right. You’re busy. I’ll see myself,” Charlotte replied, turning to do so.
