He nodded. “And the hall.”
Margaret lifted the basket to her face, inhaling deeply of the sweet aromas of late-summer roses and white clematis, amid other beautiful, though less fragrant varieties.
Betty, she knew, was repairing a torn seam for Miss Upchurch, while Fiona and Mrs. Budgeon were busy taking an inventory of the linen cupboard.
Margaret had already realized no one at Fairbourne Hall had an eye for flower arrangements. What a pleasure it would be after the drudgery of polishing summer-bright grates, sweeping stairs, and emptying chamber pots.
Margaret carried the flowers to the stillroom, knowing Hester would have the containers and implements she would need.
Hester greeted her warmly and welcomed her back into her sunny, warm domain.
For Helen’s dressing table, Margaret chose a blue porcelain vase and filled it with a low arrangement of pale roses, pink asters, blue cornflowers, and dainty white clematis with lovely trailing vines. For the hall she used a gilded bowl and made a taller arrangement of golden chrysanthemums, garden phlox, purple coneflowers, verbena, and greenery. She enjoyed every minute of the task.
“You’ve a gift, Nora!” Hester praised, which pleased her inordinately.
Margaret carried the first vase up to Helen Upchurch’s apartment, a bright chamber of white and blues. Placing the flowers on the dressing table, Margaret rearranged the pretty vanity set, Helen’s collection of porcelain birds, and a framed miniature on either side of the vase. Stepping back, she admired her work. A great improvement.
Then her attention was drawn to the miniature portrait itself. She picked it up once more and studied the face. Was this the man Helen had hoped to marry? An exceedingly handsome man, if the artist’s brush was accurate. How she would like to pick up a brush once again. It had been too long.
Helen’s voice startled her. “Beautiful, was he not?”
Margaret quickly set the portrait down, stunned and chagrined not only to be caught poking about, but to be alone with Nathaniel’s sister.
Risking a look over her shoulder, she was relieved to find Helen’s eyes trained on the portrait.
“Yes, miss,” she replied, accent warbling. “I’m sorry, miss. I...”
Helen waved away her apology. She walked over and reverently picked up the miniature, staring down at the face with an expression both dreamy and pained.
Margaret bobbed a curtsy and quickly slipped from the room.
Margaret sat beside Hester in the servants’ hall that night, lingering together with several others after supper, enjoying the camaraderie and the chance to sit and relax after a long day’s work. Around her, everyone listened with fond amusement as Connor regaled them with tales of his five brothers and younger sister.
“All as ginger-haired as he,” Hester whispered in Margaret’s ear.
Connor said, “The first time I went home in my new clothes after I become a valet, no one would come to the door. My own home and they wouldn’t answer my knock. Turns out my little sister had seen ‘some fine gentleman’ coming up the lane and ran to tell my brothers the bill collector had come to call. I went around the back and found them all huddled in the woodshed, hiding from their own brother!”
Chuckles and grins were exchanged around the room, and Connor beamed a charming smile. Margaret could certainly see why Hester was taken with the young man—as all the maids were.
Lewis had always had that same effect on women, young and old alike.
As Margaret made her way up to her room and prepared for bed, she found herself thinking about him. She recalled the first time she had seen Lewis after his return from Barbados more than two years ago—and the effect he’d had onher....
———
Margaret glimpsed a tall dark-haired man striding across the ballroom with such confidence, such presence, that all paused to look. The fact that he was heart-stoppingly handsome caused those looks to linger.
“Who is that?” a debutante near her breathed.
Margaret’s friend, Emily Lathrop, followed the direction of their gazes. “That’s Lewis Upchurch. Nathaniel Upchurch’s older brother.”
Margaret had seen Lewis Upchurch in the past, but he had never taken any notice of her. So while she enjoyed the view, she entertained no thoughts of him beyond surprise at seeing him there.
Margaret turned and looked instead for Nathaniel Upchurch. He saw her at the same moment and crossed the ballroom to meet her, a shy smile on his bespectacled face.
She stepped away from the other young ladies to speak with him. “Good evening, Mr. Upchurch. I see your brother is back. I don’t remember your mentioning he planned to return.”
Nathaniel grimaced. “That’s because I didn’t know. Seems Lewis got bored and decided to return to London without my father’s approval.”
