“I think that is a splendid idea!” Cecilia said. “I need to relax and stop my mind from racing around. I keep thinking there are questions I should be asking that I’m not. Something Miss Rangaswamy has said, but I can’t get them to coalesce in my mind, so my thoughts run in circles.”
“Then yes, a nice cup of warm milk will be just the thing.”
The women made their way silently down to the kitchen. Mrs. Dunstan busied herself with skimming the cream off the milk and pouring the milk into a pot on the stove. She stirred the embers and added more coal to get the fire going again. While she worked, Cecilia sat on a stool by the worktable.
“Have you talked to Miss Rangaswamy about her life in India?” Cecilia asked Mrs. Dunstan.
“A little, here and there,” the housekeeper said as she stirred the milk. “She told me about Mr. Sedgewick’s house and the medicinal plants growing around it.”
“Medicinal plants?”
“Yes. Evidently Mrs. Sedgewick—if shewasMrs. Sedgewick—” Mrs. Dunstan began.
“I prefer to believe she was.”
Mrs. Dunstan nodded, “As you say, madam. Anyway, she was a student of Ayurvedic medicine. She’d always been sickly with asthma, so she studied cures. It was one of her cures that helped Mr. Sedgewick, and he planted that vine all around the house, so excited to have a medicine that helped. Miss Rangaswamy said—rather wryly, I thought—at least the flowers were pretty.”
“She didn’t like the plant?”
“I don’t know if she didn’t like the plant or thought the number of plants was more than they could use.” She poured the warm milk into cups and gave one to Cecilia. She sat on a nearby chair.
Cecilia nodded. They both cupped their hands around the warm cups and rested their elbows on the table.
“She is such a delightful little thing. She quite makes me laugh when she stops thinking of her worries and just responds to life around her. She practically danced down the street the other day when we went to pass out more flyers. Everyone responded positively to her. Except for Mr. Charwood, of course,” she finished, with a raised eyebrow and twisted lips.
Cecilia nodded and sipped her milk. “He has certainly changed, and not for the better. James said he will talk to him, but with everything going on, he hasn’t had the opportunity to do so.”
“I understand, madam, I do indeed.”
Cecilia yawned broadly. “What else have you learned about Miss Rangaswamy?”
“She does not like to sew,” Mrs. Dunstan said with a laugh. “Quite skewed up her nose when I suggested working for a modiste as what she could do for employment if Soothcoor would not take her on.”
“I’m sure he will.”
“Yes, such was my thought as well. But she doesn’t want to make the mistake of complacency she made when her uncle told her his son would take care of her.”
Cecilia pondered that determination for a moment as she took another sip of milk. She smiled as she looked across the table. “I admire her determination. Soothcoor will see that she’s not left to fend for herself. That is not his way at all! However, she does not know that and is thinking ahead.”
“I find myself quite proud of her, and why I should, I don’t know, for I’ve only known her a few days. Nonetheless, I am,” Mrs. Dunstan said. She set her cup down.
Cecilia yawned again and stretched. “She is an easy person to like. She is so sincere and natural, a trait I think many in London have lost.” She stood up. “I think I can go back to sleep now. Thank you for your care and interest in Miss Rangaswamy. She needs support.”
“She has it,” Mrs. Dunstan said. “Good night, madam.”
Cecilia made her way back upstairs to the bedroom and quietly slipped back into bed.
Not quietly enough, she realized, when James laid his arm over her and pulled her closer to him. She smiled in the dark and relaxed. As she slipped into sleep, she wondered what houses in India looked like.
* * *
Owingto her sleeplessness during the night, Cecilia woke late. She tossed on her dressing gown and went into her sitting room to ring for Sarah.
“Why did you let me sleep so long?” Cecilia exclaimed when Sarah entered some five minutes later, bringing with her a pitcher of hot water for the porcelain basin.
“Sir James said you couldn’t sleep in the night and were wandering about. He said you needed your sleep today.”
“Wandering about—hardly. I just went to check on Christopher. But Mrs. Dunstan was before me. She was kind enough to make me some warm milk to help me sleep.
