“I can do that,” nodded Muir.
“An excellent suggestion, Mrs. Chaney. Thank you.” His wife smiled tiredly. “I might join the children in a wee nap myself.”
“Make yourselves comfortable,” said Perry, preparing to usher Grace out of the room. “Oh, and I’ll talk to Edward about a fire in here. He’s probably the best one to ask about the chimneys. I’d rather not burn the house down before we’ve had a chance to look it over.”
Grace laughed. “Come along. Let’s do a little more exploring.”
*~~*~~*
The first floor landing was wide and stretched from one end of the building to the other, as near as Grace could tell. There were windows allowing some light, but she observed the empty sconces along the walls and knew that come nightfall they’d be needed.
Once out of the master bedrooms, they turned to traverse the rest of the floor, stopping and peering in to each room they passed.
“It’s well laid-out,” said Perry, closing a door behind him. “These rooms are a good size. You wouldn’t be embarrassed to assign them to an honoured guest.”
“I agree,” she nodded. “And I do admire how they’ve worked the windows into each of them. Natural light is much to be desired, since it keeps down the cost of candles, and lessens the likelihood of fires.”
“I had no idea you were so practical, my sweet,” grinned Perry.
“I’ve had my own home for some years now, remember,” she admonished. “I haven’t been wet behind the ears in regard to this sort of thing for a long time.”
He merely smiled and opened the next door. “Aha. Furniture.”
She peered around his shoulders. “Oh, lovely. This must be the best guest room. Look at the windows…”
They were the first thing she noticed, since the elegant curved array invited the eye and encouraged the visitor to walk into the wonderful view.
At least Grace assumed it would be a wonderful view, once the weather let up.
“You should take this room,” said Perry from behind her. “It is looking as if we are marooned here for a little while. Certainly there’s no going back to town today.”
She stared out at the ground, clearly bearing the burden of several inches of ice. The patter against the window had begun to coat the glass as well, making it seem as though they were encased in crystal.
“This will do a lot of damage to a lot of people,” she observed with a sigh, thinking of the scant harvest.
“Yes. Yes, it will,” he put his arm around her shoulders. “We can’t help all of them, but at least we got the Muirs off the road.”
Giving in to impulse, she leaned back against Perry’s chest, taking comfort from his warmth. In response he hugged her.
“You should take this room, Perry. It has a large bed and you’re tall.”
“And that leaves you where?”
“I’m sure I’ll find another suitably equipped. Or at least that will serve me for a night.”
“Hmm.”
“Come on, let’s go and see.” She moved away from his arms, missing their warmth but persuading herself this flirtation could lead nowhere, so it would be best to keep it light from now on.
Together they walked to the end of the hallway, finding more rooms, but all of them bare and unused.
“Perhaps downstairs. We haven’t even begun to explore there.” She looked at him hopefully.
“Thank you for not suggesting the upper floors.” He raised an eyebrow at the staircase leading to what were likely to be smaller children’s rooms, and the servants’ quarters. “Judging by the dust, I’d say they haven’t been used in more than a few years…”
Grace nodded and turned to go back the way they’d come. “Do you know anything about the previous owners?”
Perry frowned. “Very little. I was told they were elderly and had lived here for several decades. I met their son Sinclair at my club in town, and he’s the one who told me that they were thinking of selling. Apparently they’d decided to retire to a much smaller place in Cornwall, near family. I’d mentioned I might be interested, so the next time we met he told me they had moved out; it would be in the hands of an agent in a few weeks. I asked if I could view the place. Sinclair said yes, and here we are.”
