He opened his mouth to say something, then glanced at the children and snapped it shut again. “I s’ppose it’s not for me to say,” he muttered. “Sorry, Miss. Best talk to Mr Merivale.”
While Robin and Joy, leaning against each other, nodded off as the horses trotted slowly along the road, Arabella wondered what Mr Argus had been about to say.
The cart drove around a curve and the little harbour town appeared.
It was quaint with whitewashed cottages jumbled together and a main street with cobbled stone that had the most necessary shops. Mr Argus pulled the cart to a halt.
“Right. Here we are. You go about your business and I mine. We meet again in three hours?”
Arabella nodded and thanked him.
Katy pulled her towards a shop on the main street which seemed to burst with books, paper, quills and parchments. “There it is, Pethick’s Books and Stationery.”
It was the first time Arabella would be entering a shop like this. She usually frequented bigger fashionable shops on Bond Street in London. So it was with a considerable amount of curiosity that she pushed the door open to Pethick’s Bookshop. It was a small place cramped with bookshelves. They not only had Joy’s primer, but also a children’sManners and Moralsbook, as well asAesop’s Fables, which the little girl would enjoy. Especially the stories involving mice.
“You don’t happen to know where to buy pianos here, do you?” Arabella asked the burly man behind the counter.
Pethick scratched his beard. “No ma’am, but I can help you order one from London if you need one. I’m only a bookseller but I get my goods straight from London, and I have my connections. Which kind do you want?”
Arabella thought of her gleaming grand piano at Ashmore Hall.
“A Broadwood. A grand piano. Six octaves.”
The man’s bushy eyebrows rose. “Broadwood, eh? Going for the best of the best, I see. That will cost,” he pulled out his abacus and flicked the beads across the counting tablet, “roughly one hundred pounds if you buy it and half if you rent it. Plus transportation. Plus commission for me, yes?”
Arabella’s face fell. “I had no idea it was so expensive. I’m afraid I can’t afford it.”
He nodded. “Aye, only the grandest families can afford to buy a Broadwood. You could rent one.” He gave her a figure that was considerably less, but still beyond her means.
Arabella shook her head.
Pethick, however, seemed determined to be helpful. “If all things fail, you could rent the old pianoforte from Widow Woodhouse. She mentioned the other day she had no use for it anymore since she’s lost her eyesight and that she would gladly give it away in return for a companion who’d read to her.”
Arabella’s face brightened. That seemed like an interesting proposition. “Widow Woodhouse, you said?”
“Aye. She lives in a side street not far from here.” He explained her how to reach her place.
“We want to wait outside in the sunshine, it’s too damp and dark in here.” Robin complained.
“Very well, but stay in front of the shop.” Arabella replied, distracted. “I need a few more minutes. Katy, afterwards we can go visit Miss Woodhouse to see whether she’ll rent us her piano. We can also visit the haberdashery and get some ribbons for the yellow dress.”
Katy clapped her hands with delight. “Oh yes, let’s do that!”
“Are ye Mr Merivale’s wife?” Mr Pethick threw her a curious glance.
She felt a blush of red creep over her cheeks. “Oh no. I am just the governess.”
“Governess, eh? Well, that explains it.” A grin crept over his rugged face.
Arabella, in the process of pulling out her reticule to pay him, paused. “What do you mean?”
“Why he’s been going from shop to shop and slaving since dawn. He’s dragged loads of crates to the storage room for me. Then he went shovelling coal at Mornick’s, and now he’s lugging bags of flour for the baker.” The man shook his head. “Never seen a man work so hard. Mind you, not that he needs to do it. But that’s why we respect him. He’s one of us. Down-to-earth, hard-working, and decent to the bone he is, that man.”
Arabella looked at him, bewildered. “What are you talking about?”
The man shook his head. “Nothing. He said he’d do the ledgers for me, too. Forgot ‘em here. Can I trust you to deliver the books to him?” He peered at her through narrowed eyes.
“Of course, I will put them safely into his hands.” Arabella was dazed by what the man had told her.
