Belle led them down the hallway into a room that Hope took to be a receiving parlor, though she wasn’t sure if that was the original intent. It had large windows that overlooked the gardens and a massive fireplace as tall as her. In fact, she believed she and her sisters could stand shoulder to shoulder inside and still have room not to touch one another.
“Now, there are three perfectly suited bedrooms in the west wing I have had set up for you,” Belle said, going around a large wooden desk to tug on a bell pull. “Hope, you’ll be in the green room. It’s the furthest room down and oversees a lovely part of the garden. Faith, you’ll be in the bird room.”
“Bird room?” she said, surprised. “I supposed the décor is responsible for the name?”
“It is, and it’s just above the swan pond. Grace, you’ll be in the blossom room,” Belle said, pointing her ring clad finger at the youngest. “It’s smaller than the others, but it was once used as an office for researching botany.”
“Fascinating,” she said. “Botany is not very far from anatomy.”
“Grace,” Hope said tentatively.
Grace’s interest in anatomy had begun to worry Hope. Their grandmother had been adamant that young ladiesshouldn’t pursue such vulgar studies. While Hope had often privately balked at her grandmother’s stringent ideas, she couldn’t deny that Alice had been a smart, well-respected woman who only ever wanted her granddaughters to succeeded. If she had been against the idea of such studies for her granddaughter, there must have been good reason for it, and Hope felt honor-bound to maintain the standards they’d been raised to follow. Since her grandmother’s passing, the burden to keep her sisters on the straight and narrow now fell on her shoulders.
“Oh, don’t quell her interests, dear,” Belle said, twisting to face the youngest. “I know my sister didn’t approve of your studies, Grace. But I assure you, anything goes at Lismore Hall.”
Grace smiled widely, though Hope felt the need to defend her grandmother.
“Grandmother wasn’t so rigid,” she said as an army of maids entered the room. Hope watched as her sisters were unceremoniously pulled away, each by a pair of maids. “She was quite loving when she was the moment called for it.”
“There’s no need to explain, my dear,” Belle said. “I knew my sister far longer than you did.”
“Yes, but—”
“Go now and freshen up,” Belle said as two maids came up on either side of Hope. “We’ll talk more at dinner. And girls, I beg that you wear something other than these mourning clothes.”
All three sisters stopped, stunned by the request.
“But we’re in mourning,” Hope said.
“For how long?”
“Propriety states three months,” Grace began, reciting Hope’s own words, only to be interrupted by Belle.
“Perhaps that made sense when you were in London. But there is no society here and I insist that you three try to cheer yourselves up. What better than to dress in pretty colors? Yes?”
“Um, yes?” Grace said, looking back and forth between at her sisters.
Faith appeared somewhat confused, and while Hope didn’t want to leave the conversation, she was already being dragged away by a pair of determined maids. They both had the same sleek, reddish-brown hair, and Hope had a distinct impression that they were sisters.
“Excuse me, but where are we going?” she asked as they led her to a large wooden staircase off the side of the main hallway.
“Lady Belle insisted that you each be bathed as soon as you arrived,” one of the maids said, her brogue heavy. “You’re to be settled and rested before tonight’s dinner.”
“Are we having guests?”
“Oh, no. Well, mayhap MacKinnon will come. Though after their last row, who knows?”
“Who? And what row?”
“Mr. Graham MacKinnon,” the other maid said, smiling. “A fine man, but he and Lady Belle had a yelling match you wouldn’t believe the other day.”
“Oh goodness,” Hope said, her brow puckering with worry. “You’re awfully quick to share your lady’s private business.”
“Ack, ’tis only MacKinnon, and as your part of this household now, I thought you should know. Especially considering, well …”
The maid’s words fell off as her gaze fell to her colleague. Neither seemed willing to elaborate as they continued down the hall.
“Considering what?” Hope asked.
