“Fear not, Mrs. Carlyle,” the driver said. “He’ll come back. They always do.”
She frowned.
“They?”
“Aye, the lieutenant’s animals. He collects them. Don’t you, sir?”
“Thank you, Squires,” Rhys said as he climbed out of the carriage. “But I hardly think of what I do as collecting.”
“Then what is it?” she asked.
He hesitated before answering. “Well, I give them a place to be, I suppose.”
She smiled.
“Sounds like a collection to me.”
“Ah! Lieutenant!” A woman’s voice called out from the front of the house, causing them to turn. “It’s wonderful to have you back!”
The woman, who looked like she was in her early seventies, hurried alongside what could only be her husband. Both were white haired and wrinkled. The man had a cane in his left hand and his wife held onto his right arm as Rhys and Louisa came towards them.
“Aye, who’s this now?” the man, in a thick country accent, asked. He pointed his cane at her. “Another one of your strays, sir?”
“No,” Rhys answered. “This is my wife. Mrs. Louisa Carlyle.”
Both the man and woman’s mouths fell open as Louisa curtsied.
“How do you do?”
“A wife?” the old woman screeched. “The devil takes you, Lieutenant, for not sending word. Oh, the house is in shambles yet—”
“She won’t mind,” the old man winked. “She took up with him, hasn’t she?”
“Oh, Harold, don’t be so daft. Come, dearie,” the old woman said, stepping towards her. “My name is Mrs. Crawford. This is my husband, Mr. Crawford. We’re the caretakers here, although to be honest, the work has outgrown us these past few years. Just before the lieutenant here bought Fenwick Park. You mustn’t judge the house as it is, but what it might be.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Louisa said as Rhys surrendered her to Mrs. Crawford.
Mrs. Crawford led the way into a sizeable foyer, with an oak carved staircase off to the right and polished herringbone wood floors. A drawing room was on the left, the dining room to the right. Farther down was a parlor room, an office, and a sizeable room with furniture tucked away under sheets.
“This is the ballroom, if it can be called that,” Mrs. Crawford stated. “It’s small, but then no smaller than the library. Right through here,” she said, as she opened two tall doors acrossthe hall as Louisa followed. The smell from the library was that of old books, mildewy and thick. “This room requires the most work on this floor.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Ak, no. But it was once and will be again. Sooner now that a lady is in residence.” She winked. “Come, I’ll show you the rooms.”
“Where is Rhys?”
“The lieutenant went with Mr. Crawford to discuss planting time.”
“And the lieutenant is determined to plant those four fields all by himself?” she asked in disbelief.
“Four? Goodness gracious, no.” Louisa felt relieved. “There’s twenty fields in need of planting.”
“Twenty?”
“Aye. And twenty more still to the north, but there aren’t any tenants yet. The lieutenant has a plan to work the bottom twenty fields this year, to gain a sizeable crop, then hopefully, he’ll be able to entice some tenants to move here. But the tenant houses are in disrepair. Still, first the seeds, then the houses. That’s what the lieutenant has been saying for months now.” She pointed to small door tucked away, in between bookcases. “That is the servants’ door. It leads to the kitchens. Come.”
Mrs. Crawford led the way back out through the ballroom, down the hallway, and up the staircase. There were two wings on the second floor, the east, and the west. After seeing a music room and several guest rooms, Louisa was led to a sizable door at the end of the west wing. The room was painted pale blue, with the same polished wood floors as the foyer and a small circular canopy that spread out in the most inviting way over a large square bed. White linens covered the windows as the afternoon sun shone in. Heavy, dark furniture such as a wardrobe, trunk, and dressing table were all that were in here,and several portraits of animals playing in the country lined the far wall. A large marble fireplace sat at the foot of the bed and while it wasn’t as elegant as her uncle’s home, Louisa found herself pleasantly pleased with the country estate.
