“They’ll come for you if you’re not downstairs in five minutes,” Fred warned. “Once, they carried Mr. Douglas’s son-in-law out of the house when he wouldn’t participate. Now hurry up, Eliza. The locals don’t like to be kept waiting.”
Fred turned and ran back down the stairs.
While they were good people, Eliza could not afford to anger them. She quickly pulled on her boots and laced them up. Because she was always cold, she added a second pair of gloves and lastly, her coat and bonnet. Looking around her, she tried to find her scarf, but there was no sign of it and no time to look further.
She then hurried downstairs in under five minutes, as directed by Fred.
“Excellent. I thought we’d have to come and get you,” Alexander Nightingale said. “We are depleted in numbers, you see, as only Gray and Ellen answered the call. Harriet and Cyn are busy with the young ones.”
She nodded instead of asking the ten questions she wanted to.
Never question those above you. Know your place.
Everyone filed outside, with Eliza at the rear.
“Now remember, Miss Downing, we have a word of the week in the household. If it is spoken, you must do what was directed when it was selected,” Lord Seddon said.
“Word of the week?” she echoed, her voice a little faint.
“Clearly they haven’t informed you of all the household goings-on.”
“We’re easing Miss Downing into our waysslowly,” Matilda called over her shoulder.
“Word of the week is ‘Kench,’ and you must walkbackward for five paces if it is spoken, just so you are prepared,” Lord Seddon added. “Now, I know you’ve had a baptism of fire since you’ve been here, but I assure you, this will be fun.”
“You must focus, Miss Downing, I will not be beaten if you’re on my team,” Theo said.
“You little turncoat, you’ll try for Mavis’s team again,” Alexander Nightingale said, lunging at his little brother, who squealed and ran.
Her head was spinning. Kench? Walk backward? Thankfully there was no sign of the Scottish Curmudgeon. Hopefully that meant he’d decided to stay in the house.
It was frigid outside—cold enough that little plumes of white formed when they spoke or breathed out. Eliza looked longingly at the house behind her and found Mungo.Drat.She turned away, but not before she noted his habitual scowl was in place.
Despite the expression on his face, he was looking ridiculously vital and handsome. Clearly, he’d fully recovered from his brief incarceration. Eliza hated that if he was near, she felt drawn to look at him. It was annoying how he made her unsettled when he was near. Ill-mannered beast.
“Oooh, I’m so excited!” These words came from Anna. She bore no resemblance to the others because she’d not been born into the family but had come to live with them from an orphanage. Yet more proof these were good people, if she’d needed it.
Looking toward the small park in the middle of the close, Eliza noted that the rotunda held several people, and around it milled many more.
“Hurry it along, Nightingales. We are awaiting you!” a man with a large speaking trumpet called out.
When he lowered it, she realized it was Mr. Greedy. She’d met him the day she arrived.
“I promise you will enjoy this, Miss Downing, and asthey are played often, it’s best to just get the first games over with,” Bramstone Nightingale said. He held Lottie, his sweet-faced daughter, by the hand. She skipped along at his side.
“I really don’t think it’s done for me to be here with you all,” Eliza felt the need to say.
“Of course it is. Now hurry it along. We don’t stand on ceremony,” he added.
She followed the household to where the others waited.
“Do we have anyone new here today?” Mr. Greedy said into his speaking trumpet.
Eliza took a step back, wondering if she should slip away when no one was looking.
Do not fraternize with the senior members of the household.
“Going somewhere?” a deep voice said close to her ear.
