“You have a wonderful family, and I have no wish to come across as ungrateful. You’ll forgive me—it’s just that I am unused to your ways.”
“It does take adjustment,” Lord Seddon mused.
The younger members of the family ran on ahead and into the bakery as they reached it.
“The tables and chairs are a new addition,” Lord Seddon said.
On the window, painted in gold, were the words:
Appleblossoms Bakers
the best apricotines in London
“Did you know that the Crabbett Close residents now run this place, Miss Downing?”
“I had heard that, Mrs. Fletcher.”
“What do you know of the Pavlov fortune?” Lord Seddon interjected.
“Not a great deal, my lord, but I do know it was recently found.”
“By us,” he said, shocking her. “She’s struck silent after that revelation, Ellen.”
“I—ah….”
“It’s a long story, but the short version is, our cousin, Charles, and his wife, Violet, were the ones to find it, and we are the family that benefited from it. We’ve given a lot of money away, some of it to the residents of Crabbett Close. We purchased Appleblossoms bakery for them,” Mrs. Fletcher said.
“Good lord” was all Eliza could come up with.
“We’ll purchase Nitpicks Trinkets and Treasures, too, when they sell, and likely the bookstore, but I don’t think that will come up for a while. Lovely family in there, but that’s another story,” Lord Seddon said. “One day we’ll tell you, but I think you’ve had enough shocks for today.”
“Why don’t you visit the bookshop, and we shall collect enough food to feed the small army that is my family,” Mrs. Fletcher said. “Nicholson’s Book Store is very popular. People come from far and wide to view it, these days.”
“I am working,” Eliza felt the need to say.
“I’ve heard they have a copy ofA Vindication of the Rights of Womanby Mary Wollenstonecraft. Excellent read. Perhaps you would enjoy it?”
She stared at Mrs. Fletcher. Surely, she wasn’t a suffragist?
“Miss Downing,” Lord Seddon tutted. “We in our family are champions for women’s rights. How is it you don’t know this already?”
“I did hear Mr. Fletcher speaking on the matter once,” Eliza conceded.
“Well, there you go then. Now go and see the bookshop. It’s a wondrous place. We shall see you shortly,” Mrs. Fletcher said.
They walked away, leaving Eliza contemplating the oddities that were the members of the Nightingale family. Not in a bad way, but an unexpected one. She’d never met people like them, and was now quite sure she was pleased that she had.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The unease that traveled down his spine had Mungo standing suddenly.
“What?” Bud asked, lowering her mug back to the table. “You look like you’re at the altar, and it’s Tabitha Varney standing next to you.”
“That’s a good one,” Mr. Dumple said.
“Excuse me,” Mungo said. “Something’s not right.”
“What’s not right? You sound like a Nightingale. That’s the kind of thing they say.”
