This time the answering silence was longer. “There?”
Felicity just gave the step another pat.
“You've been appointed to do for me?” she asked when Sukie sat and tugged her skirts over the sturdy black shoes that pretty well-matched Felicity's own.
“If it please you, Miss. Yes.”
Felicity finally sat up and turned to face her. “I am delighted, although I'm not sure how much you shall benefit. As you can see, I do not claim any pretensions to fashion. A good swipe of my shoes and warm water in the morning might be enough to do me. Is it enough for you?”
Sukie's smile was huge, revealing a bit of a gap between her two front teeth. “Lord love ya, Miss. I'll find somethin' to do. It's worth it for the advancement.”
Felicity nodded. That was right. Sukie had gained a better place at the servant's table with the promotion. Well, Felicity wasn't going to deny the girl her better ration and status.
“You can help me one way, if you will.” Felicity took another look out over the staircase to where it swept down three more stories in an elegant oval. A far cry from anywhere she had ever lived before. And she was to be in charge of it, at least nominally. If she said yes, anyway.
“Anything, Miss.”
“What do you know of Lord Flint?”
Sukie blushed and dipped her eyes. “Handsomest man in Gloucestershire.”
“He is that.”
“Not sure exactly what you want to know, Miss, since he's not here often.”
“Where is he?”
“Workin' for the duke, so I hear. Spent time travelin' and all. Was with the army chasin’ Napoleon, too.”
“And when he's here?”
Another flashing smile. “Most of the girls're half in love with him. Can't help it, can they?” Her eyes widened abruptly. “Not me, o' course. I'm walking out with Jeb the groom. But everybody likes him.”
“The staff is...er...comfortable with him?”
“Do you mean does he bother the girls? Nobody bothers anybody here. He won't have it.” She grinned suddenly. “And if he tried, Mrs. Windom would give him what how.”
“And yet he has some rackety friends.”
Sukie shrugged in the world-weary way of those in service. “All young men do, I'd say. And his could be worse. Noisy, mostly, a bit frolicsome, but only amongst themselves. There's no fear of being interfered with, which is a nice change, which I'm sure you know.”
Felicity smiled. “I do indeed. It is why I fought to gain a slot in an all-girl's academy. Do you know anything about the girls who pass through here?”
Sukie wasn't stupid enough to miss the deliberate segue. “Nothin' more'n they need plumpin' up when they come. Silent as graves most of 'em. Glad to move on, though none'll have any complaints of their care here.”
“If I'm any example, Sukie, that is definitely true.”
“Are you truly going to be mistress of the house, Miss?”
Felicity turned back to her acanthus leaves. “I honestly don't know, Sukie. None of it makes sense to me.”
Sukie laughed. “You'll pardon my sayin', Miss, but what difference does that make? Don't you want to live here? And above stairs?”
The truth? She did. She couldn't deny it. There was something so lovely about the old bones of this place. Something homey and dear and loved that called to her lonely heart. Something that might just actually be hers, even for a while.
But as she well knew, as Sukie knew just as well, things were never that simple.
“What is the word downstairs?”
