‘She is quite remarkable,’ said Thea. ‘Making progress in all sorts of areas.’
‘I would never have thought to put them seeds in vinegar and nail clippings to make them sprout,’ said Mrs Jenkins, eyebrows aloft. ‘But I suppose that’s what makes her brilliant.’
Thea paused. ‘I suppose it is,’ she said. What book had Frankie been reading?
‘Thank you, Your Grace,’ said Mrs Jenkins, bobbed once, and Thea dismissed her.
Thea finally made for the library and poked her head around the door. She clicked open the door to find Martha, alone at one end of the room, peering through a magnifying lens at a flat, green specimen mounted on parchment, and Mr Crumpacker and Mr Fenwick at the other end, poring over some pieces of parchment as Mr Crumpacker chatted on. Shelves of books,wrapped in dark leather bindings and announcing their titles in black or gilt lettering, swathed the walls.
‘What’s this?’ asked Thea, sitting down next to Martha at the huge, oak table. One thing she had managed to get out of her marriage was a sizeable and well-appointed library. George never came in, so it was the only space in the house they could make mess and work.
‘Unsure,’ said Martha. ‘As yet unnamed. But useful. The natives of Borneo use the wood for timber, the bark for dye and the fruit as cattle feed.’
‘So could be useful here?’ asked Thea. ‘Do we have any?’
Martha shook her head. ‘Wasn’t its seeding time when we were there so no seeds. And it may be useful if we can plant in a colony with a similar climate but doubt if it would be hardy here.’
Thea nodded and started to file through some of the other specimens on the table. It was a feast of new plants she had never laid eyes on before – and knew many would be for Frankie too.
‘I wonder if there are any in this batch that will be the queen’s new thing. She’s still after the protea as far as I know, but we could distract her with something else if it were suitably worthy. I hope she was pleased by the swan milk weed and the double nasturtium I sent her.’
‘I wouldn’t be so hasty,’ said Martha. ‘Your gardener is going all guns blazing for that protea germination and I wouldn’t be surprised if she pulls it off.’
‘Frankie,’ said Thea, giving Martha a stern look. Apparently, time wasn’t softening her views on that kiss.
‘Naturally,’ said Martha dryly. She looked away from the lens to write something in a notebook. ‘When I went out yesterday, she was soaking three of the seeds in blood.’
Thea felt her eyes widen. ‘Human?’
Martha looked up at her, eyebrows raised. ‘Pig, I believe, although I wouldn’t put it past her.’
‘Thank goodness.’ Thea relaxed a little into her chair. ‘She does seem to be trying an awful lot of strange treatments she apparently got out of a book in here.’
‘Well, there’s plenty to go at.’ Martha gestured around her as she returned to peering at the specimen. ‘And if blood is the right mix, then why not.’
No reason, thought Thea. They all wished to be the first to germinate that seed, and Thea was impressed at how much effort Frankie was applying to it.
She turned over a paper on the table to look at some marks scrawled on the back. ‘Anything we can take to Knatchbull?’ Thea knew that Martha understood the game.
‘Plenty,’ said Martha. ‘I plan to veritably shower him with the useless and mundane.’ She looked up from her lens. ‘Through George, of course.’
‘He will appreciate it,’ said Thea. ‘Or, at least, I will appreciate it as it keeps you here and him happy. Well, happier,’ she qualified. She felt Martha’s eyes search her face.
‘I’m sorry it’s so awful,’ said Martha gently. ‘You were right about the drinking – he could barely stand last night when he left the drawing room.’
‘It’s fine,’ said Thea, waving away the concern as if the anxiety didn’t eat her up every day. ‘As long as we keep him happy.’ She didn’t want Martha to know that she was becoming ever more wary of her husband as his behaviour became more erratic. This had been her decision, and she was determined not to make it Martha’s problem. ‘Speaking of men and what makes them happy,’ she said, trying to deflect. ‘How was Sanders when he worked for you? With the ladies on your staff, I mean.’
One of Martha’s brows raised. ‘No trouble at all as far as I’m aware. Has he been making a nuisance of himself?’
Thea shrugged. ‘I’m not sure yet. Only Frankie mentioned that he and Annie were a bit soft on one another and that she’s recently been ill in the mornings. Not that Annie let me know, obviously.’
Martha still looked shocked. ‘I would never have thought it of him. And definitely not of her before marriage.’
Thea’s mind slipped back to the night before, when Martha had done things to her that she was certain would make Sanders or Annie blush right out of their boots. Martha must have caught her look, because a wicked smile slipped onto her face.
‘Fair point,’ she said, without either of them exchanging a word.
Thea glanced around and then leaned forward and slid a hand to Martha’s knee under the table, then pulled away quickly when she remembered Mr Fenwick and Mr Crumpacker. She couldn’t afford to forget herself.
