She rushed to embrace Eleanor.
“Why Charles, let me look at you, sister!” Ellie held her at arms’ length a moment. “Most proper indeed in new housekeeper dress—it suits you well.”
“And a fine job she does as housekeeper, too,” Cuthbert added in an uncustomarily friendly manner.
Eleanor granted the steward a warm smile. “Come in, both of you, come and sit.”
Within seconds it was as if no time had passed, and Charles greeted her father with a bear hug. “Papa, I’ve missed you so!” She almost wept her relief into his shoulder, the old man so stooped now she stood a full head taller than he.
“That you, Charles?” He looked at her and blinked. “Where’s Mother got off to? I don’t know why you are so happy to see me, girl, when but an hour ago you beat me roundly at chess.”
Charles laughed. “Of course I beat you, Father. I learned from the best.” She again hugged him to her tightly, not caring what reality his poor, befuddled mind might currently live and breathe.
Eleanor returned with tea to pour them all cups, then took Charles’s hand across the table, squeezing it a little. “Now sister, you must tell me everything that has happened these long weeks past.”
“Ellie, I’ve written everything in my letters. There’s not much else to tell.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute.” Her eyes met Cuthbert’s. “John here says you’ve turned a new leaf with his lordship. Says he fancies you reformed.” She winked at Cuthbert, who looked mildly horrified by her candid manner.
“Did he now?” Charles shot daggers at John. “Reformedis an awfully charged word, Ellie. Though I believe it is Lord Wellesley who is changed since the accident at the south wall.”
Cuthbert met Charles’s gaze a little sheepishly before he set down his cup. “Well, as I’ve a leakin’ roof to tend to in the barn, I’ll leave you to it.” He again smiled at Ellie, who smiled right back. A look not lost on Charles,that.
“Thank you, Cuthbert,” she told him. “We’ll not be long. The weather’s looked ominous all morning, so we ought not dally.”
“Oi.” He nodded. “Storm’s a brewing.” And out he strode.
Eleanor immediately launched in. “You look well, Charles, and well fed too. It must be Mrs. Jenkins’s cooking. Your cheeks are flush with health and . . .” She peered more closely. “But you are blushing, Charles. It is not health but something else which makes you glow. What has you blushing, sister?” She frowned. “What is it you are not telling me?”
Charles briefly panicked. “Nothing. I am simply overcome with joy to see you and father again.” She quickly changed tack. “And I blush, I think, to witness your response to John Cuthbert.” Charles met Ellie’s eyes with resolve. “What is it you are not tellingme, Eleanor?”
***
Eleanor felt her own cheeks pink. “I assure you, Charles, I am merely grateful for John’s company.” She looked away. “You know what poor conversation Father is. John, however, listens to me, treats me like a thinking, feeling human. So of course I’ve grown somewhat . . .” She broke off. “Well I admit I am alittlefond of him, I suppose.”
Her sister’s eyes narrowed. “Eleanor Merrinan, you must not allow yourself to grow any fonder of the man, promise me.” Charles’s tone was terse. “Cuthbert is decent enough, I’ll grant, but he is not of your caliber, Ellie. You are a lady, despite how you live, and you must not forget it. You will marry an upstanding gentleman one day with a respectable title, ample means, and?—”
“Stop, Charles,” she got out, her ire rising. “Stop at once.Youare a lady too, yet embrace instead now your position in service to Lord Wellesley. You cannot insist on something for me which you do not insist for yourself, nor may you decide who it is I do or do not grow fond of.”
Her sister stared at her in shock, and Eleanor barely knew herself for the words that had so rashly tumbled from her mouth. She watched Charles pause her response, and in that pause Ellie felt awash with such concern and dismay she could stand it no longer. She burst into tears.
“Oh Charles, I do not wish to argue! You have only just arrived and already we are fighting. I don’t know what’s come over me of a sudden, only I couldn’t bear it if you were angry with me. I didn’t mean it, truly. I only meant that I . . . that since you left I’ve . . .”
Her sister gripped her hand. “You’ve grown up, Ellie, I see that now. It isIwho must apologize.”
Eleanor hastily brushed back tears.
Charles continued. “I left you all alone, not by choice you understand. I am sure you figured that much out. Lord Wellesley has not trusted me till now to visit, else I would have come sooner, believe me. But perhaps it’s been good for you to fend for yourself here with Papa. I am proud you stayed strong in my absence, proud even that you now take me to task.” Charles finally smiled. “Let us not argue further, Ellie. My time here is short; I wish only to spend it with you happily.”
“As do I, Charles,” Eleanor exclaimed. “Nor do I blame you for what happened. I can scarce complain when we are well fed and nearly stocked for winter.” She looked down a moment. “I worry more for you than us, Charles, on your own with all those men at the Abbey. John tells me they are harmless, but I know how you turn heads.”
***
This was too close to the truth for Charles. “Ellie, I assure you, as housekeeper of Almsdale Abbey no one dares to disrespect me.”
“And Lord Wellesley?” Eleanor asked, not yet appeased. “Your letters describe him so varyingly I hardly know what to think of him. His visit to us was rather odd, was it not?”
Charles swallowed. “He puzzles me, yes. But so long as he is happy with my work and keeps you and father fed, I cannot complain.” She hoped this would spell the end of all such talk.
