“Yes.”
A high-pitched voice called out, “Grandfather!”
The most beautiful sound in the world.
“Grandfather! Grandfather!” His little Mina, usually so dignified, ran into the red drawing room, and he caught her up in his arms.
“Mina,” he said and almost choked on the word.
“Grandfather. I’m so happy,” she said and sighed. She had a crease on her cheek from her pillow.
“I am, too. Did you have a good time while I was gone?”
She shook her head. “It was very dull without you.”
“We have a guest I’d like you to meet.”
Only at that moment did Henry realize he hadn’t discussed with Susannah how she would like to be introduced to Mina. Would he reveal she was Mr. Augustus Puddlewick or should he leave it to her?
“Who?” Mina said, looking around the drawing room and catching sight of Susannah, who had risen to her feet.
Knowing Mina didn’t like lookinglike a baby, as she put it, Henry set her down, and she walked over to Susannah and curtsied.
“How do you do?”
Susannah curtsied. “Very well, thank you. How do you do?”
“Very well, thank you.” Mina looked at Henry and then back at Susannah. “Are you my new grandmother?”
Susannah made a choking sound.
“No,” Henry said. “No, this is . . .well, she, she is . . .” He didn’t know what to say.
Susannah put her finger to her lips. “What I am is a very great secret,” she said. “And I think you should try to guess that secret.”
The tea came in then, and Mina chose to sit next to Susannah on the sofa.
After tea had been poured, with Mina getting mostly milk in her cup, and the servants had left, Susannah turned to Mina and said with a smile, “You can ask me questions, any question except my name, and I’ll answer. But you only have twenty questions.”
“Are you a queen?”
Susannah extended one finger. “No, decidedly not.”
“Are you married?”
A second finger. “No.”
Mina thought. “I should have asked the questions the other way around. Because if you’re not married, you couldn’t be a queen.”
“There have been many queens who weren’t married. Queen Elizabeth, for example.”
Mina nodded. “Bledsoe Park is shaped like anEafter her.”
Susannah looked at Henry, and he nodded, too.
“Have I met you before?” Mina asked.
“In a way. But not like this. Not face to face.”
