At once, Katie was alert.
“Are you unwell, miss?” Her forehead was pleated with worry. Then she saw the open letter in her mistress’s hand. “Not bad news, I hope?”
“No, no!” Sophia spluttered. “Of course not! I just… It’s only…” Her denial ground to a stuttering halt. “Oh, Katie,” she cried, “why must men be so contrary?!”
Katie took the question in her stride. “I don’t know, miss. I am sure they would say the same of us.” She smiled shyly. “If you’ll pardon my saying so.”
Sophia slumped back onto the arm of the sofa. “It was all going so well.” She tapped the letter accusingly. “Why would he get such a thought in his head?”
“Begging pardon, miss, but I cannot answer the question, seeing as I don’t know who or what the mistress is talking about. Forgiving my bluntness, miss.”
Sophia turned her head and looked at Katie properly for the first time. She had sharp features: cheekbones, nose, chin, all of it. And bright eyes to match. Papa would not have entrusted his precious child to a dullard, but Sophia had never really pondered this before.
“Katie,” she began, her head cocked thoughtfully, “what do you do when you are not looking after me?”
“Oh, well, I make sure the mistress’s clothes are clean and pressed. I tend to the fire. I…”
“No, I meant when you have time to yourself.”
“To myself?” The blank look on Katie’s face gave Sophia pause.
“Yes, you know, when you are not busy.”
“I…I hardly know how to answer that, miss. If I am not busy, then I am not doing me job properly.”
“Oh. I see. So you do not have an admirer? Someone to whom you might slip away in your stolen moments?”
Katie snort-laughed and then threw a cupped hand across her mouth, her eyes wide. “Begging your pardon, miss! I did not mean to sound disrespectful. It’s just that, if the master was to think I had me a young man, I’d be sacked on the spot.”
Sophia was horrified. “You could never fall in love? Never marry?”
Katie lowered her eyes, a corner of her mouth twitching into a demure smile. “I didn’t say that, miss. It’s just, if I did, I couldn’t stay here any longer. I’d have to choose.”
“I know the feeling.”
“Yes, miss. Poor Miss Adriana.”
“Miss Adriana?”
“Oh, yes, miss! It’s so sad that she cannot have a normal courtship. They make such a lovely couple.”
“You know about Fr… I mean, Mr. Wynn?”
Katie’s chin lifted and her chest swelled a little. “Miss Adriana trusts me with delivering their correspondence. I always take great care not to let them down. Her beau cannot send his letters here like your Mr. Mannerly does.”
Sophia’s eyebrows shot up, and a warning sounded up the length of her spine.
“MyMr. Mannerly?”
“Yes, miss. If the mistress don’t mind me saying, she’s been clever not to speak of her feelings to the master. Miss Adriana is very bold, but it has also cost her dearly, ’cause now the master watches her closely and it is difficult for her to meet with Mr. Wynn. Not that it stops her. She’s a brave one. All the staff are rooting for her. We all love a romance, we do.”
“That is very heartening to know, I’m sure. But I would like to make it clear—Mr. Mannerly and I donothave a romance.”
Katie tapped her nose and winked. “Of course not. I understand, Miss Grant.”
“I don’t think youdo. Mr. Mannerly and I correspond about literature. Perhaps you have confused our friendship with something more. Surely, your enjoyment of a good romance should not require you to invent one?”
“Oh, Miss Grant, it’s all right. I would never betray you to the master! You deserve to be happy.”
