Bethany opened her mouth to continue the argument, but Eddie chose that moment to seize hold of Elizabeth's travelling bag.
"I can carry this."
"Eddie, it is nearly as large as you are," said Mrs. Gardiner.
"I carried Father's sample case."
"You dragged Father's sample case," said Grace.
At that moment Freddie came toddling across the hall with both arms raised toward Elizabeth.
Elizabeth laughed, surrendered her bag to the servant, and lifted him at once.
Freddie rewarded her with a sticky hand against her cheek.
"There is my welcome," said Elizabeth.
"You should feel honoured," said Mr. Gardiner from the doorway. "He reserves that distinction for a select few."
That evening, Elizabeth joined her aunt and uncle in the drawing room.
“I confess myself surprised that my brother-in-law should have permitted this journey. We have proposed summer travel before, and never with success.”
Elizabeth smiled faintly. “I long ago ceased to expect consistency from my father.”
Mrs. Gardiner nodded. “The children were much disappointed that you could not join us this winter. I regretted it myself, though the house was in too great a state of confusion to insist. Your father was quite resolute on the matter.”
“I hardly recognised it upon my arrival,” said Elizabeth. “The alteration is remarkable. Had I not known otherwise, I should have believed the house always of this size.”
Mr. Gardiner smiled. “That was very much the intention. The neighbouring property suffered a serious fire last year. Its owner preferred selling to rebuilding, and I found the opportunity too advantageous to ignore.”
“And your uncle has spent the better part of a year making plans ever since,” said Mrs. Gardiner.
“I should have been a poor merchant had I not,” he replied. “The two houses shared a wall already. Once the purchase was made, the rest was chiefly a matter of patience.”
“You have nearly doubled the size of the place.”
“Not quite,” said Mr. Gardiner. “Though the children seem determined to persuade visitors otherwise.”
“With four growing children and a steady procession of guests,” said Mrs. Gardiner, “we had long outgrown the old arrangement.”
“I wondered that you did not simply remove elsewhere.”
“So did many of my acquaintances,” said Mr. Gardiner. “But my warehouses remain where they have always been, and I have no desire to spend half my life travelling from one end of London to the other merely to possess a more fashionable address.”
“I am glad you did not,” said Elizabeth. “It still feels entirely itself.”
“Then the expense was worthwhile,” said Mrs. Gardiner.
“And the expense of a seaside tour?” said Elizabeth. “A larger house, additional servants, and now several weeks by the sea. I begin to suspect my uncle is determined to spoil his wife.”
Mrs. Gardiner laughed.
“I assure you, I have made no such request.”
“Then I must defend myself,” said Mr. Gardiner. “The house was a practical necessity, and the seaside is scarcely the extravagance you imagine.”
“No?” said Elizabeth.
