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Freddie squinted out across the parkland. “No, I think we should move it farther out. Then if anyone wishes to make snow puppets there’s room enough for them to do it.”

“It seems to me there is more room for those activities out the front doors,” Lord Kentwood said.

Lud, he and his father couldn’t even agree on where to play snow games. Freddie sighed.

They moved as a group—skirting the area directly in front of the stairs—to the parkland by the fountain. “This seems as good a location as any,” Freddie said. He looked up at the sky. Gray still covered the whole of it and white flakes fell in earnest. If he were not a grown man, he might consider falling onto his back and watching the flakes fall.

“Did everyone bring a battledore?” he asked.

Everyone mumbled in the affirmative—some more enthusiastically than others.

Freddie pulled several shuttlecocks from his pocket. “Shall we divide into two groups or play as one?” he asked.

Evie glanced toward Fin and Stan. “One large group would be fun.”

Ari scoffed. “But there are so many of us, we’ll hardly ever touch the shuttlecock. Two groups would be better.”

He turned to Fin and Stan. “What are your opinions?”

Fin shrugged. “I have no preference.”

“Return indoors?” Stan asked with a wry smile.

“No one is holding you prisoner, my lord,” Ari bit back.

“Point taken, my lady,” Stan said with a slight bow. “I agree with Lady Arabella. Two groups will make it more fun.”

Freddie looked to Pippy. “You seem to be the tiebreaker, my dear. What say you?”

She looked around the group until she came to his father. “I defer to Lord Kentwood. He surely has a better understanding of the game than I do.”

Freddie frowned.

“If we do it as one group, it seems less likely anyone will get hurt,” his father said.

“How do you reckon that?” Pippy blurted but then snapped her mouth shut.

Ah, there she was.

“While I do not agree with your assessment, Father,” he said, “I believe there’s more fun to be had as one group. But perhaps we can make a compromise?”

“Compromise?” Fin asked. “How does one compromise in shuttlecock?”

Freddie held up two shuttlecocks. “What if we use both of them at the same time?”

“But is that not the same as having two groups?” Ari asked.

“No,” Pippy said, smiling up at him. “He means to have two shuttlecocks in simultaneous play for everyone.” She stood beside him and snaked her hand around his arm. “Very well planned, my lord.”

He tipped his hat to her. “Thank you, my dear.”

“It sounds dangerous, people lurching here and there. I can’t agree with this.” Lord Kentwood looked superior, as if he had spoken and the decision was final. “Come along, girls. I’m certain you’re cold and in need of tea.”

“They will be fine, Father,” Freddie said firmly. He looked at his sisters, and a devious thought entered his mind. “If you stay and play, Pippy and I will share our chocolate with you.”

Ari turned pleading eyes to her father. “Oh, Papa. Please, may we stay? I love chocolate. And shuttlecock. And snow.” If anyone could change his mind, it was Ari. She was the one he rarely denied anything. Was it because she looked so much like their mother? Or because she was the youngest? Freddie couldn’t say for certain.

Lord Kentwood looked heavenward—a sure sign he was about to relent. “Very well,” he said. “If that is what you wish. But I shall hear nothing of it should you turn an ankle.”