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“Yes. We’ll want to find some pinecones to go with the suet balls.”

“Suet balls?” Evie said with a wrinkled nose. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“They aren’t for you, silly,” Ari said. “They’re for the birds.”

They walked down the back staircase to the kitchen. It was a flurry of activity.

“Mrs. Jannet,” Ari waved to the older woman at the far side of the kitchen. She looked rather harried. “We need supplies.”

“What sort of supplies?” The woman barely spared them a glance.

Ari nudged Pippy.

“Uh,” she stammered. “Suet, oats, and some nuts, if you can spare them.”

“Yes, yes. But I can’t be bothered by it now.” The cook looked around. “You there. Take them to the larder and find them what they need.”

A young woman wearing a drab gray housemaid dress, her blond hair stuffed into a white cap, nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” She looked at Pippy and then the girls. “Come along, my ladies.”

As they left the kitchen, Mrs. Jannet’s voice carried to them. “Make certain you shut the door. We don’t want all the cold air escaping.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the maid said on a sigh.

She was an interesting maid—not like any Pippy had ever encountered. But then, Lady Dalmeer’s household was unlike any Pippy had ever seen.

“I have no notion why she should care,” the girl muttered under her breath. “It’s not as if she goes in there herself.”

Ari nudged Pippy and gave her a stunned look.

They entered the dark room, and the cold hit Pippy in the face. She was glad she had on her pelisse.

The maid put the candle holder on the ledge near the door. She rummaged around. “What are you in need of?”

“Suet, oats, and nuts, please,” Pippy said.

“How much?” the maid asked.

Pippy looked at Ari and Evie.

They shrugged.

“I don’t rightly know,” Pippy said. “How much do you think it takes to feed birds?”

“You’re using it for birds?” the maid asked.

Pippy tipped her head to the side. The girl’s words indicated disapproval. But the twinkle in her eyes seemed to contradict that notion. “A pound should be plenty.”

“I should think so,” the maid nodded as she carved off a hunk. “Are you in need of anything else for the birds?”

“I should think two large handfuls each of oats and nuts,” Pippy said authoritatively. “And any stale bread you might have.”

The maid frowned as she hunted around the room. “Bread too? I know people who don’t eat so well.”

“Well,” Evie said, but she seemed too shocked to say anything more.

The maid handed over the paper-wrapped suet and a small sack. “Will that be all, my lady? I must return above stairs. I have chores to attend to.”

Pippy nodded. “Certainly. Thank you for your help.”