Chapter 21
Two days later, after a few more visits to crofters, Drew and Marianne returned to the manor for luncheon. As they settled in, the breakfast room door flew open and their little typhoon breezed in.
“Mama, Papa, I couldn’t wait for you to come home. Look! Look! Miss Jane and I went to the barn. Look what I got.” She clutched the little pinafore of her sky-blue dress by each corner with her small hands. As she came to the table, first to her mother, then to her father, she displayed the kitten asleep in the crisp, white, linen fabric. “Shhh! Kitty’s sleeping. We must not wake her. Miss Jane says she is old enough to leave her mama if we feed her milk every day. Can I keep her? Can I? Can I?”
Marianne had no idea how the little ball of fluff could remain sleeping with the excitement in the child’s voice and all the jostling as it lay suspended in the apron while Andrea walked around the table.
Marianne looked across the table at her husband. The man literally beamed in delight. There was no saying no to this request. Their daughter, so enthralled with the kitten, and him away for the first years of her life, would never be deprived by her father of such joy.
Marianne cleared her throat. “Well, Papa and I will discuss it, of course.”
Drew looked up, then schooled his features to be stern and forbidding. He, too, cleared his throat. “Of course, we will discuss it. As you know, little one, it’s important to take very good care of such a young defenseless creature.”
Andrea bounced on her toes trying to restrain her enthusiasm. “I can do it. I can do it. Miss Jane said she would help me.”
Drew and Marianne turned their heads toward the governess who had been quietly waiting at the door.
Jane, also held rapt by the small child’s fervor, nodded. “I promised her I would help if the both of you approved. She has no other play friends at the moment, and I hoped it would help her feel less lonely while teaching her a little about responsibility, kindness and gentleness.”
When Drew looked over at Marianne, she nodded her approval. “Bring the kitten over here, Andrea.”
The child tiptoed over to her father. The kitten, still sound asleep, seemed to be totally unaware that the fate of its future was being decided as it slept. Drew reached into the little pouch Andrea had made of her pinafore.
“Papa, Papa, you’ll wake her.”
“I know, little one, but I want to look at it closely to make sure it is healthy. Have you chosen a name?”
As Andrea pouted out her lower lip in deep thought, Drew stroked the little creature, black with a white bib and socks, in his large hands. It was fluffier than most kittens so he expected the kitten would remain soft as it grew. He rolled it over on to its back in one large palm and pushed gently on its belly between its legs.
The kitten stretched, yawned, and gave out a little mewling sound. Then it took to licking and cleaning its front paws.
“It’s a girl, Andrea. You need to pick a girl’s name.”
“A girl kitty. It’s a girl kitty? There are lots of girl names I like. Penelope. Petunia. Kitty. Pussycat. Her mama’s name is Fluffy and she’s so fluffy like her. But she has socks. She’s like the kitten in the nursery story with mittens.” Pausing a moment in deep thought, Andrea finally said, “Can I call her Fluffy Mittens?”
The kitten, now bored with cleaning her paws, mewed again as her little paws grabbed on to Drew’s thumb with tiny, sharp claws and nipped with tiny, sharp teeth. He gently laid the kitten in his daughter’s open arms. “Of course, you can. It appears it is time to start your job, little one. I do believe your charge is hungry and will need you to take her to the kitchen to get her some milk.”
Andrea cradled the cat gently as she turned toward Jane. “Thank you, Papa. Thank you, Mama.” She looked up into the governess’s face. “Thank you, Miss Jane, for teaching me.”
Putting a gentle hand on the child’s small shoulder, Jane made the slightest of bows and trundled Andrea off toward the kitchen.
Marianne sighed. “We’d have two houses full of kittens if it were up to that child.”
“Possibly, but if she learns compassion and responsibility, it can’t possibly be a bad thing.” He brought his teacup to his lips smiling over the brim at his happy but somewhat flustered wife.
Wellingford interrupted their discourse. “My lord, Bridgeton, the bailiff, has arrived . . . accompanied by his daughter.”
“His daughter?” Drew replaced his cup in its saucer.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Show them to the library. We will meet with them shortly. Marianne, I sent a note to Bridgeton first thing this morning. After our meetings with the crofters I believe it is time we find out just what the difficulty is with the instructions you have been giving him.”
Marianne rose from the table as Drew came around and offered his arm. “As you wish. I am most curious about the dilemma.”
~ ~ ~
Drew entered the library with Marianne to find his bailiff not anything like he remembered him. Instead of the erect, energetic, competent man he knew from years before, he found a bent, somewhat disheveled person leaning heavily on a woman not too much older than Drew or his wife.
The woman tried to give what small curtsy she could considering her hampered position. “My lord, excuse my presumption in attending you. Unfortunately, my father is no longer able to get about without an escort.” She turned to the old man whom Drew knew to be not much older than three score years but looking as much as ten or more years older than that. “Papa, here’s the earl. Remember he sent you a note just this morning and wished to talk with you about the estate. Papa, do you understand.”
“Yes, yes, Nancy. I’m not deaf. I can see who it is. It’s the viscount. Where’s your father, lad? Nancy said I was to meet with the earl.”
“Bridgeton, why don’t you and Miss Bridgeton—”
The young woman interrupted politely. “I’m married now, my lord. I’m Mrs. Dunstan, but please call me Nancy. It will be so much easier.”
Drew looked up and nodded. “My congratulations, Nancy. Bridgeton, why don’t you and Nancy have a seat right over here and we can talk.”
Nancy walked her father over to the settee Drew had indicated in front of the hearth which lacked any fire on such a fine day of sunshine and warm breezes. “Papa, settle in here. Now remember how I told you of the old earl’s passing? It’s been quite a few months now. We went to the service in the village. Don’t you remember?”
Bridgeton dropped into the seat with an audible huff. “You never told me, Nancy. I would remember that. So, the boy is in charge? Where is he? Andrew. Andrew, you’re in charge now?”
“Papa, he’s the earl now. You have to call him my lord.” Nancy turned toward Drew, who stood by watching intently. “I’m so sorry, my lord. I’ve explained to him many times. He just doesn’t remember.”
Marianne walked around Drew and stooped before the bailiff and his daughter who sat next to her father. “Hello, Mr. Bridgeton. I’m Lady Reignsfield, the earl’s new wife. You can call me Lady Marianne. I’m so happy to meet you. I’ve been sending you notes over the last few months since the old earl died. I’m so sorry to have bothered you.”
“Oh. Well, aren’t you nice? Did I get letters from this nice lady, Nancy? Why didn’t you give them to me?”
“Papa, you’ve read each of the letters. I’m so sorry, Lady Marianne. I did read them to Papa and I know he answered them, but I didn’t know what else to do about them. The old earl pretty much left Papa to run things his own way. And he did so very well until about a year ago. He stopped visiting the crofters and couldn’t seem to make sense of the ledgers any more. Since the earl never asked and then he passed on, I just didn’t know what to do.” Nancy took a handkerchief from her pocket and wrung it in her lap.
Marianne recognized the habit well. The bailiff’s daughter was disquieted and didn’t know what to do, where to turn. She laid a hand on the woman’s fretful hands to still them. “It’s quite all right, Nancy. I’m sure we can figure something out. Can’t we, my lord?” She looked up into Drew’s concerned face.
“Yes. Mr. Bridgeton has served us very well for many years. It just may be time to let him retire and give him a well-earned pension.” Drew came around to sit in a chair across from the pair. “If he retires, Nancy, he’ll have to give up the bailiff’s cottage. Where will he live?”
“That will not be a problem, your lordship. In fact, it would be easier on me and the family if he comes to live with us. It would save much time running back and forth, cooking two sets of meals, and worrying about if he wanders off. And the children love him so. They sit and talk with him and show him their toys. It would be a blessing.”
“I will settle half of his annual salary on him. That should be enough to help you with the added expenses of caring for him.” Marianne stood and went over to stand next to Drew.
“My lord, that is most generous.” Nancy laid a hand over her father’s. “Thank you ever so much. I knew it best that he retire, but I had no idea how we should go about it. We’ll have him out of the cottage by week’s end. I’ll scrub it up for the next bailiff, too.” As Drew stood, Nancy did as well, then looked down at Bridgeton who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. “Come, Papa, we need to let the earl and his lady get back to their day.”
Unsteadily, Bridgeton gained his feet and prepared to leave. “Thank you, my boy. You tell your father I was here and expected to have words with him about that new bridge we should be building over the stream near my cottage. He never seems to take much of an interest in what goes on around here. He better start though, or the crofters will just run things right into the ground.”
“Come, Papa.” Nancy led her father toward the door but turned back once more. “Thank you ever so much. I do appreciate your understanding. It’s been a difficult year for us.”
Drew and Marianne approached. “Think nothing of it.” Drew raised his hand in farewell. “Your father is a good man. Take good care of him for us.”
As the bailiff trundled down the hall with encouragement from Nancy, Marianne turned to Drew. “That explains everything. No wonder his letters were so sparse and incoherent. The poor man. He hasn’t much of an idea what is going on around him. Bless his daughter for taking him in. Not all families are so kind.”
“He is certainly not the man I remember. We built that bridge he referred to well over ten years ago.” Drew put an arm around Marianne’s shoulder as he escorted her into the hall. “Well, it’s been a very eventful day. We’ve lost a bailiff and gained a kitten. I think it’s time we get ready for dinner. If luck is with us, we can have a quiet evening and talk about what we shall do next.”