Free Michael Cox by The Glass of Time (mobi)

still bathed the forest of spires and towers, chimneys and turrets, that gives the great house of Evenwood its bristling distinctiveness in a soft aureate light, and threw muted shadows across the clipped lawns and gravel walks. On the south side of the house I discovered a large rectangular fish-pond, closed in by high walls, profusely colonized by bright-yellow stonecrop. Here I lingered, looking down into the still, dark waters at the fish, many of great size, that swam lazily about, until it was time for me to return to the house.
As the Chapel clock struck the hour of five, and having washed my face, brushed my hair, and smoothed down my dress, I knocked at the door of my Lady’s apartments.
    3

    The First Day Ends

    I
Questions and Answers

    M Y LADY was reclining in the window-seat, book in hand, exactly as I had left her.
‘Come and sit with me, Alice,’ she said, laying down the book with a weary sigh. ‘I shall not go down to dinner tonight after all.’
‘Very well, my Lady,’ I said, taking my place beside her.
‘Now, tell me what you’ve been doing. You must think it a strange kind of service to be allowed to do as you like all the day. But you must not become used to it. I shall work you hard from now on.’
She was smiling – a poor melancholy smile, to be sure; but I saw in her eyes that her words were kindly meant.
I recounted my morning exploration through the East Wing, although omitting my encounters with Mr Perseus and Mr Randolph Duport, and my new acquaintance with Sukie Prout.
‘You might explore Evenwood for ever,’ she said, ‘and still discover new things to admire. Someone once described it to me as a house without end, perpetually disclosing new aspects of itself. There are parts of it that even I have never visited; and others, I’m sure, that will remain forever unknown to me. Perhaps, Alice, you may make some discoveries on my behalf, and come and tell me what you’ve found, for I perceive that you have an enquiring nature.’
Then she asked whether I thought that I would be happy in her service.
‘Oh yes, my Lady. Even more than before, now that I’ve become a little familiar with my new surroundings, and acquainted with some of the people here – especially with you, my Lady.’
She took the compliment with another sad little smile before asking me how I had found Mrs Battersby.
I replied that she seemed a very capable sort of person.
‘Capable!’ she exclaimed, giving an appreciative clap. ‘That exactly describes her! Jane Battersby is certainly capable. A remarkable young woman in many ways, rather mysterious, with a certain worldly wisdom far beyond her station. And whom else have you met today?’
‘Mr Pocock, of course; and Henry Creswick, and also Mr Maggs.’
‘No one else?’
Her eyes were now fixed on me in that discomfiting way she had. Deciding that a little truth was required, I told her how I had met Sukie Prout on the landing below my room.
‘Sukie Prout?’
She thought for a moment.
‘Ah, one of the downstairs-maids.’
‘The upper house-maid, my Lady.’
‘Quite. And no one else?’
I realized then that she knew of my accidental meetings with her sons. For a moment I was unsure how to answer, but she anticipated me.
‘My son Perseus tells me that he has already made your acquaintance. His brother, too, I believe.’
I now had no choice but to admit the fact with as much indifference as I could, although I could not see where I had been at fault.
‘Was it such a little thing to forget?’ she asked.
‘I beg your pardon, my Lady?’
‘To make the acquaintance of the heir to the Tansor Barony, and his younger brother?’
I thought that she was about to reprimand me, but then I saw that a faint smile was playing round her lips.
‘Don’t be alarmed, my dear,’ she said, leaning towards me and patting my hand. ‘I don’t blame you in any way for feeling that you could not tell me. You are alive to these little delicacies, I see. But tell me, which