Free Listen to the Moon by Rose Lerner Page B

no longer continue the expense of a personal servant. As Lord Lenfield has replaced me, I find myself at liberty. Both brothers have given me references, and Lord Lenfield said I might tell you that he would be grateful to you for employing me.” He drew the letters from his pocket and held them out.
    Mr. Summers raised eyebrows so pale and sparse they nearly disappeared into his face. “Now that was tactful. It speaks well for your discretion, if not your honesty.”
    “I consider discretion preferable to honesty when discussing my employer’s affairs, sir.”
    Mr. Summers threw back his head and cackled. “A Daniel has come to judgment! I see you would best me in debate, Mr. Toogood, but fortunately I am not required to justify myself to you. I don’t doubt you are an excellent servant, and were you married, you would head my list of candidates. But as you are a bachelor, I can only wish you the best of luck.”
    John ought to thank the vicar and be on his way. Parliament had opened. The beau monde was in London. If he went to town now, he could surely find a situation.
    Instead, he gave voice at last to what he had been turning over in his mind ever since Lord Lenfield said, He’s adamant only a married man will do. “There is a young woman…” He didn’t know how to finish the sentence.
    Mr. Summers looked highly amused and waited politely.
    “If I were to find myself betrothed, would that change matters?”
    * * *
    After a lengthy discussion of the house and staff and an inquiry into John’s experience and his opinions on a variety of subjects, Mr. Summers promised that if he returned to ask for banns, he and his bride would be granted a second interview.
    As Larry escorted him out, John caught a glimpse of two adolescent girls watching from a doorway, a round-faced blonde and a scrawny brunette. Realizing he had seen them, they ducked out of sight. John’s heart gave a thump. Poor girls, waiting to discover what new tyrant had been set over them.
    Sukey would be kind to them. At the thought, his heart thumped again.
    He wanted very badly to put this fearful household to rights.
    It was a pleasant daydream, but he had probably wasted an hour of Mr. Summers’s time with it, out of pure stubbornness. Did he really want the position badly enough to marry Sukey? Did he want to marry Sukey badly enough to take the position, and resign himself to a provincial vicarage? Then too, if he married he could never again be valet to a bachelor in lodgings, which greatly narrowed the field. He had never wanted to be a butler. Why was he even considering it?
    John brushed off his hat, put it on, and went home to bake bread for his and Mrs. Pengilly’s dinner, considering it all the way.
    * * *
    Sukey was at the market, haggling over onions, when a deep, familiar voice at her elbow said, “Good afternoon, Miss Grimes.”
    “Good afternoon, Mr. Toogood. I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s twopence or nothing. Mrs. Humphrey’s orders.”
    Fanny Isted threw up her hands. “You won’t find sweeter anywhere in Sussex. Nor cheaper.”
    Sukey felt the stirrings of panic. Would she have to forage for onions too? It was bad enough she’d likely have to go nutting after church this week, when everyone knew the Devil held down the branches for a girl who picked nuts on Sunday. “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” she said confidently. “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. You’ll be feeding half of those to the pigs. Market’s almost over and they’ve started to sprout.”
    Mrs. Isted sighed. “You’ll have to take the ones with soft spots, then.”
    Sukey felt Mr. Toogood’s hand close around the handle of her basket. Instead of giving it to him as he seemed to expect, she held it out to Mrs. Isted, forcing him to let go. “If it’s only a spot, and not half the onion. How much for broccoli?”
    He stood, patient and silent, while she haggled over broccoli and cabbage, potatoes and turnips. His coat was as