Free The Frost Fair by Elizabeth Mansfield Page B

crippled , you wet-goose, but as for the family and this rather eccentric old castle they’ve chosen to live in, I’m finding them all rather interesting.”
    â€œAre you really?” Meg asked in surprise. “Why?”
    â€œWell, it’s something like living in a novel by Mrs. Radcliffe. I was observing the family at breakfast this morning and—”
    â€œHave you already breakfasted? What time is it?”
    â€œIt’s after eleven, my love.”
    â€œAfter eleven? Good heavens, how could I have been permitted to sleep for so long? Why didn’t you—? What must they think of me?”
    â€œDon’t worry, Meg. Sir Geoffrey explained that he’d given you a sleeping draught. He expected that you wouldn’t rise very early.”
    â€œOh, he did, did he? He told me he’d given me only a mild sedative—but now it appears I’ve been positively drugged!”
    â€œI shouldn’t get on my high ropes over it, Meggie, if I were you. You’re looking ever so much better than you were last night, so the sedative seems to have done you no damage. And since Sir Geoffrey feels that you would do well to rest in bed today anyway, there was no harm in your sleeping a bit late this morning.”
    Meg’s eyebrows rose in annoyance. “Sir Geoffrey says … Sir Geoffrey feels … You’re quite full of Sir Geoffrey this morning, aren’t you? Suppose I tell you that I don’t wish to rest in bed today—what then?”
    â€œSir Geoffrey says he’d be happy to carry you downstairs if you’d prefer, so you needn’t take that tone,” Isabel responded placidly.
    â€œHmmmph!” Meg leaned back against her pillows and frowned. “Very kind of him, I’m sure! I’d rather stay here in bed for a week than have him carry me.”
    Her aunt studied her quizzically. “What’s gotten into you, Meg? It’s not like you to behave ungraciously. We are intruders here, after all.”
    â€œYes, but if he hadn’t—” She cut herself short. She’d decided last night not to say anything about the scene in the taproom, yet now, with very little provocation, she was about to reveal the story. She clamped her lips shut.
    â€œHadn’t what, Meg?” her aunt asked, cocking her head curiously.
    â€œNothing. What was it you began to say earlier—about observing the family at breakfast?”
    â€œOh, yes. It seems that the entire family consists of the four of them—Sir Geoffrey, his two sisters, and their mother. The girls were born in London, and they all lived there except Sir Geoffrey who was in military service. Then, when his father died, he sold out and moved the family here. I learned that much from Lady Carrier. She seems very much to resent his having uprooted them, and all the ladies seem to be abnormally afraid of him. I can’t help but wonder why. I find him a perfectly affable, sensible sort of person.”
    â€œPerhaps they know him better than you do,” Meg uttered under her breath.
    â€œWhat did you say, love?”
    â€œI said that affable is the last word I should choose to describe him.”
    â€œReally?” Isabel peered at her niece with shrewd interest. “What word would you—”
    But their conversation was cut short by the arrival of Mrs. Rhys, who bustled in with a cheery smile and a breakfast tray. With her aunt’s urging and the housekeeper’s assistance, Meg breakfasted and performed her ablutions, all of which caused her considerable discomfort. But Isabel and Mrs. Rhys agreed that her traveling clothes were too bedraggled to be worn, and they both left her to find some more suitable attire for her to wear before the stream of visitors (who were certain to knock at her door before very long) should begin to appear.
    They had barely closed the door behind them when the first visitor presented himself. It was Roodle, come