As Louise all but flew out of the room, Lydia turned back to Mr. Bartholomew. “You said he would be ‘brought down’?” She’d have thought he’d be working below stairs.
“From the nursery, my lady.”
“Oh… thank you, Mr. Bartholomew.” Surely, Ollie would not be spending time in the nursery if he was also a servant? Pleasant tingles swirled in her chest as she contemplated the various possibilities of what this meant.
She could not sit down. She could not relax.
This was Jeremy’s home. A home she might once have become mistress of but for some unknown reason that was being kept secret from her.
If she was to suffer because of it, for goodness sakes, she deserved to know the details.
If Lucinda was here, she’d surely find out. Lucinda would make everyone miserable until she had every last detail.
A sudden wave of longing crashed over her; there were times when her twin sister’s absence felt like a missing limb—or, at least, how she imagined one would be. She wondered if Lucinda was feeling the same way or if she was too distracted with her new husband…
With some effort, she forcibly shifted her thoughts away from the lingering melancholy and back to the matter at hand. She was here now to check on Ollie and possibly Jeremy, if he was at home, that is, and if he would let her.
Lydia paced across the floor and then stopped to stare out a window facing the gardens. It was three in the afternoon. Was Jeremy meeting with one of his employees at the warehouse without her? Or was he at his office, going over numbers and contemplating new ventures to keep himself distracted from annoying ladies he’d once nearly been engaged to?
Lydia wouldn’t put it past him to be tucked away in his study, hiding from her.
Because surely, if he was here, his butler would inform him that he had a guest.
She sighed just as the door opened and Ollie appeared. Wearing short pants and a white shirt with a laced collar, he was accompanied by a tall, slim woman who looked to be in her late forties. Lydia had seen enough women in this profession to know his companion was a governess. She had that air of authority combined with a no-nonsense presence. Ollie moved to lurch forward but was caught firmly by the woman’s hand on his shoulder.
“Make your bow to Her Ladyship, Master Oliver.”
The woman’s voice commanded, but Lydia was pleased to also hear a note of affection.
Jeremy had hired a governess for Ollie!
All the warmth of summer swept through her.
Ollie bowed low, folding over completely to where he nearly lost his balance, and then rose. He glanced backward then as though asking his governess if he’d performed the gesture appropriately.
“Very good, Master Oliver.” The governess nodded in approval.
Lydia rose. “Thank you, Miss…?”
“Mrs. Mumford.”
“You are Ollie’s… governess?”
“I am, my lady.”
This was most unexpected!
As much as she wanted to pick the woman’s mind as to how she’d come by her position and what her instructions were regarding Ollie, her purpose for coming was to ask Ollie how he was doing. He might not be straightforward with her when another adult was present.
“I thank you for bringing him down, Mrs. Mumford. I’ll send him back upstairs to resume your daily schedule as soon as Oliver and I are done chatting.”
“Very well, my lady. We have not yet completed our handwriting exercises today.” She stepped backward. “I will take my tea and return to collect him.”
Lydia smiled down at Ollie as the governess took her leave. So many changes might be exciting for him but might also be overwhelming.
Lowering herself onto a settee, she gestured for Ollie to take the place beside her. “Won’t you sit down with me?.”
He squirmed and tugged at his collar but did as she asked, those violet eyes flashing around the room and filled with curiosity.
“All of this is very different from what you are used to, isn’t it?”
He turned his gaze back to her. “I didn’t expect none of this.”
Taking responsibility for an orphan could not be so simple as this. “I’m glad you decided to stay with his Lordship. I would have worried if you’d done otherwise.”
Ollie bounced restlessly, his hands flat beside him on the cushions. “When’s he sendin’ me back, do ya ken? I have to make sure me brother ain’t gettin' into too much barney.”
“Barney? I don’t know what you mean.” Nor had she realized he had a brother. “Does Lord Tempest know about your brother?”
“He does, m’lady. Says he’ll find him too. But I don’t think he can. If Buck don’t wanna be found, ain’t no one who can. Except for Farley. He can find anyone. He knows all the bloomin’ hidin’ places.”
“Does Buck need to hide a lot?” Ollie had mentioned this Buck boy before.
Ollie plucked a small figurine of two small boys off the table and rubbed his fingertips along the smooth carving. “Yeah, he does. He’s older than me.”
Ollie was worried about his brother. A brother, who, apparently, got into a good deal of barney.
“How old is Buck?”
“He’s four and ten.”
Five years older than Ollie; he must be considerably larger. And she remembered Ollie telling them that Buck had been the one to cause the bruises when they’d discovered him in the warehouse. “I’m sure Buck is fine, then. And if Lord Tempest says he’s going to find him, I’ve no doubt that he will.”
Ollie tilted his head sideways. “Buck’s always messin’ up. And fightin’ when I’m not there to talk him outta it. Got his face right cut up past winter.”
“You are not responsible for what your brother does,” Lydia said, patting his leg.
Ollie sighed, eyebrows crinkled in an expression that looked too old for his small face. “He’s my brother, I can’t help it.”
The floor creaked, and Lydia glanced up. She had not heard Jeremy enter the room. For a moment, his eyes looked almost haunted, but the expression flickered and disappeared when he dipped his chin in her direction.
Lydia licked her lips, staring at his bared arms where his shirt sleeves were rolled up. He must have been working in his study after all.
Every button on his silk gold waistcoat was fastened, and the bottoms of his buff breeches were neatly tucked into shining Hessians.
“Mr. Bartholomew informed me that you…” Jeremy gestured behind him, almost as though providing a reason for his appearance. “I did not realize we had a meeting.”
“We did not,” Lydia answered.
Jeremy cocked a brow.
“I came to have a visit with Master Oliver,” Lydia explained.
Nothing in the world could hold back her pleasure at Ollie’s elevated circumstances. But she could not tease Jeremy about this or gloat. What on earth had transpired to cause Jeremy to decide to raise Ollie as a ward and not a servant?
“Mrs. Mumford is waiting in the foyer for you, Oliver.” Jeremy’s voice was cool and commanding.
Ollie hopped up, but when he moved toward the door, Jeremy stopped him with a question. “Did your letters give you as much difficulty this morning?”
Ollie shook his head. “Not so hard as the day before. Yer tricks ya told me helped.”