Once Again a Bride by Jane Ashford Page B

seemingly. Somebody—Mrs. Wright, maybe?—had said he hunted down criminals for pay.
    Ethan tried to imagine tracking quarry through the wilds of London instead of the forest. You’d have to know where to search, where to lie in wait, but he couldn’t picture such places. He didn’t even want to—surely they’d be dark, filthy, and treacherous. He couldn’t shake the conviction that city dwellers were meaner and more crooked than country people. Look at some of the footmen he’d met from other households; all they seemed to think of was how to extract larger tips for tasks they were supposed to do anyway, and then wasting their money on drink and tailors and other useless trash.
    Ethan wondered if her mistress’s bad mood would help him out with Lucy. He hadn’t made much progress there. She still avoided him, though he’d been as charming as he knew how to be. Now and then, he fancied he caught a gleam in her eye that said she wasn’t immune. But as long as she kept away from him, nothing could follow from that. And it was becoming more and more important to him that something did follow. Maybe he’d just go and tell her that her “Miss Charlotte” was upset. She’d want to know. It was part of the job to keep track of the moods of the gentry. Sometimes—mealtimes, for instance—you even had to listen at doors to get a jump on their requests.
    Before he could go looking for Lucy, though, Miss Cole came down the stairs, a small envelope in her hand. “Ethan, would you take this note to Lady Earnton’s house?” she asked.
    “Yes, ma’am. Right away.” He wondered why she hadn’t rung for him to fetch the note. But Miss Cole had been flighty and unlike herself for quite a time now.
    Nodding her thanks, she went back upstairs. Ethan fetched his coat and gloves and told Mrs. Wright where he was off to. It was a cold, raw March afternoon, the sun already slanting down, but Ethan didn’t mind. An errand was a chance to move. Delivering notes and packages and escorting the young ladies about was the best part of his job here in town. Nothing to compare to his long rambles in the woods during his time off at home; but for all he didn’t like London, there was always something to see. He spent far too much time kicking up his heels in the front hall, or setting tables, serving meals, then clearing off the tables again. Ethan liked to accomplish things, and none of that felt like an accomplishment.
    He walked fast. He knew the way to Sir Alexander’s aunt’s grand place; he’d been there several times before and could be quick. He’d take the chance and look in on his grandparents on the way home. They were visiting his Aunt Liv, and her house wasn’t far out of the way. Aunt Liv was one family member who liked London; after being up to town a few years as a housemaid for the Wyldes, she’d married a local grocer and stayed on living here. No one would be the wiser if he spent a quarter hour or so at her house.
    His grandad always had good advice, and he could talk to him about his plan for the future and how to get on with it. Everything was in place. Old Elkins was more than ready to give up his place and move to his daughter’s farm in Cornwall. The joint ache this past winter had like to done him in. He’d taught Ethan most all he knew. There was just the last step, the trickiest one, of asking. That and dealing with his dad’s disappointment. The second part was what kept him quiet when everything else pushed him to act.

Eight
    “I think we should make Callie her own place here in the schoolroom,” Charlotte said. “The dormer would be perfect.”
    Lizzy eyed the nook doubtfully. Anne, almost fully recovered now except for regaining lost weight, smiled from a chair by the hearth.
    “We can clear it out and make it perfect for her. I’m sure she’d calm down if she had a refuge like that.”
    The calico cat, crouched under the other armchair, made no comment. Since being released from the