Amanda Scott Read Online Free Page B

she detected in the borders, to clip straggling bushes and shrubs, and to pick dead heads from rhododendrons, azaleas, and the few spring rosebushes already in bloom. She pressed her lips tightly together, wishing she had the nerve to tell the man beside her what she thought of allowing such magnificence to fall into ruin through what appeared to be simple neglect.
    Lord Michael did not seem to notice the gardens. He handed Juliette back to Anne and reached impatiently to push open the carriage door and let down the steps just as the heavy white front door of the house was flung wide and two liveried, bewigged footmen hurried to meet them, supported by a much more stately personage who remained behind in the open doorway.
    The two young footmen were tall and well formed, filling out their green-and-gold livery to perfection. Lord Michael nodded to them and said as he handed Anne down from the carriage himself, “Our things are all in the second coach. Be sure to send Lady Michael’s maid to her as soon as it arrives.”
    “Yes, my lord,” both footmen said together, bowing ceremoniously to their new mistress when, remembering his duty, Lord Michael presented them to her as Elbert and John.
    Smiling, holding Juliette as she handed the carpetbag to the first one to reach her, Anne looked them over carefully, aware that the largest part of her duties as Lady Michael St. Ledgers would be to oversee the household and its servants. This pair looked almost like twins at first, since they were dressed exactly alike and wore powdered tie-wigs, but she quickly observed that one of them had blue eyes and the other brown, and that the first had a friendlier face while the second seemed to have more pride. Quietly, she said, “I am pleased to make your acquaintance. I am sure you will both be very helpful to me.
    The friendly-looking one, John, blushed and bobbed another bow, while Elbert said rather more stiffly, “Yes, indeed, your ladyship. We look forward to serving you.”
    Sensing Lord Michael’s increasing impatience, she looked swiftly at him, stroked the kitten beginning to tremble in her arms, and said, “I daresay it will take me some time to learn everyone’s name, you know.”
    The impatient look softened, and he nodded, then put a hand under her elbow and urged her up the wide marble steps to the entrance and the stately person awaiting them there.
    “This is Bagshaw, my dear. He looks after the house.”
    Anne nearly curtsied, for Bagshaw was surely one of the most imposing men she had ever met. As tall as Lord Michael and nearly as broad-shouldered, the man carried himself like a king. He did not wear livery. Instead, he wore an elegant, well-fitted black suit of clothes with snowy white linen, highly polished shoes, and his own hair neatly clipped into a fashionable style. Had she not known the sixth Duke of Upminster to be deceased, she might easily have mistaken Bagshaw for His Grace. She had met other servants who behaved with more dignity than their noble masters, but Bagshaw seemed to have turned the knack into an art form. His bow was little more than a relaxation of his stiff posture. His demeanor was stonelike, his gaze cool and polite.
    “How do you do, Bagshaw?” she said gravely. “You are the house steward, no doubt.”
    “We have no present need for a house steward at the Priory, madam,” he said with grave dignity. “I am merely the butler.”
    Merely did not seem to suit him in any way or fashion, but Anne nodded pleasantly, saying as she had said to the two younger men moments before, “I am sure you will be very helpful to me.”
    “Indeed, madam. We are all quite pleased to welcome you to the Priory. You need only make your requirements known, and they will be instantly attended to.”
    Lord Michael said, “Bagshaw took over everything to do with the house when my brother’s steward retired, and so efficient is he that, although he keeps but a skeleton staff these days, we’ve seen no