The Convenient Arrangement Read Online Free

that were stacked four deep on the tables flanking a doorway. A stuffed bear, which stood on its back feet, leaned heavily against the wall by the narrow window, and some plant that he could not name was growing in wild abandon from its pot to curl around the banister leading up to the next floor. He tried to imagine his mother, who had always been so tidy, living with this hodgepodge.
    It was impossible both to imagine her here and to wend his way through the jumble.
    As she edged toward the door that must lead to the sitting room, Lady Fanning held her gown close to her, offering him a beguiling view. Again he looked hastily away. He yelped when his shin struck something that had been hidden under one of the suits of armor. Bending, he lifted the cracked hilt of what once must have been a broadsword. He set it on the windowsill.
    â€œMayhap it would look better in the bear’s claw,” suggested Lady Fanning.
    â€œWhat?”
    She smiled as she slipped, with an ease he could not copy, past the tables to the doorway. “It would be interesting to invite your guests up here and surprise them with a bear armed with a broadsword.”
    â€œI have no intention of entertaining here.”
    â€œNo?” She stared at him with as much amazement as if he had just announced he had been named the next king. “Do you plan to pay only a brief call here?”
    â€œNo, I plan to live here.”
    â€œAll alone?”
    He smiled. “From what I saw in the foyer, Moorsea Manor need never worry about a dearth of people.”
    â€œBut this is such a large house. It would hold many guests for a hunt gathering or simply an assembly here in daisyville.”
    â€œI enjoy my own company, madam.”
    â€œAnd no one else’s?” She shook her head as she ran her fingers along the bear’s upraised front paw. “I swear I would go quite mad if I were not surrounded by friends and gaiety.” Throwing out her hands, she said, “My dear Lord Moorsea, this house is made for entertaining.”
    â€œI doubt that. My uncle seldom, as I understand it, received anyone here.” When she opened her mouth to retort, he edged past her into the large room. “I mean to say, this is much better.”
    Lorenzo heard her soft gasp when she stepped into the room. He shared her incredulity, for the room was twice the size of the spacious foyer below. Every wall was lined with bookshelves, and others were stuck out in the middle of the floor. It was the largest book-room he had ever seen, and each shelf was stacked, to overflowing in places where books had fallen to the floor, with books and papers and bric-a-brac. This changed his plans. First he would explore this splendid room, then he would acquaint himself with the rest of the house.
    Looking up, he saw the ceiling vanished into the shadows that claimed everything beyond the fire someone had thoughtfully laid on the hearth and the single candle that was set on a table between two chairs. Even from where he stood, he could see the chairs were well-worn. He hoped that was a sign of their comfort. One for him to sit upon, the other to balance his feet on while he worked on his writing. That would be just perfect, he decided, as he set his small bag on the floor beside one.
    â€œQuite miserly with the light, I see,” Lady Fanning said as she picked up the candle and walked to view the rest of the room. She called, “David?”
    â€œI doubt you will find the boy lurking in a library when it is too dark to read.” Lorenzo smiled up at the stacks of books, lying at every angle on the shelves reaching to the ceiling. A man could spend a lifetime trying to read all of them.
    He took one from the nearest shelf and open it, tilting the pages toward the fire so he might read the letters printed upon them. He chuckled. He had a fool’s own good fortune, for the book was poetry. Scanning the French and then the English translation, he