A Yuletide Treasure Read Online Free PDF

at that, pushing her unruly hair out of her face. “I must impose on you further. When I reached Nanny Mallow’s cottage, I found her injured.”
    “Injured?” he said, a small cake halfway to his lips.
    “Unable to help herself. She’d fallen a day or two ago and had been lying on her floor ever since.”
    “Shocking,” he said, his brows coming together. He put the pastry down on a plate. Dusting his fingers, he walked to the fireplace to pull a tapestry bell rope hanging there. “I leave the neighbors to Lady LaCorte,” he added. “But she’s been unwell of late, and I fear I have not yet taken up my full duties here. Lord of the Manor is a mantle that sits strangely on my shoulders.”
    Camilla knew a flare of disappointment and was ashamed of herself. She had not thought herself so shallow as to be cast down upon discovering an attractive gentleman’s married state. Of course, Sir Philip must be married. A moment’s reflection would have informed her reason that such a man, genteel, gentlemanly, and possessed of some fortune, must of certainty have a wife.
    The parlor maid reappeared, bearing a sugar bowl cupped in her hand. “There you are, miss. Put a few spoons of that in the tea and it’ll brighten your spirits. Oh, I forgot to ask if you’d care t’ drop a ball o’ fire in it. If you want, I’ll fetch you a tot from the library.”
    Camilla took the sugar bowl from the maid’s hand and put it next to the one already on the tray. Fortunately, she never took milk in her tea. Her mother considered it an extravagance and uncultured to boot. The reference to “a ball o’ fire” confused her until Sir Philip clarified the matter.
    “I don’t think Miss Twainsbury cares for brandy, Mavis. Would you ask Mr. Perriflyn to come down as soon as he has finished with Lady LaCorte? Then tell Merridew to harness the horses once again. I shall need him to drive.”
    She nodded at him, very offhand, coming back to the point she felt was at issue. “You’re certain, now, miss? Me ol’ dad always said there’s nothing like a drop o’ brandy in tea to set you up right. Course, as time went on it was more brandy and less tea, if you catch my meaning.”
    “You’re very kind,” Camilla said, helpless under this onslaught of confidence. “I don’t believe I’ll indulge. Do please tell your cook how much I enjoyed her tea.”
    “Them cakes are a treat; didn’t I tell you?”
    “Yes, you did. Now if you would impress upon Mr. Merridew— is it?” She glanced at Sir Philip, who nodded. “Impress upon him that there is some urgency in harnessing the coach. And if you would be so good as to put in a few blankets and pillows or a bolster? Yes, a bolster would be the very thing.”
    “I’ll pass the word, miss, but Merridew ain’t going to want to go out in this again. It’s blowing up to be a real blizzard.”
    “I’m afraid it’s imperative,” Camilla said firmly. “Do you know Nanny Mallow?”
    “Course,” Mavis said, her freckled face split by a grin. She had large but fairly regular teeth. “Everybody knows her.”
    “She’s lying in her cottage with an injury to one of her legs. We mustn’t leave her there any longer than we must.”
    “So I’ll say,” Mavis said. She had whistled when Camilla had told her about Nanny Mallow, and Camilla realized the parlor maid, for all her size, couldn’t be more than about fifteen years old. “Well, don’t you worry no more ‘bout Merridew. Ill rouse him, and if I can’t, Cook’ll. He can’t say ‘no’ to her; he wants to marry her, and she ain’t said she will nor she won’t.”
    “You’re undoubtedly right,” Camilla said.
    “And I already told Mr. Perriflyn to see to her,” Mavis added with a nod toward Camilla. “I’ve sent m’mum up to make up a bed for you, miss. Best place for you, to my way of thinking. I told her to scorch the sheets, too.”
    Though a bed with warmed sheets and a hot brick at her feet sounded like the