Lady of Spirit, A Read Online Free PDF Page B

misunderstanding,” the Lady said to Grandmother as, scarlet with shame, Maggie obeyed. “I ought to have told someone that the birds were with us—I simply assumed they would go up to our rooms with the luggage. If it is more convenient, I can return them to Athena , where they will be quite comfortable.”
    “We’re not in the habit of considering the comfort of farm animals,” Grandfather said. His eyebrows were having trouble settling down with all the excitement. A maid scuttled in with cloths and a bucket, and began to sop up the spilled tea in the priceless carpet.
    Who could have guessed that such a small cup could have held such a deluge? Maggie wished she could sink into the floor and disappear.
    “Oh, but we are,” Mr. Malvern told him, smiling. “Holly and Ivy are the progeny of a most extraordinary bird who shared our adventures across the ocean. You haven’t lived, sir, until you have seen a hen sailing through the air in a hatbox attached to a dirigible, having narrowly escaped being eaten by sky pirates.”
    “A hen concealing twenty thousand pounds worth of diamonds beneath her feathers, to boot,” added the Lady. “All thanks to the quick thinking of Lizzie and Maggie, who did not allow themselves to be captured, either.”
    His powers of speech deserted Grandfather entirely, and the eyebrows appeared frozen in the high position.
    Grandmother, however, was made of sterner stuff. “Diamonds notwithstanding, chickens are meant to be eaten, not carried about as though they were Persian cats.” The quizzing glass rose again as Lizzie came in bearing the cage, with both Holly and Ivy standing in some agitation not within it, but upon her shoulders. “Remove those birds at once, Elizabeth. I will not have them soiling the floors.”
    The maid looked alarmed, and slipped out, presumably before she was called upon to clean that up, too.
    “Of course, Grandmother. They needed a moment’s soothing, that’s all.” Lizzie slipped a gentle hand under each bird’s feet in turn, returned them to the cage, and set it upon the window seat, so that Holly and Ivy might look out upon the scenery.
    “I meant remove them from the room.”
    Lizzie looked up in surprise. “They will not harm anything. The clasp is quite secure.”
    “Elizabeth, I do not argue, with you or anyone else. Obey me at once.”
    “But—”
    “Come along, old thing, and I’ll show you, Maggie, and the chickens to your rooms.” Claude picked up the cage.
    “Those birds are not to remain in this house.”
    Maggie dug in her heels. “But they’re our companions. They go where we go.”
    “They may have done heretofore,” Grandfather said with a glance at his wife. “I do not know what the custom is up at Gwynn Place, but here at Seacombe House, poultry belongs in the kitchen, cats belong in the warehouse, and dogs belong to other people. Please respect your grandmother’s wishes.”
    Maggie was beginning to get the faintest glimmer of understanding as to why Lizzie’s mother had been so eager to marry the first man who asked her. Had her own mother had the same experience? Had she run away? But what had happened to her that had resulted in Maggie’s birth nine months later?
    Or, as the Lady believed, had she fallen in love and it had ended unhappily?
    “Don’t worry about Holly and Ivy,” the Lady said gently. “We do not wish to cause the household more work than six guests already do. Mr. Malvern and I will take them back to Athena this afternoon, where I will make sure they have the best cracked corn the larder has to offer—and possibly a bit of cheese as well.”
    Maggie’s gaze met Lizzie’s and they communicated in that silent way they had practically since birth. We cannot fight this battle and win, but we may yet win the war. Patience and humor, as the Lady says. And courage.
    “Thank you, Lady Claire,” Lizzie said at last. “That would be for the best.”
    Grandmother resumed her seat and poured