The Arrangement Read Online Free PDF

have a lad come from the village to muck out the stalls in the morning, but I strongly doubt we will see him today. That leaves us to do the job, Grove. If you will take care of your horses, I will take care of mine.”
    “Not a bit of it!” he said emphatically. “I will see to all the horses, Mrs. Saunders. You get yourself back into the house and have your breakfast.”
    “I’ve already had my breakfast,” I said.
    Once more the stable door opened, and this time it was my son who came in. “Good morning, Mama,” he said. “Good morning, Mr. Grove.”
    “Good morning, sweetheart,” I replied cheerfully. “Did you sleep well?”
    “Yes.”
    Nicky always slept well, and once more I swore to myself that I was going to make very certain that nothing would happen to change that.
    “I don’t think Tim is going to get to Deepcote this morning,” Nicky continued. “You and I had better do the stalls ourselves, Mama.”
    “I was just saying the same thing to Grove,” I said. “There is only room to put two horses in the aisle at once, so why don’t you and I work on our horses, and Grove can do his lordship’s.”
    “All right,” Nicky said cheerfully. “I’ll get the pitchforks and the wheelbarrows, Mama.”
    Grove protested once more that he would do all the stalls, but again I refused.
    There was no way on this earth that I was going to be beholden to the Earl of Savile.
    * * * *
    By the time the horses had been fed and watered and the stalls had been cleaned and bedded with fresh straw, it was almost nine o’clock. We returned to the house and were removing our outerwear in the front hall when his lordship came down the stairs. He was impeccably dressed in a morning coat and pantaloons, with a fresh shirt and a new snowy-white neckcloth tied around his throat. His dark gold hair was brushed and tidy. His Hessian boots gleamed. He looked at us in surprise.
    “The horses have been seen to, my lord,” Grove said cheerfully. “Mrs. Saunders feeds almost the same grain we do at home, I’m glad to say, so we shouldna have problems with their digestions.”
    I picked a piece of straw off my coat and said woodenly, “If you will go into the dining room, my lord, I will ask Mr. Macintosh to cook you some breakfast.”
    “Have you been down to the stable already, Mrs. Saunders?” Savile asked in amazement.
    “Yes,” I said.
    Nicky elaborated on my reply. “We got all the horses mucked out, sir. Mama says that if the wind lets up later we can put them out in the paddock for a half an hour or so, just so they don’t go mad from confinement.”
    The earl’s golden eyes were on me. “Don’t you have a man to see to your horses, Mrs. Saunders?”
    “Someone usually comes from the village to help, but he couldn’t make it in this snow,” I said shortly. “It’s nothing new for Nicky and me to do stalls, my lord, I assure you of that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must go and change my shoes.”
    Mrs. Macintosh came into the hall. “I have a fire going in the dining room, lassie,” she said to me. “Macintosh will have breakfast for you and his lordship in a trice.”
    “I have already had breakfast, Mrs. Macintosh,” I said.
    “A bowl of oatmeal three hours ago is not a full breakfast, lassie,” Mrs. Macintosh said firmly. “Now go wash your hands and come and eat a proper meal as you always do.”
    “What about me, Mrs. Macintosh?” Nicky asked. “I only had a bowl of oatmeal too.”
    “The three of us will eat in the dining room,” I said quickly.
    Mrs. Macintosh beamed at Nicky. “Would ye no rather eat in the nice warm kitchen, Master Nicky? Ebony has been missing you.”
    Ebony was our cat. She hated the cold and usually spent the entire winter in the kitchen, where she was warm but bored.
    “Poor Eb,” said Nicky. “Of course I’ll come and pet her, Mrs. Macintosh.”
    As I could hardly order Nicky to eat in the dining room, that left me with the earl.
    I gave Mrs. Macintosh a