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the necessary space for his
lordship’s carriage--or carriages--and horses. Then, relay the news to Jonah
with my instructions for the rest of the servants regarding the urgency of the
situation. Mrs. Page and I need to see to the immediate need for living
accommodations.”
    The tip of the steward’s thin nose
rose a few inches in the air before he turned toward the door. Millicent hoped
the man was smart enough to realize that there was also an immediate need for a
change in his attitude before he was introduced to Lord Aytoun. She sawDraper
pause by the door.
    “What about the African woman? She
refuses tospeak. Even her own people have not been able to convince her
to take more than a step into the kitchens. Why, the woman won’t let go of that
horrid rag she has wrapped about her, either. Do you wish to have her left
where she has situated herself, blocking one of the kitchen doors?”
    Millicent silently reproached
herself for not seeing that the woman was immediately situated. Violet had
mentioned that she had refused the food last night and even declined the offer
of wearing a cloak over her rags. 
    “She is to be treated as a guest in
this house, Mr. Draper, but I will go and see to her needs myself as soon as I
am finished here with Mrs. Page.”
    “Before you uproot and offend
everyone in the household, m’lady,” the steward commented sharply, “you should
know that there is no space remaining whatsoever on the third floor. With so
many of the field hands who were formerly housed in the Grove now cluttering up
the household staff’s quarters, there isn’t a spare place for her. Therefore, I
recommend once again that you reconsider your decision not to use the Grove
shacks. Any of those places would be a castle compared to where she has
been.”   
    Along a bend in the river just
beyond the glen lay the cluster of decrepit huts where Wentworth used to house
many of the Africans he’d held as slaves at Melbury Hall. It was called the
Grove. After his death, one of Millicent’s first projects had been to move the
people from that dark and dismal area of the manor land. 
    “I told you I will look after her
myself, Mr. Draper. You may leave now.”
    Neither woman spoke until the
steward had left the drawing room.
    “You can always house her in one of
Mr. Draper’s rooms, m’lady. He is forever complaining that the two rooms he now
occupies are unsatisfactory compared with what he was accustomed to with his
previous employer.”
    “Do you think he would willingly
surrender his sitting room to our new guest?”
    There was mischief dancing in the
housekeeper’s eyes. “I think he’d quit at a mere suggestion of such a thing,
m’lady.”
    Millicent shook her head. “I’m
afraid I cannot allow that to happen right now, Mrs. Page. Though Mr. Draper
maintains the record for anyone holding the steward’s position since my
husband’s…my previous husband’s death, this would not be a very good time to
lose him. Finding and keeping a steward who believes in what we are attempting
to do here is a daunting task, it seems.”
    “The problem is not with you,
m’lady, but with these ignorant men who think that because you have no husband
ordering you about, they should be taking over the job.”
    “Perhaps, Mary. But the real truth is that you are the one whom I really cannot do without.” She touched the
woman appreciatively on the arm. Millicent’s previous worries edged again into
her thoughts. “As to the rooms, how difficult would it be to prepare Squire
Wentworth’s old chambers for the earl?”
    “The rooms have been kept clean. I
had the bedding aired while you were in London, and with some fresh sheets and
bedclothes, they’ll be ready. I can go up and start right now.”
    “I should have arranged for some
new furnishings in there before now.”
    “You haven’t been in there for some
time, m’lady. But they are just fine as they are.”
    “You should have a fire prepared to
be