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then?” Nicky had asked. “It says in my reading that the king lived in Susa.”
    “Susa was the capital until Darius built Persepolis,” Savile said. “The Persian kings spent part of the year in both places, but the ceremonial capital was Persepolis.”
    “Oh,” Nicky said happily, “thank you, my lord,” And he had returned next door to write down his newly acquired information.
    At eleven-thirty Mrs. Macintosh came to the door to announce the time. I straightened up from my kneeling posture and stretched my cramped back and legs.
    Savile looked down at us from his ladder. “Do we have to stop already? I was hoping to get all of these walls finished this morning.”
    “Noon is lunchtime in the stable,” I explained, looking up at him. He did not look as tidy as he had two hours ago. A lock of hair was hanging over his forehead, and his shirt was pulling loose from the waistband of his pantaloons.
    “When is lunchtime in the dining room?” he asked.
    “One-thirty, my lord,” Mrs. Macintosh said.
    “Very well,” he said. “I’ll continue working here for a while longer, Mrs. Macintosh. Mrs. Saunders can go and see to the horses.”
    While I did not at all enjoy being dictated to in my own home, I had to admit that I would be extremely happy to have the top part of all the walls finished. I didn’t mind doing the trim, but I found the process of covering vast spaces of wall with a small, four-inch brush extremely tedious. It was tiring as well.
    I said, “Very well, my lord. I will have Mrs. Macintosh call you an hour before lunch so you may change your clothes.”
    “Mmm,” he said. He brushed his forearm across his forehead, trying to push back his hair. Then he dipped his brush into the paint bucket once more and lifted it to the wall. “Do that, Mrs. Saunders.”
    I scowled at him, but he had his back to me and didn’t see.
     

Chapter Four
     
    Snow was letting up as I walked down to the stable with Nicky and Grove.
    “If the snow stops soon, the roads might be passable by tomorrow, ma’am,” Grove said.
    I certainly hoped they would be. Having made the decision to go with Savile to hear the reading of George Melville’s will, I wanted nothing more now than to get it over and done with.
    “The Brighton Mail goes through Highgate,” I said. “Once the snow stops, I’ll ride into the village and ask Walker, the blacksmith, to let us know as soon as he has seen it go by. If the mail can make it through, then his lordship’s chestnuts should be able to get through as well.”
    “That is so, Mrs. Saunders,” Grove replied with obvious pride in the quality of his master’s horses.
    Nicky gave a little bounce and said, “We shall miss you and Lord Savile, Mr. Grove. It has been fun having guests in the middle of winter.”
    “Thank ‘ee, Master Nicky,” Grove said gruffly. “You’re a good lad.”
    Once more I worried about how to explain to Nicky that I would accompany the earl while he would remain at home.
    I put my mare and Nicky’s pony out together in the side paddock and Polly and Fancy together in the back paddock.
    While I carried piles of hay to the horses in the paddocks, Grove and Nicky picked out the stalls, gave hay to the horses in the stable, chopped through the thin layer of ice in the water buckets, then filled them to their tops.
    I then returned to the house and went upstairs to wash my hands. Before going down to the dining room, I decided to take a quick look to see how far the earl had progressed on the guest-room walls.
    To my amazement, he was still up on the ladder.
    “Good heavens, my lord!” I said. “Did Mrs. Macintosh forget to call you?”
    He didn’t even spare me a glance; all his concentration was on the even strokes of his brush. I had to admit that he was working as easily and efficiently as any tradesman.
    He said, “I told Mrs. Macintosh I would get something in the kitchen later. I want to finish this last wall before I eat.”
    “I