If Miss Arlen could be a friend, Alice’s time at the castle would certainly be more enjoyable. “That would be wonderful. I take tea with the children.”
Lord James huffed, making a dark mark on his map. “I dislike tea.”
“La, sir. No Englishman ought to speak so.” Miss Arlen ruffled his hair with familiarity. “What if I have cook send up your favorite biscuits? Do you think you would mind a tea party so much then?”
He squinted up at her. “Do you even know my favorite?”
Miss Arlen squinted back at the challenge. “Of course I do. The cinnamon biscuits made with molasses.”
The boy feigned a deep sigh. “I suppose you can come to tea, then.”
Miss Arlen and Alice both laughed. “Do not be too difficult for Miss Sharpe. Show her how charming you can be.” Miss Arlen looked up at Alice again, her eyes bright. “I have known the family all my life. If any of the children give you trouble, tell me. I can offer up wonderful ideas on bribes or torture, whichever you prefer.”
“Let us hope the torture is unnecessary.” Alice narrowed her eyes at the boy but did not hide her smile. “I look forward to our tea tomorrow. I have the feeling it will be most informative as well as enjoyable.”
“Very.” Miss Arlen curtsied. “Until tomorrow.” When she closed the door behind her, leaving only Lord James and Alice in the room, Alice came closer to the table to examine the boy’s map. He had made substantial progress since starting that morning.
It seemed a shame to keep him cooped up in the schoolroom when his sisters were away doing something else.
“Would you like to go play in the garden, my lord?” Alice asked. He immediately dropped his pencil and looked up at her, eyes hopeful. “I think you could use some fresh air before you go to your art lesson.”
“Yes, please.” He pushed away from the table. “Can we go right now?”
Alice laughed. “Let me get my parasol and a few other things, then we can enjoy the sunshine.”
“I’ll get my skipping rope and chalk.” The boy vanished out of the schoolroom, calling over his shoulder. “I’ll meet you in the hall, Miss Sharpe.”
It only took Alice a few moments to gather bonnet, gloves, parasol, and her sketchbook. After wandering about unprepared the day before, she had placed her things at the ready for another garden adventure. When she arrived in the hall, she saw her young charge with arms full of his own entertainments.
“Have you seen the big lily fountain yet, Miss Sharpe?” he asked, leading the way down the corridor to the main staircase. “It’s sunken into the ground, so it looks like a pond. There are even frogs living inside of it.”
Although trusting the young boy when so near amphibians gave her misgivings, Alice responded cheerfully. “I have not seen more than a few of the statues. Is the lily fountain a favorite of yours?”
He started rattling off all the reasons he enjoyed that corner of the gardens. Most of them seemed to be related to the general wildness of the plant life there. “It almost looks like no one ever gardens there, but I know they do. Because the grass is always short, and the pavers never grown over. But plants are everywhere.”
The fashion of allowing gardens to appear as wild as woodlands had not entirely gone out of style, and with someone like the countess promoting such a thing in her gardens, it was likely to be popular for some time yet.
Alice followed Lord James all the way outside, then down the terraced levels of the garden. A large willow tree was the first sign that they had entered a new section of cultivated land. They passed beneath it, the long delicate limbs parting as easily as curtains to allow them through. When they stepped out on the other side, Alice gasped.
The spot might well become her favorite, too.
The fountain was sunk beneath the ground, and the only way to recognize it was manmade rather than a pond was its near perfect circular shape. In the middle of the fountain was a gray stone statue of two swans, heads bent toward one another. In the water itself grew lily pads, tall rushes, and the brilliant purple-loosestrife. Alice had only encountered the tall, bright spikes of flowers once before, visiting a family member who lived near King’s Lyn.
There were long grasses scattered about the area, but a cobbled walking path going around the fountain was perfectly maintained. There was a bench on the other side of the fountain, and a tall oak shading half of the area bore a swing, too.
“This is beautiful,” she whispered, and immediately went to sit on the clover path near the flowers. Alice opened her sketchbook and turned over pages until she found one empty. She went to work immediately, capturing the gentle curve in the tall green stalk. A butterfly that looked rather like a leaf fluttered by, landing on one of the flowers.
Lord James busied himself with his chalk and the cobblestones. When she glanced over once, after he had been quiet for a time, she saw he was putting faces on individual stones. Some were quite hideous, others amusing. Alice hid her smile behind her sketch and went back to her own drawing.
Periodically, Alice checked the watch she wore. It had been a gift from the same great-aunt who found her the position of governess for the duke’s children. Though the watch might have looked lovely on a chain or chatelaine, it was far more practical to keep it on a ribbon Alice could slip between the pages of a book or into a reticule.
A quarter of an hour remained until they must leave for Lord James to attend his art lesson when the willow branches stirred, and Mr. Gardiner came into view. He wore a broad-brimmed hat more suitable to a fisherman than a gentleman, had a large basket tucked under one arm, along with a long-poled-net, and in his other arm he had books and a small box.
His gaze were so fixed on the sunken fountain that he did not even notice Alice and the little boy right away.
It was Lord James that called his attention to them with a gleeful shout. “Mr. Gardiner! Are you catching dragonflies again today?”
Mr. Gardiner started, then focused on the little boy. His gaze rose to sweep the surrounding area, and he spotted Alice on the bench. For no accountable reason, save residual embarrassment from the night before, Alice’s cheeks grew warm.
Too much sun, she told herself.
She rose from her place on the bench, gripping the sides of her sketchbook.
“Not dragonflies today.” He came further in, then bent over to carefully deposit his armload of supplies on the clover near the fountain. “I am releasing some specimens, then drawing the flowers.”
“Oh.” The boy’s interest immediately dissipated. He crouched lower to the ground and went back to his chalk drawing.
Mr. Gardiner directed his stare at Alice again. “Miss Sharpe, it is good to see you again.”
She curtsied. “Mr. Gardiner. I hope you’re well today.”
“Perfectly.” He approached her while wearing an amiable expression. “You left too quickly after dinner. I regretted your absence. I hope I did not drive you away.”
Had he really missed her? Even if not, he showed more thoughtfulness than most of her acquaintances by saying so. “Of course not, Mr. Gardiner. My duties as governess require an early start, which in turn requires an early evening retirement.” She did not have to say that governesses were generally unwanted creatures when it came to evening entertainments.