Georgie dipped her spoon in and sipped the broth. “This is very tasty.”
“I think so,” her friend agreed. “Try the bread with the butter. We add a bit more salt when we make it.”
She took a slice of bread and broke off a piece of it, spread the butter, and tasted it. “Oh. That is wonderful. Will you give me the recipes?”
“Of course.” Adeline nodded. “I find it the perfect meal for a cold or rainy day.”
Next to Georgie, Turley had been applying himself to the soup and bread with such relish that she knew he’d had them before. “I had better eat mine before there is nothing left.”
He glanced at her and got a sheepish look. “It is one of my favorites. However, I shall make sure not to finish the tureen.”
She tried to maintain a serious mien, but her lips were quivering. “I am certain there is more in the kitchen.”
He appeared surprised. “I never thought of that. Littleton and I used to rush to be the first one to empty the bowl.” He glanced at Frits. “I don’t remember anyone ever offering to refill it for us.”
Frits’s brows came together, and he frowned. “I don’t either. Yet, that must be the case. Cook would never have sent all of it up. There had to have been a goodly amount in the kitchen.”
Adeline clapped her hand to her forehead, and Georgie laughed. “I can only imagine that it was to keep the two of you from gorging yourselves and being sick. You are both eating like you had a cake instead of soup.”
“Cake is not nearly as good.” Gavin picked up a slice of bread. “And this is as good as the best biscuit.”
It was excellent and different. She was glad she could have the recipe. However, in the end, the bowls, which were smaller versions of the tureen, were so large that she could not finish all of it. Though, to be fair, she had her share of bread as well. “I do not think I will be able to eat anything at the garden party.”
Adeline held her nose in the air. “We shall sample small bites of what looks good and be thought to be very refined ladies.”
Georgie cast her eyes to the ceiling. “We are refined ladies.”
“Yes, but with healthy appetites,” her friend retorted.
“I, for one, like females who are not afraid to eat,” Turley said.
“Here, here.” Frits set his spoon down. “That was one of the things I noticed about my darling wife, she enjoyed food. One cannot live here without that sort of appreciation.”
“You do have a point, my love.” Adeline included Georgie and Turley in her look. “We have so many receipts from other countries, I am lucky I have not gone to fat.”
One thing Georgie resolved to do was to gather as many recipes as she could before she left Littlewood. Yet, once again, she had learned more about the gentleman she wished to wed than she had before. She wondered if being around their friends who were so obviously in love would make him change his mind about love.
“My lord, my lady.” Creswell bowed. “The carriage will be brought around shortly.”
Turley’s mouth turned down. “No dessert?”
Even she had understood that would not be served. “The garden party.”
“Ah. Yes.” He sighed. “I suppose I shall find something there.”
When she went up to her chamber to fetch her gloves and other accoutrements, she took the time to brush her teeth. If she could get Turley alone, she was going to give him an opportunity to kiss her. This week would not last forever.
* * *
After the ladies left the breakfast room, Gavin rushed upstairs to the room he usually occupied. There he found what he’d been expecting. Tooth powder and a toothbrush. He quickly brushed his teeth. If he could organize an opportunity, he would kiss Georgie. He’d been wanting to do it for months, and now that he had her grandmother’s permission, there was nothing holding him back.
When he arrived in the hall, only Littleton was there. “I shall give you fair notice that I intend to take Miss Featherton for a walk on the forest path.” Littleton’s jaw tightened. “I have her grandmother’s permission.”
That surprised him. “I take it you asked for advice?”
“I did.” Gavin was damned if he’d tell his friend everything, but that he had been given leave to be alone with Georgie should be enough.
His friend’s look changed from stern to considering. “I can’t say I disagree with the plan. After all, I first kissed Adeline in the woods.”
“You weren’t supposed to have worked that out,” he said to himself.
“It did not take enormous deductive powers,” Littleton said drily.
“No, I suppose not.” Gavin glanced up the stairs. “It is only that I have never courted her before. Or courted her properly. I thought I had, but I’m discovering so many new aspects of her, that I could not have been doing it or doing it right when we were in Town.”
“Not surprising. I was fortunate with Adeline, but I had Maximus to assist me. One can learn a great deal about a lady when walking a dog.”
“I seem to recall that you had other moments alone with her.” Gavin had not thought to arrange the same situations. Was it because he did not wish to become that close to her? No. He did wish to be close to her, as a friend. But that didn’t make sense if he wanted to bed her. Before he could give the issue due consideration, the ladies were rounding the upper corridor.
“You’re right. I did.” His friend held out his hand to his wife, and her whole face lit with love.
Gavin gave himself a shake and held his arm out to Georgie, and she gave him a light smile. It wasn’t what he wanted, but somehow he would make this work.
On the way to the entertainment, the four of them chatted about the change in the landscape as summer turned to autumn, and winter. Georgie asked about other dishes from the different ancestors that they enjoyed. It turned out that many of them were considered peasant food, but were enjoyed as part of a larger meal.
Addressing Littleton, Georgie said, “I find it very interesting that many of your ancestors married ladies from other countries.”
“They weren’t from that far away,” he responded. “Dutch, French, and German. We don’t have anyone as exotic as Spanish or Portuguese.”
She widened her eyes for a moment. “I do not think we have anyone other than English.”
“I don’t think we do either,” Gavin replied.
“I can tell you that we are Saxon through and through.” Adeline frowned. “There might be a Norman in there somewhere, but I doubt it.”
His title was so old no one in his family had considered it for years, but . . . “You and I are probably in the same position.”
“It would not surprise me at all,” Georgie said, “to discover that you can both trace your lines back to Harold, and whatever Norman married into the line.”
“I have no doubt you are right.” He wanted to take her hand and raise it to his lips, but he did not yet have the right.
“Here we are,” Adeline pointed out. “I cannot remember the journey over here going by so quickly.”
Littleton chuckled. “But the trip home is always fast.”
She punched him in the arm, and he clasped his hand around her fist and kissed it. “It is not my fault that by evening I am tired. Blame your son.”