“I’ll take that as a maybe. The Prince wouldn’t be asking you to do it if it was going to be easy for you, Mr. Stockton. The society in Paris seems to be doing quite well. Naturally, the Prince doesn’t want to be seen as being second to anyone or anything. And there’s no hurry for an answer as of now. Take your time and think about it. I’ll be back in touch.”
With his point made, Brownley rose and said, “I’ll say goodbye and one other thing, Mr. Stockton. You can name your price. The Prince doesn’t quibble about money when he wants something. And he wants you handling this for him.”
Garrett watched the man leave. Mr. Urswick walked back into the room and closed the door.
“Have you started back to work on the ledger?” Garrett inquired.
“Yes. Once I decipher what he’s using for the first letter of the alphabet and the number one and zero, I should start to make sense of the system.”
“This is urgent, Mr. Urswick.”
“I understand, sir.”
Chapter 16
Julia and Brina stood just inside the kitchen doorway at the house in front of the school, staring at what was before them—a wide, oval-shaped fireplace with a small oven built into each side. The hearth, elevated about a foot, extended out from where the fire would be. An iron-framed cooking rack had been placed on it. Wood was stacked neatly on the floor. Pots and pans of varying sizes and odd-looking cooking utensils hung on the walls. Neither of the ladies had ever been in a kitchen. It simply wasn’t a place a lady should ever find herself.
Especially if there wasn’t a cook or a scullery maid in sight.
A sizable worktable stood in the middle of the room, and much to Julia’s relief, a bowl filled with cabbage, potatoes, celery, and other vegetables had been placed in the center of it. Three arched doorways led to three separate and narrow rooms: a dry larder, a wet larder, and a pantry where china, crystal, and cutlery were stored. That was about the extent of Julia’s knowledge of the kitchen.
She and Brina had decided this was the perfect day to cook. There was a fair in Hyde Park. Julia had given Mrs. Lawton the day off and enough money to enjoy all the exhibits and foods. She was extremely appreciative. That would give them plenty of time to cook the food and clean up so no one would ever know they had been in the kitchen.
But the best thing was that Julia hadn’t seen Mr. Pratt for an entire week. She had no idea why he hadn’t come back. She’d only felt grateful for it. She didn’t know if the duke had had a change of heart after he sent her the letter saying the man would continue or if for some reason Mr. Pratt had decided the job of taming Chatwyn was far too difficult. No matter which, Julia was pleased the lessons had stopped. She had left Miss Periwinkle strict orders to come get her immediately if the man should happen to return.
“If I didn’t know better,” Julia said, her gaze resting on the filled bowl in the middle of the table again, “I’d swear Mrs. Lawton knew we were going to be making vegetable soup.”
“What do you think she will she say if we use the vegetables? She’s bound to wonder what happened to them.”
“I doubt she will bother either one of us about them,” Julia said, pulling two white, crisply starched aprons off a peg near the entranceway and handing one to Brina. “However, if she asks, I’ll tell her the truth. That I gave it to the school. Since that is exactly what we plan to do, it won’t be a fib.”
“Good. We’ve settled our first problem of the day.” Brina tugged the neck of the apron over her head and fitted it around her body. “Where do you think we should begin?”
Julia’s gaze made another sweep around the room.
“Let’s start with the fire,” Julia answered, tying the sash at her lower back. “Mrs. Lawton would never leave a fire burning knowing she’d be gone all day. We’ll have to rekindle it.”
Brina’s brows pulled together in a studious way. “Do you know how to do that?”
“Of course,” Julia said, feeling somewhat confident she could manage this part. “Not that I ever have. When I was a girl, at wintertime the maid would come into my room each morning to light the fire. I’d sit up in bed and watch her. Now, you can watch me so you’ll know how to do it, too. First, let’s get the cooking rack out of the way so I can begin.”
With more effort than Julia had thought it would take, she and Brina lifted the rack and set it off to the side. Julia knelt in front of the ashes and started carefully brushing them away from the embers with the fire brush while Brina hovered over her shoulder. After she’d uncovered a sizable glowing bed of coals, Brina handed her three pieces of kindling. Julia placed them on top of the coals. She blew long, steady breaths until the first piece of tinder caught fire. Moments later the others were flaming, too.
By the time Julia rose from the hearth, the flames had taken hold and were blasting an enormous amount of heat into the room. Without thinking, she ran her hands down her apron, smearing it with ash and soot. “Oh, heavens to stars,” she grumbled to herself. “I had no idea all that was on my hands. I was so careful.”
She tried to brush it off, but that only made the marks bigger and longer. That’s when she caught Brina smiling at her.
“Perhaps this isn’t the time for me to tell you it’s on your face, too.”
Julia grimaced and took in a deep exasperated breath. “No, it isn’t.” She picked up the tail of her apron and wiped both cheeks. By the expression on Brina’s face, she was only making it worse as well. “I’ll wash up later,” she insisted. “Let’s put the rack back in front of the fire and fill the kettle and teapot so the water can start getting hot.”
Once that was accomplished, Julia said, “The first thing we need to do is make the bread. While it rises, we can chop the vegetables and put them into the kettle. By then, the bread should be ready for the oven, and we can clean up the kitchen while it cooks. That sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?”
“Perfect. I was thinking the same order of things. Thank you, Julia. This has me so hopeful. I’ve been feeling quite miserable about how little I do for myself and others. Already I’m feeling better.”
Julia smiled. If only she was settling her own issues as easily as she was Brina’s. “I’ll get the things we need out of the dry larder while you find a recipe book.”
Brina nodded and went in search of a recipe while Julia gathered a tall canister filled with flour, a large bowl, a salt cellar, and a cake of yeast a little larger than a teacup saucer. Mrs. Lawton was very organized, so everything was easy to find. Julia carried it all to the worktable and laid it down.
“I’ve searched every cupboard, drawer, and shelf,” Brina said, lifting her hands in frustration as she rejoined Julia. “I’ve looked under things, behind things, and inside things. I can’t find a recipe book of any kind. Not even a little piece of paper that’s been written on.”
“That seems odd. There has to be one. Mrs. Lawton is an excellent cook. I’ll help you look.”
However, after following Brina’s path and turning over everything in the kitchen and the dry and wet larder at least twice, Julia was ready to accept defeat when Brina offered, “We’ll have to do it from what you remember by watching when you were a little girl.”