Teddy squinted at her. “You’re not like most aunts I’ve met,” he said accusingly.
“How many aunts do you possess?”
“Just one,” he admitted grudgingly.
Mina pointed to her own chest in query. He nodded. “Well, it doesn’t sound as though your own experience in aunts is extensive,” she told him. “And besides, this is what your aunt is like.”
He gave a snort at that and then started gathering up the hoops from his quoits set. It did not take long before they could once more see the large colorful rug, which must once have graced a far grander room but had been relegated to the nursery once it began to show signs of wear.
“That’s better,” Mina pronounced, reaching for Teddy’s game. “Now, let us set up this up on the nursery table as it needs a flat surface.”
“I usually just play with it on the floor,” Teddy objected as she set it down and lifted the lid off the box to show the six little painted horses and jockeys.
“I daresay,” Mina answered. “But you are not hampered by stiffened petticoats.”
“You could lie flat on your tummy,” he suggested helpfully.
“I most certainly could not!” Mina informed him tartly. “What objection pray; do you have to this perfectly civilized little table?” In truth, the chairs were a little small for grown-ups, but Mina lowered herself gingerly onto one and watched Teddy extend the six little horses and jockeys away from the box mechanism on their strings.
“What are their names?” Mina asked with interest as Teddy lined the little lead horses up on the starting line.
“Bucephalus, Trojan, Incitatus, Bombast, Braggadocio and Vainglory,” recited Jeremy entering the room. “They are named after the horses in my own stables,” he explained, taking a seat beside them at the table.
Mina frowned. “So then, all your steeds are named after historical horses or undesirable characteristics found in man?”
Jeremy looked surprised. “I thought generally the history taught at young lady’s schools was a good deal watered down for a young maiden’s ears.”
“Did you? Perhaps you are unaware of the effect it has on a young woman, to be told certain books are not fit for her consumption.”
Jeremy laughed. “So, it was not your good father the schoolmaster who taught you about Caligula, sister?”
Teddy looked up with a frown. “None of the horses are called that,” he protested.
“Incitatus,” Mina explained to her nephew. “Was the name of the Emperor Caligula’s horse.”
“Much like Bucephalus was the name of Alexander the Great’s,” his father added.
Teddy’s frown cleared. “Oh.” He cast a look at Mina that seemed to weigh her up anew.
“Now, how do we play this game?” Mina asked. “Is it a winding mechanism that is employed?”
“First you must pick which horse you want to back,” Teddy explained. “Mine’s Pukey-Bucey,” he added quickly.
“Then I pick Incitatus,” Mina said decisively. “For I believe it means ‘swift’ in Latin.” She turned to Jeremy for confirmation.
“Or at full gallop,” he agreed.
“Does it?” Teddy looked much impressed. “Rather a good name for a horse. What does Bucephalus mean, aunt?”
Mina opened her mouth to explain she did not know any Greek, but her brother forestalled her.
“It means Ox-head,” he drawled. “As Alexander’s Thessalian stallion was so monstrous in size. He was also said to have had a black coat with a white star at his brow.”
“Like our Pukey-Bucey,” Teddy crowed.
“Exactly.”
“And does your Bucephalus have eyes of midnight blue?” Mina enquired.
“We call it wall-eyed in the racing world,” Jeremy corrected her.
“He does have blue eyes!” Teddy said triumphantly. “You named him very well, Papa.”
“I’m glad you agree,” Jeremy replied gravely. “I choose Vainglory,” he said, pointing to the little white horse.
“You always pick Vainglory,” Teddy said with a roll of his eyes.
“Not true, sometimes I choose Bombast. Besides,” his father added. “You always pick Bucephalus.”
They spent the next twenty minutes taking it in turns to wind the handle that drew the little lead horses over the finish line. Mina found Incitatus to be a most lucky horse and in all, had the most overall wins from the three of them.
“I believe,” Teddy said at the conclusion. “That Incitatus is my second favorite horse,” he said stroking the little brown horse’s back with his finger.
“Have you met your Papa’s Incitatus?”
Teddy nodded. “He’s a chestnut, like this one.” He carefully started placing the horses back inside the box.
“You must meet my horses sometime, Mina,” Jeremy said on impulse, jumping up. “But first, you must come and view our mother’s portrait.” Mina rose and to her surprise, Teddy also accompanied them downstairs.
“It’s this way,” said Teddy, dancing ahead. “In the Blue Drawing room.”
“You go ahead,” Jeremy directed her, stopping next to a footman who was not Colfax. “I’ll ask for some refreshment to be served to us there.”
Mina followed Teddy into a very elegant room with decorated blue silk panels hanging on the walls. “Oh, this is a lovely room,” she exclaimed with pleasure as Teddy walked to the opposite end and stood in front of a large portrait of a young woman in a ballgown of foamy pink. “Here!” he said, flinging up an arm.
“Mama,” Mina sighed, coming to a halt beside him.
She felt Teddy’s gaze on her face as she beheld her mother’s pink and white complexion, her gleaming blonde ringlets, and the ropes of pearls at her throat. It was quite a feat to look that demure, Mina thought, considering how much of her bare white shoulders was on display. She could of course see it was Mama, but far younger than she remembered her and certainly decked out much more splendidly.
Had she been so very unhappy here, Mina wondered? She remembered Jeremy’s words from earlier, about the old Viscount only respecting her after she had left him. If he had been anything like Will Nye in temperament as well as looks, she could not imagine her mother would have fared at all well with such a man. Her own Nye would have made a milk jelly of her. Her thoughts made her start. Her own Nye… when had she started thinking of him as such?
“Mama wanted it moved,” Teddy commented. “And her own portrait hung here, but Papa had hers put on the opposite wall instead.”
Mina turned about to look at the opposite wall, where another blonde lolled, this time against a Grecian urn full of blooms in a dress of blue satin with an extremely low neckline. Her expression could not have been more different to Mina’s mother’s if she had tried. Despite her careless pose, her gray eyes were bold and knowing and the hand that held a blooming white rose to her bosom, seemed less to symbolize purity, than to deliberately draw attention to her charms.
“Your Mama is very beautiful,” she said, unable to think of anything more original. Funnily enough, it was the first time that day she had even remembered Vance Park had a current mistress.