by E. G. Foley
Hearing this, Dani smiled ruefully at Derek. “I guess he is all right.”
“I only brought a few supplies,” the warrior said, “but if we go up across the fields to the neighboring estate, Bradford Park, I’m sure you can have a proper breakfast there.”
“Really? Why should the people there want to feed us?”
“Because they are your relatives,” Derek replied.
Jake’s jaw dropped. “More relatives?! Well, I hope these ones at least won’t try to kill me.”
“They won’t. Come on.”
Jake threw off the sheet and jumped to his feet. “If they’ve got food, just point the way. Watch out for all those frogs,” he cautioned as they headed for the door. Jake scooped Teddy up in his arms and scratched him under the chin as he carried him out. “Don’t know how they got in, but they seem to think they own the place.”
Derek pulled the door shut behind them.
They went out into the morning sunshine. Jake set Teddy down again. Derek went to untie his horse, while Dani walked beside her friend. She was so relieved to find him all right. “Congratulations, Jake,” she offered. “You’ve finally found your parents. I can’t believe you’re an earl.”
Jake shook his head in amazement. “I can’t believe it either. How’s your head this morning?”
“All better. Jake, I hope—”
“Keep up, you two!” Derek ordered, leading his horse ahead of them through the tall grass, while Teddy frolicked through the meadow, forgetting the frogs in favor of the butterflies.
“You hope what?” he asked, but before Dani could answer, she was interrupted again, this time, by a long, loud, wobbly shout erupting over the field ahead.
For a second, Dani didn’t see anyone, then a streak of motion overhead drew her attention.
She furrowed her brow as a boy wearing brass-rimmed goggles and a long white coat went flying over the field in front of them, riding on a marvelous machine: an odd, bat-winged contraption that looked like giant kites or canvas sails attached to a small canoe with wheels on the bottom and two small propellers on the back.
“Whoooooaaaaa!” he shouted as he flew, catapulting in a great arc over the field above them.
Dani, Jake, and Derek all turned their heads in unison, following his flight as the boy sailed through the afternoon sky.
“Woooooo hooooo!” he whooped, passing overheard to disappear behind a nearby grove of trees.
Splash!
“What the deuce was that?” Jake cried, turning to Derek.
“That,” the warrior said dryly, “was your cousin, Archie.” And shrugging like he could not quite believe it himself, he added, “The boy genius.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Bradford Park
They ran to see if the boy on the flying machine had broken his head, but found him climbing out of the shallow pond. “It works, it works!” he shouted jubilantly. “Mr. Stone, hullo! Did you see that?” He pushed his goggles up onto his head and didn’t seem to care in the least that he was soaked to the skin. “Did you see my Pigeon go?”
“I did, Master Archie,” Derek called back in amusement. “Well done, as always.”
“Brilliant,” Jake breathed, staring rapturously at the contraption. “I want a turn!”
Dani frowned at him. Recklessness obviously ran in the family.
Master Archie, or rather, the Honorable Archimedes James Bradford as Derek formally introduced him, was eleven, with dark hair that stuck out in all directions, a splash of freckles across his face, and black, twinkly eyes full of mischief and extraordinary notions.
Dani rather hated him on sight, though she couldn’t say why. First of all, he was much too happy.
“Hullo!” he greeted them with great, amiable cheer.
Peeling off his gloves, he shook hands with Jake and bowed to Dani like a proper young gentleman.
Ugh, perfect manners, too.
She stared at him, bemused by this odd being who seemed to be made of equal parts enthusiasm and eccentricity. But Archie soon returned to marveling over his long-lost cousin.
Indeed, each boy seemed quite pleased to find himself with an agreeable male cousin about his own age. Dani despaired, fearing she was already forgotten.
Just then, a frantic voice reached them from the distance. “Archimedes!”
They all turned. An elegant black-haired lady was rushing out of the grand white house toward them, holding up her long, dark skirts to avoid tripping on them in her haste.
“Ah, dash,” Archie said under his breath.
“Master Archie, are you hurt?” she demanded as she hurried toward them, using her hand to shade her milky complexion from the sun. “You know you are not supposed to work on the glider without Henry’s supervision! You could’ve been killed!”
“I’m fine, Miss Helena, really!” the young inventor called back in a longsuffering tone.
“Who’s that?” Jake whispered.
“That’s our governess—well, more my sister’s now,” he said glumly. “She’s half French and a termagant when she’s cross.”
“A what?” Jake said.
“Termagant—an overbearing shrew,” Dani informed him.
Archie turned to Dani, pleased that she understood him. But Derek watched Miss Helena approach with an odd glow in his eyes. “I’m sure she’s nothing of the kind,” he murmured, taking a step toward the dark-eyed beauty who now joined them. “Fear not, the boy is unharmed, Mademoiselle du Val.” When the Guardian greeted the governess with a small, chivalrous bow, Dani and Jake looked at him and then at each other in shock.
Miss Helena smiled at him, pressing her hand to her heart as she strove to catch her breath. “Ah, Guardian Stone, if I had known you were on hand, I should not have feared for the boy’s safety in the least.” She smoothed a stray hair back toward the neat bun she wore at her nape, then she straightened the cameo brooch that adorned the high lace neck of her gown. “As it is, I was sitting in the drawing room with Miss Isabelle and Her Ladyship when I saw him go flying through the sky. Mon Dieu!” Miss Helena turned and scolded Archie in a rapid stream of French, then pointed toward the house.
Archie apparently understood every word; Dani was impressed in spite of herself.
Looking mortified, the young scientist went to collect his “Pigeon,” while Jake eyed the governess like she’d better not even think about telling him what to do, in any language.
While Jake went to help his cousin drag the invention out of the pond, Derek told Miss Helena who Jake and Dani were. The governess declared that Lady Bradford would want to see her long-lost great-great nephew right away.
Dani called Teddy back to take him inside, but when she picked him up, to her surprise, he growled at Miss Helena; the Frenchwoman frowned, but seemed unsurprised.
The governess narrowed her yellowish-green eyes at Teddy and fairly hissed. Dani looked at Derek Stone in confusion as the mysterious woman walked ahead of them. He merely grinned and gave her a wink.
Well, there is some sort of secret here, Dani thought. Whatever it was, she instantly wanted to know it. She kept her eyes open and her wits sharp while the boys pulled Archie’s flying machine back up onto the grass. Together they all went up to the gleaming white mansion on the hill.
Bradford House was modeled on a classical Greek temple. It had a small dome on top, a front portico held up by stately columns, and symmetrical wings off the main block, with rows of sparkling windows.
In the sculpted gardens, not a blade of grass appeared out of place. When they stepped inside, the house was bright and airy. Miniature lemon trees grew in pots in the entrance hall. The rooms they passed were painted in pastels. It was the most elegant house Dani had ever seen, and it made her all the more self-conscious about the fact that she was from the rookery—not to mention still wearing a borrowed nightgown and her grubby old cloak.
Derek Stone and the boys did not pay attention to such things, but she had noticed the second glance that
Miss Helena had cast her. She wished she would have had at least a moment to comb her hair. On second thought, she supposed she should just be happy to be alive after all that had happened to her last night.
“Her Ladyship is in the morning room,” the governess informed them as she led the way, her head high, her shoulders back, her step confident and graceful.
Dani was in awe of Miss Helena’s sublime respectability.
“Do you smell that?” Jake whispered as they went down the main corridor.
She nodded eagerly. Food!
Then Miss Helena stepped into the morning room ahead of them. It had light yellow walls, white trim, and a pretty floral rug over the hardwood floor. “Your Ladyship, Guardian Stone is here. He has brought the boy.”
The second Dani saw the stern-looking old woman, she understood her at once to be a Formidable Personage, the sort commonly known as a dragon-lady.
Her gray hair was arranged in an elegant bun atop her head. She had high cheekbones and the most intensely piercing eyes as she took the small reading spectacles off the bony bridge of her nose and let them dangle from the ribbon around her neck. “Quickly!” she ordered, beckoning. “Let me see him.”
Derek grasped Jake’s shoulder and steered him firmly into the room.
Dani hid behind Archie. They exchanged a glance: she, underdressed; he, soaking wet. They both knew they were in for it.
Even Jake seemed a little less cocky as he was presented to this intimidating grand-dame. “Ma’am.”
“Lady Bradford,” Derek said, “allow me to present Jacob Everton, the seventh Earl of Griffon. Jake, this is your great-great aunt, Ramona, the Dowager Baroness Bradford.”
Dani peeked around Archie to see how her friend would fare. She winced as Jake attempted an awkward bow.
But then her eyes widened when she noticed that Lady Bradford’s sewing needle, which she had set aside, was still working on the embroidery by itself.
The embroidery hoop floated in midair while the enchanted needle, pulling colored thread, darted back and forth through the white fabric, working on the pattern.
Pursing her lips, Her Ladyship set her spectacles on her nose again, as if to hide the tears that the missing boy had been returned to their family. Instead, without a whit of sentiment, she inspected Jake, frowning.
“Yes, you are an Everton, all right,” she confirmed with a nod. “But you’ve got our Bradford nose. Indeed, the family likeness is all there—beneath the grime. Gracious, boy, but you are bedraggled! What is the meaning of this? Helena, call Henry in at once to see to him. I cannot interview the lad in this uncivilized condition.”
“Aunt Ramona,” a soft voice spoke up from over by the window nook.
Only then did Dani see the lovely blond girl standing in the sunlight with a book on her head, as if she had just paused in her practice of ladylike walking. She was slightly older, perhaps fourteen, with golden-blond ringlets and sky-blue eyes that matched the satin sash around her waist.
The old woman turned to her, her sternness melting almost to indulgence for a heartbeat. It was instantly clear this gentle-voiced creature was a great favorite with her. “Yes, Isabelle, what is it, my dear?”
“They are hungry,” the girl replied.
All of a sudden, Teddy jumped out of Dani’s arms and ran to this stranger with the golden ringlets. Isabelle took the book off her head and bent down gracefully, picking Teddy up. “Hello to you, as well, little one!”
Teddy was wagging his tail as if he had known her all his life. Dani was nonplussed. Her dog began making odd little noises, playful growls, half-yips, almost warbling, as if he were talking to Isabelle.
“My, my, did she really?” she murmured, shaking her head.
Dani looked on, staring at her dog in dismay. She knew it was silly of her, but she felt a bit betrayed, if not abandoned. If she had been jealous before, when Jake had made instant best friends with his cousin Archie, now she was bereft. Even her dog preferred these rich, fancy people over her! It wasn’t fair.
“Teddy!” Dani clapped her hands to her terrier. “Teddy, come back here! Don’t bother the young lady! Sorry about that—”
“Oh, he is not bothering me at all.” Miss Isabelle turned with an angelic smile. “He could never bother anyone, could you, Teddy? I can tell he’s a very good dog.” Isabelle put Teddy down and he ran back to Dani, and it was then, as she scooped her dog back up in her arms that the dragon-lady noticed her.
“Pray tell, Guardian Stone, what is this you have brought me? A second disheveled urchin?” Lady Bradford’s piercing stare homed in on Dani as Archie stepped aside.
“She saved Jacob’s life last night,” Isabelle informed her great-great aunt. “She is his closest friend.”
“How did you know that?” Dani exclaimed.
“Teddy told me, of course.”
“She did, it’s true,” Jake spoke up. “Her name is Dani O’Dell.”
“O’Dell?” Lady Bradford grimaced.
“Teddy is right,” Derek spoke up with a fond nod of greeting to Miss Isabelle. “Miss O’Dell did save your nephew’s life last night, Your Ladyship. We had a spot of bother in Town, but I’ll tell you about it in a bit, if you don’t mind, my lady. In the meanwhile, these children have not eaten yet today.”
“Well, they cannot come to my table looking like that,” the baroness said with a sniff. “Helena, make Miss O’Dell as presentable as you can. Henry can see to the boys. Both of them,” she added, sending Archie a stern arch of her silvery-gray eyebrow from across the room.
“Sorry, Aunt Ramona,” the young inventor mumbled.
The baroness lifted her chin, as though trying not to smile. “Did the glider work this time?”
Archie burst out with a grin from ear to ear. “It did! Looks like I’m ahead of schedule for the science conference in Norway!”
“Humph! Prodigies,” she said with a snort. “Run along, then. Do sit down, Guardian Stone. We have much to discuss. I wish to hear all about how and where you found the boy.”
As Derek sat down with the old baroness, a young man in a brown tweed coat and polka-dotted bowtie bobbed into the doorway with an easygoing smile. “Did you call for me, sis?” he asked Miss Helena.
“Ah, Henry. There you are.” Miss Helena went over to him and quietly explained their assignment.
Henry’s eyes widened as he saw the task he had ahead of him with Jake.
A lifetime of grime would somehow have to be removed before the notorious pickpocket could begin to be turned into anything resembling a young gentleman about to inherit his father’s title and fortune.
Dani soon learned that Henry and Helena du Val were twins; Helena served as governess to Miss Isabelle, while Henry was in charge of Master Archie as his tutor and valet.
Tutor and governess exchanged a look of private dread at the challenge before them with Dani and Jake. Then the boys were marched up one set of stairs and the girls were led up another, and they all got to work.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Gentleman and Lady
Somehow Jake survived the next hour, though Henry’s battle to make him resemble something like a gentleman was more alarming than any attack by Uncle Waldrick’s minions.
At first, Jake had been impressed with the mansion’s hot running water; Cousin Archie hastened to explain how it worked and had not stopped talking since.
Fidgeting in the next room, Archie prattled on through the open door while Jake was dunked again in the torture device they called a bathtub, half drowned under mounds of bubbles. He came up sputtering once more and heard Henry barking orders at the footmen.
“We’re going to need stronger soap than this! Bring scissors for his hair. And cologne, please. Ugh, throw out this washrag. We’re going to have to change the water again. It’s as brown as the Thames. Blazes, lad, have you never cut your toenails in your life? They’re as thick as a goat’s hoof.”
Then the heartless scoundrel dunked him again.
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br /> But an hour later, Jake stared at his reflection with an odd mix of shock, vanity, and embarrassment.
“Very handsome, my lord,” Henry congratulated him, exhausted but pleased with his work.
That well-dressed kid in the mirror couldn’t possibly be him, Jake thought, but the reflection moved as he did, swiveling his head to the side to inspect his hair. To his surprise, it turned out to be a shade lighter once it was clean, more of a sandy gold like his father’s in the portrait. The front part that usually fell in his eyes had been trimmed, then slicked back and smoothed into place with some pleasant-smelling cream. And his clothes! He’d long since grown accustomed to wearing rags.
Lucky for him, Henry said, Master Archie grew so fast these days that he had already ordered larger clothes for him from his tailor in London.
Jake could not believe his eleven-year-old cousin had a Bond Street tailor.
With a few quick adjustments, the fine clothes were made to fit Jake: a crisp white shirt and a neat black neck-cloth; a pin-striped vest and a short, dark-blue jacket that Henry said was de rigueur (whatever that meant) for boys his age. On the bottom, he wore tan-colored trousers and a pair of black ankle-boots.
Staring into the mirror at the finished product, Jake thought he looked like a different person. Only the rascally glint in his eyes remained the same. He couldn’t help wondering what grand sort of heists he could get away with in these clothes—but no, he thought, remembering Newgate. That sort of mischief was behind him.
Besides, there was no need to steal anymore. He owned a bloody goldmine (with dwarves) and a castle, or he soon would—once everything that was rightfully his had been pried out of Uncle Waldrick’s clutches.
Provided Uncle Waldrick didn’t kill him first.
Well, he felt quite safe here, especially with Derek Stone in the house. His only real fear at the moment was how hard Dani was going to laugh at him when she saw him dressed like this.
Standing behind him before the full-length mirror, Henry flicked a piece of lint off Jake’s shoulder. “There,” he said proudly. “Now you may go down to breakfast, my lord.”