Mina showed her to the parlor and bade her take a comfortable seat while she saw what was for breakfast. She found Edna stacking smoked kippers onto a plate.
“Morning, Mrs. Nye,” she greeted her. “Sorry about having to wake you like that, only that Mr. Jones would insist he needed to speak to the master first thing.”
Mina waved the apology aside. “Not at all, Edna. What can I do?”
“Nothing Mrs. Nye, these kippers are for your breakfast guests. I’ve buttered some bread slices there for you and I’m about to make a fresh pot of tea, so if you’ll just take those through with you presently, then all is sorted.”
“Wonderful,” said Mina approvingly. “What should we do without you, Edna?”
The maid snorted but looked gratified.
Mina disappeared into the scullery to wash and when she reappeared some minutes later, Edna informed her, “There’s hardly anyone up yet, except for that Mr. Jones smoking a nasty cigar outside the back door. Everyone else is still snoring.”
“I’m sure it’s not to be wondered at,” Mina observed, buttoning her cuffs. “I could hear the merry making out of my window into the small hours.”
Edna pursed her lips, then lowered her voice. “I’m lucky that bold-faced one with the mole on her cheek, what calls herself Mrs. Jones took over the bar at midnight, so I could go up to bed. I’m grateful to her for that if nothing else.”
“Indeed, that was good of her,” agreed Mina. “For it meant Nye could retire at a decent hour to repair his wounds.” She colored faintly as she picked up the dish of kippers in one hand and the bread and butter in the other, for that was not all he had done.
“Only fancy, she’s had me light the fire in her room this morning, so she set her curling iron to the flames,” Edna said with obvious disapproval. “The vanity!”
“You must have been very busy already,” Mina said, conscience-stricken. “Really, taking breakfast in the parlor this morning was most thoughtless of me.”
“Nonsense! Your mistress here and other folks needs to know it! You go on ahead,” Edna told her bracingly. “I’ll bring in the tea as soon as it’s ready.”
Mina thanked her and made for the parlor where she found Effie admiring the blue and gold tea-set.
“Lovely bit of china, this,” she said, looking up at Mina’s entrance. “What a fine room! Do you know, I had no notion this was even here?”
“Oh, it wasn’t,” Mina told her, setting down the dishes and pulling back a seat at the table for Effie. “Nye had it set up for my use.”
“Fancy that!” Effie’s eyes were very wide. “That’s handsome of him, and no mistake.”
“Yes, I’m very fortunate,” she said setting the silver cruet set down on the table. “Do you think Mrs. Jones will join us this morning?”
“Who?” asked Effie blankly. “Oh, you mean Dot!” She sank into her seat and leaned forward confidingly. “She ain’t really married to Nat you know, love. She just goes by that when she accompanies him out and about.”
“Nat?”
“Nat Jones, the fight promoter. You must have seen him yesterday.”
“Oh, of course. In the yellow waistcoat.”
“That’ll be him.”
Effie helped herself to a kipper and a slice of bread and butter. “Well, this is grand,” she said, looking around the room. “I declare I feels as if I’m havin’ breakfast wiv a duchess.”
Mina smiled wanly, but Edna sailed through the door with the silver teapot and milk jug before she could reply. “There you are, Mrs. Nye,” she said, setting them down. “Can I fetch you anything else?”
“I think we’re very amply provided for, thank you, Edna.”
“Don’t you talk nice,” Effie said admiringly as Edna retreated. “A proper lady. Everyone says so.”
“Nye thinks it’s down to too much book-learning.”
Effie shook her head. “Now that’s where he’s wrong. You can never have too much of that,” she said. “That’s what my old Dad used to say, and he should know, ‘cos he couldn’t read nor write, poor old sod.” Mina was too startled to know how to reply to that, but luckily Effie did not seem to notice. “Besides,” she said bracingly. “My Jeb said you’ve a pert tongue in your ‘ead and not too prim to give someone a taste of the sharp side of it.” She giggled.
“Oh! Well, that was—kind—of him,” Mina choked out as she selected two cups and saucers for them. “Do you take sugar?”
“Three when I can get it,” Effie admitted. “Yes, he said you soon had Clem with his tail between ‘his legs and bashful as a schoolboy!”
Mina had a sudden uncomfortable recollection of Clem’s rather racy dialogue with the female in the hall the night before. “Bashful is not the word I think I would use for Mr Dabney,” she observed dryly.
“Never tell me he was saucy with you!” gasped Effie. “I wouldn’t have thought it of him! “
“Oh no!” Mina interrupted her quickly. “Not at all. To me, he was politeness itself.”
Effie collapsed back into her chair in exaggerated relief. “Well thank gawd for that!” she said. “Or Nye would have torn him limb from limb! Anyone can see how jealously he guards you.” Mina paused before lifting the teapot but could find no words for a response. “I don’t mind tellin’ you,” Effie continued. “All the fellas was talking of it yesterday after that exhibition he put on in the bar. Not in his hearing, mind. None of them had a death wish.” Effie winked and Mina poured the tea.
“He is not so bad as all that,” she protested weakly.
“Oh, isn’t he?” Effie snorted. “You didn’t see how he ripped at Frank when he reminded him of how he’d left you standing at the altar all forlorn. Proper fuming, he was. It’s my belief if my Jeb hadn’t got between them, Nye would have planted him a facer there and then and he wasn’t even down to fight Frank Toomes!”
“He fought Mr. Dabney, did he not?”
“S’right,” Effie agreed, taking a large swig of tea. “Shame he wouldn’t let you watch, but I daresay it’s not a very genteel thing for a lady to do,” she sounded sympathetic.
“I hope Nye does not think of me as a perfect lady,” Mina murmured absently, remembering what he’d said about fine ladies not being worth the bother.
“Maybe you’ll bring him round given time,” said Effie, who was clearly one of life’s optimists.
“Perhaps,” agreed Mina who was not sure she’d ever be a boxing enthusiast.
The door opened and Mina was surprised to see Dot sail around it dressed in a lilac spotted gown with a profusion of pleats. Mina noticed that the mole on her cheek was a good deal less prominent this morning and realized with surprise that she must enhance it with charcoal to make it darker as some people did with their eyelashes. Her hair, however, just as Edna had predicted, was tightly ringleted in a profusion of jet-black curls showing evidence of her curling iron.
“Good morning,” she greeted her, getting to her feet. “Please take a seat Mrs. Jones and I’ll fetch you a cup.”
The newcomer gave her a level look. “That’s not my name, Mina,” she said, pulling out a seat at the table. “Though Jones is my name, funny enough, it was because my father bestowed it on me, not Nat. It’s Miss Jones, but you can call me Dot,” she said handsomely.
Mina fetched her a plate, cup and saucer and made haste to pour her a cup from the silver teapot.
“You are an early riser, Miss Jones. I had thought you might sleep in after my husband told me you had manned the bar last night.”
“I couldn’t loll abed like the Quality,” said Dot agreeably. “Not for a hundred pound. My old Ma would have had a good deal to say about lying in for all hours. Never taken breakfast in bed in my life, though I keep a parlor maid now and a kitchen one too.”
Mina passed her a brimming cup which she took with murmured thanks. “Do you live in Exeter?” she asked politely, nudging the dish of kippers her way.
Dot shook her head. “London,” she said suc
cinctly. “I don’t like to be away from the capital for more than a few days at a time. Can’t abide the backwaters, I can’t.”
Mina was unsure if she was referring to Penarth or Exeter in these disparaging terms, but Effie extended her cup hastily for a refill, so Mina was spared having to answer by her hostess duties.
“Well, well,” drawled a voice from the doorway, making the three of them turn their heads. “What a dainty gathering.”
Mina drew in a breath of surprise for it was none other than Lady Faris resplendent in a royal blue riding habit complete with whip and mannish looking hat which did nothing to detract from her blonde beauty.
“Lady Faris,” she exclaimed. “Is my brother with you?”
Jeremy’s wife had sauntered into her room as if she had every right, and Mina was tempted to point out this was a private room. However, she felt somewhat hampered from doing this as she had so recently visited Vance Park.
“Can I help you to a cup of tea, Lady Faris?” she asked instead with cool politeness.
Amanda Vance gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I wouldn’t dream of interrupting your little tête-à-tête,” she said with a curl of her lip. Effie sucked in her cheeks and directed a wide-eyed look Mina’s way. Dottie stayed remained unperturbed by the interloper, tucking into her breakfast with relish.
“I understand my husband attended your sordid festivities last night,” Lady Faris continued, sounding nettled. “And saw fit to bring my son with him.”
“I’m afraid you will need to take it up with him, if you disapprove of prizefighting,” Mina pointed out.
Lady Faris shrugged. “Quite the contrary, I assure you. ‘Tis only that I fail entirely to see why I should be excluded from such a party. It is doubtless hard for a daughter of the middle-classes such as yourself to appreciate,” she said condescendingly. “But one who has had the benefits of a truly enlightened upbringing, can have an appreciation that you would be wholly lacking.”
Lady Faris’s eyes grew round and avid as she watched Clem and Jeb walk across the courtyard from the stables. She walked toward the window and stared out at them quite unabashed. “Magnificent specimens,” she murmured, then turned with a smug smile toward Mina. “Of course, a sheltered little schoolmistress like yourself couldn’t possibly understand the exhilaration of watching something as primal as two rough men, going at it like animals.” She gave a dramatic shiver.
Mina rolled her eyes; she could feel not only Effie but also Dot’s eyes on her, waiting for her to react. “I’m so glad you’re enjoying the view,” she said with the blandest politeness, hoping Effie would not fly out of her seat at any minute.
The blonde looked annoyed by her mild response, as though she had been hoping to shock her. “Of course,” she persisted. “The fighters would be very riled up after such a set-to. They require certain inducements to calm back down of which you would be entirely ignorant, you poor little thing.” She tapped her chin with one finger. “I remember when I travelled to Spain with my father, how the bull-fighters would send in a cow to calm the most savage bull.”
“I’m sorry,” said Mina sweetly. “Are you actually comparing yourself to a cow in this metaphorical scenario?”
Effie giggled and Dot let out a surprised gurgle of laughter.
Lady Faris gave a high, unconvincing laugh. “I must say, your attitude towards extra-marital encounters is quite refreshingly cosmopolitan for one of your ilk,” she said snidely. “Nye must be eternally grateful of the fact. I doubt very much you know in whose bed he spent the night celebrating or drowning his sorrows.”
Mina set down the milk jug she had just picked up with a thud, but even as she opened her mouth to speak Dottie forestalled her, lowering her knife.
“Every man Jack in that bar heard Nye resolve to take himself off to bed to his wife, at ten o’clock,” she said loudly. “So, there’s no mystery as to whose bed he slept in last night.”
“No one knows as well as I where my husband spent the night,” Mina said calmly, but with a hint of steel in her voice. “You have missed the mark, Lady Faris. I beg you will not embarrass yourself further in front of my guests.”
Amanda Vance’s color was exceedingly high in her cheeks. She gave an irritable shrug of her shoulder. “Oh, well, if you are resolved to be a dead bore over it, there is nothing more to be said.”
“I am not broad-minded and have never claimed to be,” Mina said as if she had not spoken. “My marriage is not a fashionable one,” she said scathingly. “Such as the ones I understand the nobility frequently partake in and neither would I want it to be.” She let that sink in a moment, pausing to see if Lady Faris would make some response, but when she only tossed her head, Mina turned back to her guests. “Is there anything I can get for anyone else. Dot – more kippers?”
“I don’t suppose you’ve any coffee?” Dot asked apologetically. “Only I’ve got in the habit of taking that of a morning rather than tea.”
“Of course!” said Mina, getting out of her chair. “Would anyone like anything?” Lady Faris only turned a cold shoulder and stared out of the window. Dot and Effie both demurred so Mina made her way through to the kitchen where she could hear someone talking in a loud jocular fashion to the accompaniment of boisterous laughter.
She had hoped to escape the tense atmosphere in the parlor for a moment to cool her heated cheeks. She had never felt so tempted to forget she was a lady and could only be grateful that she and Nye had discussed the question of remaining faithful to their marriage vows only that morning so she could answer Lady Faris with perfect composure.
As soon as she stepped over the threshold, the conversation fell quickly away, and she felt several alarmed gazes follow her as she walked to the kitchen range. She wondered what caused their expressions and could only hazard their conversation had not been fit for her ears. “Good morning, gentlemen,” she said in passing to Jeb and the Toome brothers who were stood about in various attitudes of relaxation, their shirts unbuttoned and their necks bare. Through the open door she could see Clem and Nat Jones smoking cigars.
“Morning, Mrs. Nye,” several voices chimed discordantly.
She nodded. “I trust you all slept well.”
“Aye, tolerable well,” said a Toome, she wasn’t sure which.
“Well enough,” concurred the other. “Though my head was fair ringing from the clout I received in the third. Fair cruel it were,” he said sadly and shot a meaning glance at Jeb who grinned.
“You’ll live,” he told him callously, but Mina could see they were all friends in here.
To her relief, she realized the overwhelming aroma in the room was coffee which meant they did have it. She never drank the stuff, but her father had used to be partial to a cup in the morning. She made for the range and poured a large cup for Dot.
Nye cleared his throat. “The boys have clubbed together,” he said. “To pay for us to spend a weekend at a fancy hotel,” he told her. “To celebrate our nuptials.” He scratched the back of his neck and Mina thought he reddened slightly.
“That is very kind of you all,” Mina marveled and meant it. “Only the other day, Nye said he would take me away for just such a weekend.”
“Seems the least we can do,” said Frank cheerfully. At least, Mina thought it was Frank.
“It was Nat’s idea,” admitted Jeb. “But we didn’t mark the occasion last time we were all here, so…”
Nat Jones came in from outside, and Mina noticed he was the only one dressed correctly in cravat and waistcoat. “Dear lady,” he cried. “Allow me to felicitate you. It is too bad of Nye not to have introduced us till now.”
Nye glowered. “This is my wife. Mina, this is Nat Jones who organizes the matches.”
Nat bowed gracefully over Mina’s hand.
“Quite the gent, ain’t he?” said a Toome brother, nudging Mina. “To look at ‘im, you’d never guess he was raised in a circus, would you?”
She didn’t say so, but to Mina, his
manner did hold something of the theatricality of a ringmaster in a big top. His tailcoat this morning was of delicate lavender and his waistcoat of emerald green.
“I’m very happy to make your acquaintance, Mr. Jones,” she said aloud.
“I dare swear I have never seen such a change in a man,” he said, sweeping his glance over Nye. “Only look at him this morning. Well rested, shaven, dressed. I doubt more than a drop of liquor even touched his lips last night. Usually the next morning his eyes are blood-shot and his vocabulary mere monosyllables!” Nye’s frown deepened. “You have wrought a miracle, Mrs. Nye! A modern-day miracle!”
“Aye, well that’s enough said of that!” Nye grouched, folding his arms. “Let’s not get too carried away.”
“I must get back with Dot’s coffee,” Mina excused herself, leaving them to their ribald conversation to rejoin the others in the parlor.
They were deep in conversation when she entered the room and Mina looked around in surprise to find no sign of Amanda Vance.
“Did Lady Faris depart already?”
Dot gave a short laugh. “She only waited for you to disappear and made good her escape,” she said contemptuously.
“Feel sorry for the poor bugger what’s joined his lot wiv ‘ers in life,” said Effie.
Mina colored faintly as she set the coffee down in front of Dot. “She is married to my half-brother,” she admitted, returning to her seat.
“She never is!” Effie gasped. “And her making sheep’s eyes at my Jeb out the window, bold as you like!”
“I don’t think their union is a happy one,” Mina admitted.
“Fancy your brother being some posh nob, in these parts,” Dottie marveled, taking an appreciative sip of the dark fluid. Mina nodded, interested to see she took it black and bitter. Dot sighed when she set the cup down. “That’s better,” she said. “Well, wonders will never cease. ‘Course, I could tell you had something about you. We were just discussing it. I wish me and Nat had been here that weekend of your marriage now.”
A Bride for the Prizefighter: A Victorian Romance Page 27