CHAPTER SIXThree days later, while reading Romeo and Juliet with Violet in the library, Elvina was informed by an agitated footman that she had a visitor.
The young footman told her, wooden-faced, that the newcomer was a rough, rude man who spoke in grunts, demanded to see Mrs. Winters and otherwise refused to give any account of himself.
Elvina chuckled, recognising Simpson from the graphic description.
“Wait here a moment,” she told Violet.
“Can I not come with you?”
“Certainly not. While I am away you can learn Juliet’s potion speech and act it for me when I return.”
She ran down to the stables and her eyes lit up with delight at the sight of Jupiter and Mars, her two dearest steeds.
And there, too, was the friendly, familiar face of Simpson, looking as though it was carved out o
