Adrian was adjusting the time on the clock in the billiard room. It was one of Lord Devon’s favorites, a French Louis XIV mantel clock made sometime in the 1660s. Mr. Reeves lectured all incoming footmen about the prestige and quality of the clocks and that it was their duty to keep them in pristine condition.
This clock was a delicate piece, with a case made of red tortoiseshell and ornamented with delicately cut inlays of copper and pewter. The case was accented with bronze mounts in the shapes of beadings, rosettes, palm leaves, fir cones, antique oil lamps, and claw feet. The clock’s face was covered with black chamois leather.
Adrian carefully adjusted the ornate bronze clock hands to the correct time based on the pocket watch in his waistcoat pocket. Beneath the circular display of
