Summerset Abbey by T. J. Brown Page A

can put some in my garden?”
    Victoria nodded and dropped to her knees next to the old woman, in spite of her new tweed walking suit. “How do you know that mallow is good for colds? What does it do?”
    “It helps coat the throat and clear the nostrils. And I learned from my mother, just like she learned from her mother. Plus, I learned a great deal more about herbs during my travels. I’d like to believe that I’m the reason your father fell in love with plants. I taught him to garden long before I taught him his letters and numbers.”
    Victoria was fascinated. “And did you teach my uncle, too?”
    Nanny Iris scoffed. “I couldn’t teach that one anything. He was born too posh for the likes of me. Didn’t think I could teach him anything and his mother just indulged him. But your father was a veritable sponge.”
    Victoria’s throat tightened and the old woman patted her hand. She didn’t say a word, though, which made Victoria like her even more.
    They picked in silence for some time before the old woman stretched her back. “That’ll be enough now. We don’t want to clean out the patch.”
    Victoria stood up and helped Nanny Iris to her feet. “Would you like me to walk you home?”
    “Lord, no, child. I know the way. And if I’m not mistaken, you’ll have the whole house worried if you don’t get back soon.”
    Victoria sighed, knowing it was true. “Rowena will be worried. Prudence, too.”
    “Are they the girls you were standing with?”
    “Rowena is my sister. She was the pretty dark-haired girl in the bucket hat. The other girl is my cousin, Elaine.”
    “And where was Prudence?”
    Victoria frowned, resentment running through her all over again. “Prudence wasn’t allowed to come.”
    “Ah.” Nanny Iris didn’t ask and Victoria didn’t elaborate.
    “Well, you’re a nice girl and I would love to have you come visit me some time. I was very fond of your father.”
    “I would love that. Where do you live?”
    “A little cottage just this side of Buxton. You can ask anyone and they will tell you where I live.”
    On impulse, Victoria gave the old woman a hug. “Thank you. I’ll come as soon as I can.”
    “That would be grand, and Victoria?”
    Victoria looked up at the serious note in her voice. “Yes?”
    “Don’t wander around these woods by yourself. They’re not very friendly for young girls such as yourself.”
    Before she could ask why, the old woman turned and nimbly trotted away.
    *   *   *
    “Everyone works here.” The cook tossed Prudence a rag. “Go help Susie scour the copper pots.”
    Prudence blinked at the rag in her hand. All she had wanted was a cup of tea. The morning had been a nightmare. Mrs. Harper had awakened her at the crack of dawn even though Prudence knew full well it would be hours before Rowena or Victoria would need her for anything. She’d been ordered to help Susie peel carrots and onions for the soup stock that would sit on the back of the stove all day for this evening’s consommé. She’d barely had time for a cup of tea before the housekeeper had sent her upstairs to start the fires in Victoria’s and Rowena’s rooms. Then she ran back downstairs to snatch something to eat in the servants’ hall.
    The servants’ hall was nothing like the fancy Great Hall upstairs. In fact, it must have been someone’s idea of a joke that they had the same name at all. The floor of the servants’ hall was covered in old brown linoleum, with old rickety chairs sitting at an equally rickety table. It looked small and tacky, an afterthought in a home where the kitchen, on the other hand, was thoroughly modern and well planned. The Indian flagstones on the floor were scrubbed clean and huge earthenware sinks and an enormous cooker took up one entire wall. On top of the cooker sat a huge copper vat with a tap that supplied constant hot water.
    Her only relief of the day had been helping Rowena and Victoria into their walking suits, but even that