“Welcome,” he said. “I hope you’ll like it here.”
She paused in the doorway of the carriage. “It’s as big as London,” she whispered in awe.
“Not quite. We lack a tower and a palace, although they say the ruler of this place is just as dissolute as our prince. But I hear this fellow’s turned over a new leaf, taken a new bride, and promises to become as staid as anyone could wish. Come, meet my staff. They’re yearning to be presented.”
“I’ve never lived in a place such as this,” she said as she came down the carriage stairs.
“You’ve lived with worse and survived, haven’t you? I think you could get used to this, if you try. You will try, won’t you?” he asked, his eyes suddenly solemn.
She laughed. “Oh, my lord, it will be a hardship, but I promise, I will try!”
She was as good as her word. The household staff stood in a reception line, and she accepted their well wishes, never letting them know how stunned she was by how many of them there were. She met the butler and the housekeeper, the cook and her assistants, footmen and maids, coachmen, stablemen, gardeners, and assorted outdoor workers. Daisy lost count of them and realized she wasn’t that far off thinking her new home was as big as London. It was, in fact, a small city of workers, and though they all looked happy, well fed, and content, they beamed at Daisy as though she’d come to deliver them.
“They’re delighted that I’ve taken a wife, and one with manners and dignity,” Leland explained in an aside as they finished greeting the last of the servants.
When they were done greeting her, the assembled staff burst into applause. That almost made Daisy burst into tears.
“My lady is overwhelmed, as am I,” Leland told his staff. “I know all will go well from now on. Thank you for your patience in the past, and for your well wishes today. I’ve asked Cook to prepare a special menu for you all today so that you can celebrate, too. Again, thank you.”
After another burst of applause for his speech, the staff silently and swiftly dispersed. Soon Leland and Daisy were alone in the front hall.
“Your maid’s already ensconced upstairs,” Leland said. “I’m sure you’d like to change so I can show you ’round.”
“Oh, yes, I would,” she said.
“Good,” he said as they began walking up the long, ornate staircase. “That gown is magnificent, but I worry that the trailing tulle will get caught in the rosebushes or dragged through the stable yard, or excite the chickens so much they’ll stop laying. Yes, I do have chickens. I hope you’re not appalled. I know gentlemen should have peacocks, but they’re such idiots. Mind you, a peacock’s intellect is a notch below that of a chicken’s, who are no geniuses themselves, but at least I don’t feel guilty about eating a chicken. They are rather dim, you know. Yet still it seems a pity to demolish a wonder like a peacock merely for one’s dinner, as the Elizabethans did. Which is why, I suppose, being beautiful is always an advantage. Did you find it so?”
She laughed. “I’m not beautiful enough to answer that.”
“Of course you are,” he said mildly. “I might not keep peacocks, but I’m impressed by their beauty. I didn’t marry for beauty, but I’m delighted to have a lovely wife.”
“You flatter me after we’re married?” she asked with a grin. “Now that’s something wonderful.”
“I don’t flatter,” he said in bored tones. “It’s demeaning, at least for the flatterer. I merely comment.”
“Then, thank you,” she said, so pleased and surprised, she didn’t know what else to say.
The room he showed her to was immense, and so opulently furnished that she caught her breath. But unlike most great houses she’d seen in illustrated magazines, for all its size and splendor the bedchamber was filled with light and seemed modern and airy. The great canopy bed, big enough for a family to sleep in, was hung with peach panels and covered with a sumptuous apricot-colored silk spread. The furniture was graceful and light, fashioned in the Chinese style the prince had made famous with his pleasure house at Brighton. Even the mantelpiece over the fireplace was made of rose-colored marble. The walls were covered with yellow and white stretched silk, and the paintings on those walls were of the sea and sky. The windows overlooked gardens, and it seemed they’d come inside as well, because everywhere there were vases and baskets of bright flowers.
Daisy peeked into an adjoining room to see a dressing room, and when she opened another door, found a second one. There were bathing facilities behind another door: a huge bath, fit for a Roman spa, and an indoor toilet. She swiftly changed out of the gown she’d been married in, and washed, admiring the beautiful marble water basin. She dallied only because she’d never seen a toilet that flushed before, but soon shook herself from the novelty of flushing, and dressed. She put on a simple yellow walking dress, comfortable slippers, and a straw bonnet. With a last backward glance at herself in a looking glass, she left her room. She couldn’t wait to see what else lay ahead for her.
Leland was waiting at the foot of the stair. He, too, had changed, and was dressed like a country gentleman, or rather, she thought, like a London gentleman who had dressed as a country gentleman. Because though he wore a scarf tied carelessly around his neck, no squire had ever worn such a well-tailored green jacket, such immaculate linen, such tightly fitting wrinkle-free gray breeches, or such shining brown half boots.
She smiled. He’d be a paragon of fashion if he had to dress for mucking out a barnyard.
“Yes,” he said, as though reading her mind. “Clothes do make the man, don’t you think? Especially when the man isn’t fortunate enough to command a lady’s attention otherwise.” He smiled. “I know, that’s the past, there’s only one lady’s attention I want now. Even so, I suspect it would be hard to get out of the habit of dressing to suit the occasion. I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with a fop. Unless, of course, it disturbs you?”
“No,” she said, smiling. “I don’t think that caring for your appearance means you’re a fop.” Especially, she thought, when one had endured a husband who bathed only when he felt too hot, and whose idea of fashion was to put on a clean shirt.
“Good,” Leland said, offering her his arm, “Now let’s go. I have so much to show you. My housekeeper won’t bother you for instructions because it’s our honeymoon and you haven’t any duties until it’s over. Let us hope it never is,” he added. “The rest of the staff will also stay discreetly out of our way. So we must entertain ourselves. Shall we begin?”
They strolled down paths to see rose gardens and wisteria arbors, herb gardens and knot gardens and rhododendron walks. His gardeners paused to salute him and show her their prize blooms. Her new husband showed her statues and fountains, and then a huge gazebo that overlooked an artificial pond that suited the real carp in it to perfection.
“These fellows are all tamed, and looking for crumbs,” Leland said, seeing her delight when the fish came to the edge of the pond and bubbled up their greetings to her fingertips when she touched the water. “They’re ornaments, really. But we’ve streams that feed a larger lake on the grounds, if you care to see real fish or go fishing. It’s too far to walk today, but if you like, we can ride there tomorrow.”
“I used to go fishing,” she said, her expression turning somber. “Remember, that’s partly the reason I was transported. I helped my father as he helped himself to our neighbor’s fish.”
“I’m sorry to bring up bad memories,” he said sincerely.
“I don’t mind,” she said, looking up at him. “I’d like to see the lake. I actually enjoyed fishing.”
Her straw bonnet was a flimsy affair; the wide holes in the weave let in the sunlight. The sunlight brought out the gold in her ruddy hair, and had already begun to inspire a light dusting of freckles on the bridge of her nose. Her eyes glowed with pleasure. The sunlight also clearly delineated her form, because her gown was so thin. For once, that wasn’t what held his attention. He studied her face instead. She was very beautiful, and very happy, which made her even lovelier.