The Soldier's Poisoned Heart

Stepping outside, they began to go around the house. The outside would need to be painted, as well. The front path needed to be re-dug and new gravel laid. The back patio would need to be removed and re-grouted once they had the tree roots dealt with, as well.

And of course there was the gazebo, which looked as if a particularly angry storm might knock it over. John Paul hoped secretly that it would, rather than having to do it himself. It would spare everyone the dangerous position of having to risk the thing falling on them as they pulled it down.

Very well, John Paul thought. The list was not so long. It had taken only twenty or thirty minutes to make the whole inspection, even for the extra care they had taken compared to the first time. He looked down at his slate, and then looked out at his yard once more.

He would need to tend the garden. The implication of such a large yard implied one. Anyone attending his home would expect to see it, and he had only a strange tree, a patio, and some untrimmed hedges. He would be a laughingstock.

Yet at the same time, he thought, he had no patience for such things. Gardening was perfectly respectable work, and make no mistake. But he, himself, had no patience for it. He thought about Henry. Perhaps this would be a job for him.

The Colonel considered this, and then rejected it out of hand. There was no reason to assume that this was the right decision, after all. Henry seemed to want to do as little work as possible, and he had no intention of making the lad do anything he wouldn’t do himself. Of all the things he wouldn’t do, of course, gardening featured prominently.

He looked across the lawn once again. A gardener, then. He had furniture to spare coming in at some point. There was no way to know for certain, but he suspected that some part of his order would come in a matter of days. Until that point, he would wait, but it would be no matter for concern to hire another employee.

The night, John Paul declared, was Henry’s. He would be relaxing for the rest of the evening, and turning in early. He gently recommended that Henry do the same. They had an early morning ahead of them heading to Derby.

He retired to his room and lay in the bed, cracking the spine on his newest book. He leafed through it lazily before turning back to the first page, and then he set down to read. An hour later, a knock on the door.

“Come in,” John Paul called out. Mark opened the door, but didn’t enter.

“Dinner’s to be served momentarily, sir.”

“Thank you, Mark.”

“Would you care to join me?” John Paul asked.

He could see the discomfort on the stableboy's face, and almost immediately regretted asking. He hadn’t spent enough time with the lads to make them comfortable with him.

He waited a moment with no response before heading to dinner. After a moment, the young man followed. Thomas served dinner for the three of them and for a while they ate in silence. John Paul broke out a bottle of wine and poured them each a glass.

“How are you liking work here, lads?”

They looked at each other, trying to decide how to answer. John Paul looked down at his food and took a bite, smiling. It would have been impossible to have this sort of experience with his men in Australia.

On the rare occasions he had dined with the men, they’d acted much the same. Afraid to make any comment that might be deemed too offensive. He had disliked it, but it was an unavoidable reality. He had had the same experiences with Colonels when he had been a raw Lieutenant, but seeing it again grated on his nerves.

“Speak freely, now. You won't offend me.”

They thought it over for a minute, and John Paul wondered for a moment where his nephew had gotten off to. Had he gone into town? If he had, then had he told the boys? Oh well, there was no use worrying about it now.

Thomas spoke up finally.

“It’s nice work,” he answered. “Only four people to cook for, good quality ingredients…”

Mark nodded in agreement. Their jobs were different, but something about the description seemed to resonate. John Paul smiled at them.

“Well, boys, eat up! Don’t be shy.” And without waiting he dug in himself.

Chapter 8

The next morning he roused Henry early and the pair of them rode out to Derby. They would need to visit several stores, and John Paul thought it better to do it earlier than later. John Paul could see from his face that Henry would have preferred a later start.

Still, he kept his opinion to himself, electing instead only to slouch tiredly as he rode his horse. Rather, his horse walked underneath him quite happy to follow its partner. The trip took a bit longer than usual, for which John Paul was thankful, given that they would have been quite early otherwise.

They sauntered into the labor office first. They opened nearly at break of dawn. John Paul had heard that there were pools of people who waited outside each morning, though he had never seen them himself.

The man behind the counter was as pleasant as he had ever been, and said that he knew just the gardener to send along. Unlike the cook and stable-boy, it would probably be only a day or two. John Paul put down his deposit, happy that it would be done quickly.

The next stop, then, was to the lumber yard. Neither John Paul nor his nephew had any sort of knowledge about the refinishing and resurfacing of wooden floors. The man behind the counter picked up on this immediately. John Paul could feel his money draining from his coffers as the man spoke.