“Now, girls.”
But his daughters refused to budge. Instead, they glared at him and remained where they were, huddled together in the farthest corner of the hallway.
“Well, really,” Wilhelmina growled. “You really must do something about their manners, Arthur.”
Arthur, looking almost hunted, stalked angrily into the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
The following morning, conversation around the breakfast table was sparse. Aside from the habitual greeting, nobody was inclined to talk, and it was only partly because everybody had slept poorly.
Sian suspected the somewhat disgruntled atmosphere hanging over everyone was also driven by Mabel and Arthur’s loud argument in the study, following which was a rather chaotic hour while Mabel packed her belongings and moved out of her bed chamber at the back of the house. She now shared Lucinda’s room with Lucinda, who hadn’t objected because she was too shaken by the ferocity of the argument everyone had overheard. It was unsurprising to find that Mabel didn’t make an appearance at the breakfast table. It was also unsurprising that Wilhelmina hadn’t taken the argument as her cue to leave first thing this morning. Instead, she was seated around the table with a contemptuous sneer on her rotund face.
“Where are you going?” Arthur asked when Sian asked for his permission to leave the table.
“I have to go to the village to fetch a few things,” Sian replied.
“Like what?”
Sian lifted her brows at her father. “Well, seeing as we have two guests, we will need a few provisions to feed them. What is Frances supposed to cook with?”
Arthur opened his mouth to protest. “Hurry up. I should like a word with you when you get back.”
“About what?”
Arthur didn’t get the chance to speak before Wilhelmina interrupted them. “Toast? That’s all you have on offer? Toast?”
“Fruit?” Arthur waved to the bowl of apples in the centre of the table.
“What about the bacon, ham, beef, and eggs?” Wilhelmina cried. “One cannot survive on toast.”
“You are going to have to. We weren’t expecting guests and so Frances is a little unprepared.”
“Well, surely this Frances is capable of cooking me some eggs, and I am sure you have some bacon as well. Cedrick is going to want a proper breakfast.”
“Why?” Arthur looked at his sister, but Wilhelmina was too busy contemplating what else she could demand for her breakfast to notice.
“Cedrick is a guest in this house. We both are. You cannot serve guests toast. Why, he is going to get the impression you are poor.”
Arthur sighed. “We survive perfectly well on toast, and I am sure you and your guest can too. Of course, Cedrick can have a picnic to take with him.”
“Where?” Wilhelmina reluctantly began to spread a liberal helping of butter on her toast to the point that by the time she had finished only half the weekly allowance of butter was left. They all stared at it in dismay.
“I am sure Cedrick is going to want to go home now that he is aware that we cannot accommodate him. Besides, we are going to be busy. We must go to your house to see what work needs to be done to make it habitable. It cannot stay as it is, can it?” Arthur sighed heavily and a scowl settled over his brow once more.
He had no idea how he was going to be in a position to ever repair his own house let alone Wilhelmina’s, but he wanted to see for himself just how badly Wilhelmina’s home had been damaged before he made a decision about what to do about accommodating his sister.
“But Cedrick is going to stay for the month,” Wilhelmina announced firmly.
Arthur shook his head. “I am sure that Cedrick will understand his plans must change given what has happened. If he is a decent sort, he should be more than happy to go home.”
“Cedrick is a decent sort. Ergo, I am not going to ask him to leave. How rude,” Wilhelmina protested. “Besides, Mabel is already accommodated, although why she should not share your bed chamber is beyond me. You are man and wife after all.”
Arthur glared at her. “I am not going to discuss my marital arrangements with you. That is far beyond the pale, Wilhelmina. Take it from me, Cedrick can stay for a couple of days, and then he is going home if I have to drive him there myself.”
With that, Arthur left the table and slammed out of the room. Sian immediately began to make her own way to the door.
“Where do you think you are going?” Wilhelmina demanded.