“Would you carry me?” she whispered back, “if I didn’t want to walk?”
“Indeed, I would, my lady.” Right up to bed. Once the idea lodged itself in his brain, Colin had trouble forcing it aside.
“Then maybe you had better set me on my feet.”
Colin blinked. Was it possible she’d read his mind? He bent and placed Gillian on her feet. “There you go.”
“Thank you most kindly, my lord.” Gillian smiled a little smile reminiscent of the one Colin had seen on da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa hanging in the Louvre.
“You are most kindly welcome, my lady.”
Gillian noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and realized the staff her mother and father had hired stood waiting patiently for the new lord and lady of the house to remember their presence. She walked over to the butler. “Forgive us for keeping you waiting.”
“Of course, my lady,” Britton answered. “May I offer felicitations to you and to Lord Grantham on your wedding day on behalf of the staff?”
“Thank you,” she replied.
The butler nodded. “With your permission, Lady Grantham, I would like to present the staff.”
Gillian nodded, then greeted each member of the staff as Britton introduced them.
There were ten in all. The butler, Britton; the housekeeper, Mrs. Evans; Mrs. Donnelly, the cook; two footmen, Tanner and Norris; Banning, an upstairs maid; Hill, a downstairs maid; Ridley, a cook’s helper; and the scullery maids, Pilcher and Salton.
“We understand that your mother, Lady Davies, hired us as temporary staff,” Britton said.
“That is correct,” Gillian said.
“Am I given to understand that our positions may become permanent pending your approval?” the butler asked.
Colin gave a slight shake of his head, but Gillian didn’t notice.
“Yes,” she answered.
He hated to contradict his bride in her first official task as Lady Grantham, but Colin couldn’t allow her to retain the staff unless they met his approval. “Pending our approval and references and recommendations from trusted staff,” Colin added.
Britton bristled. “We all come highly recommended and with references from the Domestic Staffing Service on St. James.”
“I’m pleased to hear it,” Colin told him. “But Lady Grantham and I require that our staff receive additional security clearances from Mr. Wickham at Bow Street and an unnamed private firm.”
Gillian looked askance at her husband.
“Forgive me for treading on your role as mistress of this house, but my connection with the War Office requires that my household staff meet higher standards than most.” Colin took hold of Gillian’s hand and brushed his lips over her knuckles in a gallant gesture meant to allay his bride’s questions as he repeated the reply he and the other Free
Fellows had decided upon when they began their clandestine operations on the government’s behalf.
Even the best domestic staffing services fell prey to liars, thieves, charlatans, confidence men, and agents of foreign governments. And the War Office had learned long ago that one of the most effective means foreign and hostile governments used to gain sensitive information was to provide domestic help to London’s elite staffing agencies. Spies oftentimes masqueraded as footmen, valets, and private secretaries. For what better way for a spy to gather information than to have it handed to him on a silver salver by the gentleman who employed him?
“I apologize, sir, for my brusque manner,” Britton said. “I wasn’t aware of your connection to the War Office.”
Colin nodded. “No apology is necessary. My wife’s mother, Lady Davies, was unaware of the additional requirements—else she would have informed you of it when she offered you employment here.”
“I understand completely, sir,” Britton assured him. “And I don’t foresee any difficulties in meeting your additional requirements as my father, my grandfather, and my grandfather’s father served as butler to some of the finest families in the land.”
“Thank you for your understanding,” Colin replied.
“Will you be bringing additional staff for whom we should prepare?” Britton asked. “A gentleman’s gentleman, lady’s maid, private secretary, or driver?”
Colin looked to Gillian. “I will not, but Lady Grantham may.”