"Ouch!" Sarah looked down to find that Pippa had sunk her teeth into the flesh of her arm.
"Now, Pippa…" the child's mother soothed. "We mustn't bite."
Pippa paid
her mother no heed. She was preparing another assault on Sarah's arm when Sarah stopped her with a look and a promise. "Bite me again and I shall bite you back." She grinned at Pippa. "And unlike you, I have all my teeth and they're much bigger and stronger than yours."
"You wouldn't dare!" Pippa retorted.
"Try me," Sarah challenged.
"Now, Pippa, be a good girl and I'll speak to the lady about the budgie…"
"Admiral Nelson!" Pippa wailed.
"Very well. Admiral Nelson." Pippa's mother patted her daughter on the head before turning her attention to Sarah. "You must be Miss Eckersley."
"Yes," Sarah acknowledged over Pippa's screaming demands for Admiral Nelson. "I must be."
"I'm Reverend Tinsley's wife and this is our youngest daughter, Pippa." Mrs. Tinsley introduced herself and her daughter, then added, "Pippa is high-spirited. But I'm sure she'll quiet down if you'll allow her to hold Admiral Nelson."
Mrs. Tinsley was a rather thin woman of average height, with pale blonde hair, a longish face, and a poor complexion. Her only remarkable features were the dark blue color of her eyes and the long elegant fingers of the hand she extended toward the birdcage.
"No doubt, she would," Sarah answered. "But then Budgie and I will start screaming."
Mrs. Tinsley's blue eyes shot daggers at Sarah as Sarah refused to relinquish Budgie's cage. "Lord Dunbridge and Bishop Fulton warned us that you and Lord Dunbridge's aunt by marriage might still be in residence."
"Why shouldn't we be in residence?" Sarah met the other woman's furious gaze without flinching. "Since this is our home and neither Lord Dunbridge nor the bishop saw fit to warn us that you might be descending" — Sarah refrained from adding, like a scourge of locusts — "upon it."
"Oh, but my dear Miss Eckersley, the bishop awarded my husband, Reverend Tinsley, with the Helford Green living a fortnight ago. We would have been here sooner, but it's taken us that long to remove our things from our former vicarage in Bristol."
"Bristol?" Sarah was surprised. "How is it that a vicar in Bristol succeeds to a rectory in Bedfordshire?"
"There's a family connection, and of course, Bishop Fulton ordained the reverend."
"Of course," Sarah echoed.
"But that's neither here nor there, since we've finally succeeded to an acceptable living. The village is perfectly charming and I'm sure I'll have the rectory put to rights in no time at all." She smiled at Sarah. "We're moving in today."
"There's nothing in the rectory that needs putting to rights," Sarah told her. "And I'm afraid you cannot move into the rectory until we move out and we have not moved out."
Mrs. Tinsley glowered at Sarah. "The rectory and everything in it has been awarded to us. My husband is to be inducted to the living tomorrow. You, your aunt, and your personal possessions will be out this afternoon."
Sarah straightened to her full height and glowered back. "While it's true that the Helford Green rectory was once a collation to be presented by the bishops, that's no longer the case. The Church sold the benefice to the Dunbridge family during my grandfather's time. Lord Dunbridge is the patron of it and the magistrate guaranteed that my aunt and I would have thirty days from the date of notification of the awarding of the living to vacate. We've received no such notification."
"The magistrate is the civil authority." Reverend Tinsley entered Sarah's already crowded bedchamber without consideration or permission and came to stand beside his wife and daughter. "The church and the rectory are houses of God and as such, they come under the province of divine law. Since civil authority on this matter binds neither the church, nor the bishop, nor me, we were not required to send notification. The magistrate erred in guaranteeing you thirty days' notice."
"Lord Dunbridge is bound by civil authority," Sarah retorted. "He owns the living, but he cannot award it until the magistrate clears the way for him to do so."
"He already has," the reverend replied. "By temporarily ceding his ownership of it back to the Church in order that the bishop might present the living to me."
"He can't."
"He did." The reverend gave Sarah a beatific smile that suggested the Lord and his army of angels was on his side. "This parish is much too important to allow it to continue without a rector. Lord Dunbridge and the bishop sought to hurry things along by relieving the magistrate of his duty in this matter. The rectory is my home now and your moving has already begun." He nodded toward the window.
Sarah glanced out it to find half a dozen workmen carrying cartons of her father's clothing and personal belongings out of the rectory and onto the lawn.
"I think it would be best if you and your aunt gather your possessions as quickly and as quietly as possible and depart for London before the afternoon slips away. I have a sermon to write and we've a great deal to accomplish today before we can see ourselves comfortably settled. You and Lady Dunbridge are impeding our progress. Besides, I'm sure you've no wish to be traveling the main road alone after dark."