Page 82 of A Much Maligned Miss

Caroline guessed Ralph was disappointed to find his vision of the stern titaness had not come to fruition. “How are the cats looking?” she asked, hoping to divert things into a more promising channel.

“They look ruddy massive,” Gracie piped up. “About ten times bigger’n what they really are. Thank the lord they ain’t that big in real life! Shoo! Be off with you, Master Romulus! You’re a caution and no mistake!” She shook her broom at him and Romulus batted at it with his front paws, rising up on his back legs.

“He’s game, you have to give him that,” Ralph observed, cheering up. “Never knew cats had so much personality.”

Everyone ignored this blatantly foolish pronouncement.

“Their size on canvas,” Mr. Bailey boomed, “is down to artistic license, my good woman!”

Gracie cackled. “And Miss Caroline don’t look as comely as she does in that their picter neiver!”

“Everyone’s a critic,” the artist muttered bitterly.

“I collected your laundry like what you said, miss,” Gracie said, addressing Caroline. “And I’ll drop it off at the wash house on me way home.”

“Thank you, Gracie.” She looked at Gervaise, who produced a tip from his pocket and handed it over. Gracie took it with a “much obliged” and scurried off with her broom.

Caroline turned back to Gervaise. “Has he made me terribly glamorous?” she asked him hopefully.

“Yes,” he replied.

“I want to see it!”

“Not until I say you can!” Mr. Bailey retorted.

“It hardly seems fair that everyone else is permitted to see it, yet I am not!”

“They are my rules, and my rules must be adhered to,” the artist replied grandly.

“He’s always like that,” Effie said sympathetically. “I couldn’t see his painting of good queen Bess until it was as good as done. Half drove me mad, it did, ’ow he wouldn’t let me even sneak a peek.”

Caroline sighed. Remus reached out a lazy paw and sank his claws into her knee. “Ow! I haven’t forgotten you,” she grumbled, tickling his ears.

“What do you want for dinner?” Effie asked. “I thought I could nip out in a bit. Reg said he fancied jellied eels.”

Caroline glanced at Gervaise, who shrugged. “We could dine out or stay in if you prefer. It’s your choice.”

In the end, they stayed in. Effie fetched their supper from a nearby pie shop. The pie filling was mincemeat, but it was accompanied by jellied eels, mash, and something called “liquor sauce” which tasted predominantly of parsley.

“I’m not sure about the eels,” Caroline confessed as they climbed the stairs afterward to their quarters. She was carrying Romulus in her arms and Remus was bounding up beside them.

“They’re an acquired taste,” Gervaise agreed.

“The dish was emptied though. I think Mr. Bailey ate more of them than Reg!”

“I have it on good authority that Reg’s favored delicacy is a sheep’s trotter.”

Caroline blanched. “Who told you that?”

“He did,” he replied, straight-faced. Caroline laughed. She felt light and surprisingly carefree considering how she had started the day. They had eaten with the others for the first time, and it had been a lively affair. Jeb had sat quietly on the outskirts of the group, as Effie and Mr. Bailey dominated the conversation, laughing the loudest.

“Jeb looked very sober and subdued, did he not? I believe he is starting to realize what a treasure he let slip through his fingers.”

“Doubtless,” Gervaise said, opening the door to their rooms. “Care for a nightcap?”

Caroline pulled a face. “No, thank you. I overindulged last night. It gave me horrible dreams. I have not been able to fully escape them all day.”

They proceeded to the little sitting room where Reg had lit the fire in readiness for them. Caroline gasped and looked around in astonishment. The room had undergone an amazing transformation since she had last seen it.