“Lucas, Jane,” Elizabeth interrupted loudly. “I would like you to meet Mr. Siddons. He is my friend, and he also works at Danbury House. He is Lady Danbury’s new estate manager.”
James stood and shook Lucas’s hand with all the gravity he would afford the prime minister. He then turned to Jane and kissed her hand. Her entire face lit up, but more importantly, when he looked up at Elizabeth for approval, she was beaming.
“How do you do?” he murmured.
“Very well, thank you,” Lucas said.
Jane didn’t say anything. She was too busy gazing at the hand he’d kissed.
“I have invited Mr. Siddons for tea and biscuits,” Elizabeth said. “Would the two of you like to join us?”
Normally James would have regretted the loss of this time alone with Elizabeth, but there was something positively heartwarming about sitting here in the kitchen with this little threesome who so obviously knew what it meant to be a family.
Elizabeth handed a biscuit to each of her siblings and asked, “What did you two do all day? Did you finish the lessons I laid out for you?”
Jane nodded. “I helped Lucas with his arithmetic.”
“You did not!” Lucas sputtered, crumbs flying from his mouth. “I can do it all by myself.”
“Maybe you can,” Jane said with a superior shrug, “but you didn’t.”
“Elizabeth!” Lucas protested. “Did you hear what she said to me?”
But Elizabeth ignored the question, instead sniffing the air with obvious distaste. “What on earth is that smell?”
“I went fishing again,” Lucas replied.
“You must go wash yourself immediately. Mr. Siddons is our guest, and it isn’t polite to—”
“I don’t mind a bit of a fishy smell,” James interrupted. “Did you catch anything?”
“I almost had one that was thiiiiiissss big,” Lucas said, spreading his arms nearly as wide as they would go, “but he got away.”
“Isn’t that always the case,” James murmured sympathetically.
“I did catch two medium-sized ones, though. I left them in a bucket outside.”
“They’re quite disgusting,” Jane put in, having lost interest in her hand.
Lucas turned on her in an instant. “You don’t say that when you get to eat them for supper.”
“When I eat them for supper,” she shot back, “they don’t have eyes.”
“That’s because Lizzie chops off their heads, you nod-cock.”
“Lucas,” Elizabeth said loudly, “I really think you should go outside and wash off some of that smell.”
“But Mr. Siddons—”
“—was just being polite,” Elizabeth cut in. “Do it now, and change your clothing while you’re about it.”
Lucas grumbled, but he did as he was told.
“He’s such a trial sometimes,” Jane said with a world-weary sigh.
James had to cough to keep from laughing.
Jane took this as agreement and further explained, “He is only eight.”