so strange and exciting. Just look at that man over there.”
The man she pointed out was dressed in leggings, as almost every other man seemed to be, and had a colourful red sash tied around the middle of his coat. He wore a long cap on his head, which Lady Theo said was called a toque, and he smoked a clay pipe. When he saw them staring at him, he swept them a low bow. “Maybe he thinks we look as strange as he does,” Mary giggled.
“More likely he thinks we’re stupid for travelling on these atrocious roads,” Eloise muttered. “They call this a highway? Me, I think it’s nothing but ruts.”
“She’s right,” Sophie told Lady Theo, wincing as the coach hit yet another pothole. “I’m going to be black and blue all over, not just on my arms, by the time we arrive. That is, if we ever get anywhere.”
Eventually the novelty of the scenery faded. Everyone became bored. A sleeping Eloise began to snore. Sophie fidgeted until Lady Theo, in self-defence more than anything, began telling stories about various trips she’d taken. Each stop at an inn to change horses became a highlight, a chance to stretch their legs, but after a while even that palled.
“I had no idea the world was so big. Will we ever get there?” Mary grumbled.
“Imagine having to sail across the Atlantic in a sailing boat for days and days and never seeing land. This is a picnic compared to that.”
“Cheer up, both of you. We’re almost there. If you look out this side you can see the church spire and the manor house in the distance.”
Sophie immediately clambered over a box to peer out the window. “Where? I can’t see a manor house.”
“Over there. The house with the copper roof.”
“That’s a manor?” She stared at the building in amazement. While the two-storey house was on the shore of a large lake and close to a substantial wharf, it looked smaller than that owned by her father’s manager in Malloryville. Sophie, after being in England, expected something much grander. She turned to Lady Theo in dismay. “Where will we all fit?”
Lady Theo laughed. “It’s bigger than it looks. There are at least nine guest rooms, so you won’t have to sleep in the barn. Now, let Mary tidy you up. We’re almost there.”
While Mary brushed her hair and tied the ribbons on her hat, Sophie stared at the manor house. She didn’t know what dismayed her about it. Maybe it was just the foreignness of everything, but it didn’t seem a comforting place. And, as the coach came to a stop in front of the house, a cacophony of sound broke out.
“What on earth’s making that noise?” asked Lady Theo.
“That,” Sophie answered, pointing to a large turkey that came rushing at the coach in a way that reminded her somehow of Elias, honking its head off.
The horses stopped, then tried to bolt in a frenzied effort to get away from the incessant sound. The turkey, though, wasn’t interested in them. With unerring instinct he planted himself midway between the coach and the manor house’s front door. He made no protest when John opened the coach door, but as soon as Lady Theo attempted to step down, he set up a raucous gobbling.
She hesitated for a moment, then tried stepping down again. Immediately the turkey charged towards her, his long neck extended, his beak snapping open. “Good gracious,” she muttered, hastily climbing back into the coach. “What now?”
What now became a good question. The turkey was capricious. He allowed the grooms to walk around the coach without moving or making a sound. But as soon as one of the four women tried to descend, he charged.
“It’s insane,” Lady Theo declared after her ankle had barely escaped being pecked.
“I think it believes it’s guarding the house,” Sophie said. “Maybe one of the dogs brought it up when it was a chicken, or whatever you call baby turkeys.”
“Me, I think it’s the devil,” Eloise said, crossing herself. “I will not leave here until it goes.”
“Let’s try another door,” Lady Theo said. “Maybe we can confuse it.”
She nodded to the coachman, but as soon as the horses moved, the turkey charged. Once again, the wild-eyed horses frantically tried to bolt and only the combined weight of John and the coachman pulling on the reins stopped them. After another failed attempt, John, the only person the turkey seemed to regard as remotely benign, walked back to the coach door. “Sorry, my lady, it looks like a stalemate.”
“Maybe this will help,” the coachman called out as he cracked his whip in the turkey’s direction. But the bird sidestepped it easily and gobbled in disdain. John tried to hide a grin, Sophie laughed, and Lady Theo muttered in frustration.
With Eloise crossing herself at regular intervals and lifting her voice and eyes to the heavens, Mary took off her coat, excused herself as she pushed past Lady Theo, and opened the coach door. “You stupid French bird,” she began, as she climbed down the stairs. “If I was in Vermont, you’d be in a stew pot by now.”
The turkey, which had began charging towards her, stopped in his tracks, a picture of suspended animation. To Sophie and Lady Theo’s amusement, he actually seemed to be thinking about what Mary had said. While she continued to scold him, Lady Theo and Sophie managed to get themselves from the coach to the porch of the manor house. As Mary brought coats and other items from the coach, the turkey meekly followed her, his head bobbing in time with every step and his gobble sounding suspiciously like a dove’s coo.
Mrs. Ellice, full of apologies, watched her turkey docilely follow Mary. “I do not believe my eyes,” she began. “The stories I could tell you about that bird.”
“I think I’d believe anything after that experience, Jane,” Lady Theo laughed as she greeted her friend and introduced Sophie. Mrs. Ellice was all graciousness, welcoming Sophie to Lower Canada and complimenting her on her pretty red dress.
“Come and warm yourselves,” she went on, leading the way to the drawing room. “I’ve ordered hot chocolate to take the chill of the journey away.”
“It wasn’t the journey that made us cold. It was sitting in the coach and wondering if that blasted bird of yours would ever let us into the house,” Lady Theo commented as she warmed her hands.
When a sudden barrage of gobbling sounded from the yard made it seem that the turkey was disputing this, Sophie looked out the window and began laughing again. “Lady Theo, you’ve got to look. Mary must be inside the house or something because the turkey’s got poor Eloise trapped. It looks like she’s on her knees praying and the thing’s just dancing around her, pretending to peck her but not really coming close. I think it’s all bark, no bite.”
“You’re mistaken, Sophie. It certainly has bite and a powerful one at that,” Mrs. Ellice answered dryly. “It kept Lord Durham, the Governor himself, in his coach for more than an hour this past August. It got itself under the coach and wouldn’t let anyone or anything near it. If the coach moved, it merely waddled along. We tried everything. Brooms, waving coats, yelling, even swearing, you name it. Nothing worked. We thought he’d be stuck in his coach forever.”
“Then how did he get out?” Sophie asked.
“Oh, it got thirsty, and just as Edward was about to shoot it, it simply walked
