Theo, love him dearly, but even he has to admit that the B in Beauharnois stands for boring.”
Lady Theo began urging Sophie out the door towards her bedroom to freshen up. “And to think, child,” she said dryly. “We travelled these fifty miles, were jolted about like sacks of flour for the last six hours, just to be bored in Beauharnois.”
Instead of moving, Sophie stared at a sketchbook lying open on a table. “This is wonderful,” she said eventually. “Look, Lady Theo, it’s the terrible turkey himself. Did you paint this, Mrs. Ellice? May I see more?”
“You’re more than welcome to inspect my dabblings, Sophie.”
“I wish my watercolours turned out like this,” she said, thumbing her way through the book’s vivid images of Mrs. Ellice’s journey across the Atlantic to Beauharnois.
“It’s years and years of practice,” Mrs. Ellice replied.
“It’s more than that, Jane. I’ve had years and years of practice and I still can’t draw a straight line. It’s talent,” Mr. Ellice said proudly, walking into the room and putting an arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Good afternoon, ladies.”
“Afternoon, sir.” After dropping a quick curtsey, Sophie turned back to the book. “These are so wonderful. Mine will be never be anywhere near as good as them, no matter how hard I try.” Then she brightened and looked at Lady Theo hopefully. “Maybe you can make Papa understand that he’s only throwing money down the drain by making me take lessons.”
Lady Theo laughed. “In your dreams, Sophie. In your dreams.”
CHAPTER SIX
When Sophie woke the next morning, she saw that the milking process was well under way. Cows milled around the holding pen, bellowing impatiently, while waiting for their turn. Others streamed in a contented procession towards distant fields, their hooves a dark path on the frosty ground. Closer, a dairy hand staggered towards the house with two full pails of steaming milk, and beyond him, to Sophie’s right, a stableboy exercised a large roan horse. In the distance, smoke rose from the chimneys of the village houses, weaving lazy patterns against the pale blue sky.
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