A Partridge in a Pear Tree (5 page)

Chapter Eight

Seven Swans A-Swimming

“Well, our gift of the music box was a great success,” Allison said. “Especially Sir Reginald's geese destroyed the drawing room so utterly. You would think he would have learned with the chickens. But wherever will we find seven swans?”

They were once again walking the familiar lane into the village. Gertrude and the twins gathered fresh greenery to add to the decorations at the house, and William offered his hand to help Allison over a puddle. He kept holding it as they continued on their path.

Allison found she did not mind one bit having his strong fingers curled around hers.

“
Maybe we could find some on that pond where we saw the skaters?” Kitty suggested.

“
Swans wouldn't swim on a frozen pond, silly,” Jane scoffed.

“
You are the silly one!” Kitty cried, giving her sister a light shove.

“
Girls, do not quarrel,” Allison admonished, distracted by her own thoughts and William's hand on hers. “We haven't time for that.”

“
Perhaps there are no swans there now,” said William, “but maybe we could go skating this afternoon. I think we need a little distraction from Lady Kirkwood's game.”

“
Oh, yes!” Jane and Kitty chorused, their argument quite forgotten. “Can we, please, Allie? We haven't skated in ever so long.”

Allison longed to go skating as much as they did, but, as usual, she had to be the sensible one. Drat it all. “We don't even know whose pond it is. They might not want us there.”

“It's a simple thing to find out. We can ask permission.” William smiled broadly, boyishly excited. “Surely, in the holiday spirit, they wouldn't refuse us.”

“
We saw a gate the other day,” said Kitty eagerly. “I'm sure it must lead to the owner's house.”

“
Very well,” Allison answered. “If the owner says we may, and if we can find some skates to borrow, we will go skating.”

**

It was quite obvious that no one had lived in the house next to the pond for some time. It was a very pretty place, of old red brick with rounded corner towers in gray stone, but many of the windows were shuttered, and ivy crawled along the walls.

“
It looks like the Sleeping Beauty's castle,” Jane said quietly. “Like in that story Mama read us when we were little.”

“
Maybe we'll find a whole family asleep in there,” said Kitty.

“
Don't be silly, girls,” Allison murmured, nudging a chunk of fallen brick with the toe of her half boot. “It's just a house.”

But it
was
rather nice, quiet and echoing and sweet in the cold morning light. Almost like it really was out of a fairy story, she thought as she looked up at the gray stone portico.

Then she saw it. Above the double front doors was a stone frieze, depicting six beautifully carved swans and one tiny cygnet, trailing after them. All shining white marble.

“Oh!” she breathed, in awe at the lifelike beauty of them. “Oh,” she said louder, recognizing the perfect significance of them. Right when they most needed it.

She tugged at William's sleeve. “Look,” she said, pointing her gloved finger at the frieze. “Swans a-swimming.”

The twins and Gertrude, who had wandered off to peek in some of the windows, came running back to join them in staring up at the swans.

“
Perfect,” William said with a smile.

“
They are beautiful,” said Jane.

“
Our seven swans!” Kitty cried happily. “They are just right.”

“
Unless you think we should find some real birds, like Sir Reginald seems to have a penchant for doing,” William teased.

“
Ugh!” Gertrude wrinkled her pretty nose.

Allison climbed the front steps to get a closer look at the carving. “I think it's just what we need. The only problem will be getting it down from there. It seems quite solidly attached to the wall. Perhaps we could do a rubbing of some sort, like people do on medieval monuments...”

The rest of her words were drowned out by the explosion of a shotgun blast echoing across the overgrown courtyard.

The twins and Gertrude shrieked, and ducked behind a tangled hedge. William dove across the front steps and caught Allison around the waist, pulling her down onto the cold marble and throwing himself over her.

Ordinarily, Allison would scarcely have complained. His hands were warm through the layers of his gloves and her pelisse, and he smelled utterly delicious. But the steps were quite cold indeed, and some sharp edge was jabbing her in the back.

It also somewhat lessened the romance of the moment that they had just been shot at.

“Are we under attack?” she said, her voice muffled against his wool greatcoat.

“
Ye're trespassin',” a stentorian voice rang out, along with the ominous click of a gun being reloaded. “I hates trespassers.”

Allison peeked past William's shoulder to see a large, burly man in sturdy country tweeds and tall boots. His small blue eyes and cold-reddened nose were almost hidden behind bushy white brows and a wild beard.

Did the Sleeping Beauty's castle have a guardian troll in it? Allison couldn't remember that part of the story.

“
Stay behind me,” William whispered. He rose to his feet, pulling Allison up with him. “Forgive us, sir, but we never meant to trespass. Are you perchance the owner of this house?”

The man lowered his gun a fraction. “Nay, I be the caretaker. John Harper.”

“Well, Mr. Harper, we only wished to ask permission of the owner to skate on the pond. We were struck by the beauty of the carving over the door, and came to examine it closer.”

John's brows softened a bit. “Oh, aye. It's a pretty piece, that. But you can't ask the owner nothing.”

“Is he away?” Allison asked carefully, standing on her tiptoes to peek past William's shoulder.

“
Has been these last two years. He lost all his money, y'see, and went off to India. I looks after it until a new owner can be found to buy the place.”

“
You mean no one has yet purchased such a lovely house?” Allison was incredulous. Why, if
she
had a chance for such a home...

John Harper relented completely then, and lowered the gun to the ground. “It's a right pretty place, miss. But some folks thinks it's too far from London.”

The girls had cautiously ventured out from behind the hedge, and now stood crowded close to Allison and William, peeking up at him with their large eyes.

“
What is this house called?” Gertrude asked.

“
Swan's Court,” John Harper answered. “In the summer there's swans what lives on the pond. But in the winter the villagers come to skate on it. So I suppose you could, too.”

“
Lovely!” the twins shouted, casting longing glances at the sparkling pond.

William stepped forward slowly to offer his hand for Mr. Harper to shake. “I wonder, good sir, if we might ask you another great favor...”

**

“
Allie! Allie, watch me!” Kitty darted out onto the ice, and executed a pretty spin.

“
Do be careful, Kitty,” Allison called, reaching down to tighten the fastenings of her skates, borrowed from the Swan's Court store room. “I don't want you to fall and break anything.”

“
Of course I won't,” Kitty scoffed. She slid away to join Jane and Gertrude, who were circling the edges of the pond.

Allison looked back across the field to the house. I looked like a fine jewel amid the greenery and the sparkling snow. She could just barely see where William and John Harper were standing on ladders to take a rubbing of the swan frieze.

Now that they were free of the threat of Mr. Harper's gun, she could think more clearly of the delicious sensations of having William's body pressed against hers.

It had truly been most interesting, she mused, watching as William shed his coat to work on the frieze. It made her shiver even now to remember it. Maybe, if they had not been under attack for trespassing, he might even have kissed her...

She wondered what
that
would have been like.

“
Allie!” Jane called. “Aren't you going to skate with us?”

Startled out of her daydreams, she glanced up to find that the girls had stopped quite close, and were watching her expectantly.

“Oh, yes. Of course,” she said. As she pushed out onto the ice and joined them in their circle of the pond, Kitty gave her a teasing smile.

“
You certainly had a dreamy look on your face, Allie,” she said.

“
She was probably wondering what it would be like to live here,” Jane said with a giggle. “With a certain person and a nursery full of pretty babies.”

“
Girls,” Allison said warningly, looking at Gertrude to see if she knew that the twins were teasing about her own brother. But Gertrude was studying Swan Court.

“
I wouldn't mind living here,” Gertrude said. “It would probably be lovely. Like a real home.”

“
Don't you like where you live, Gertie?” Kitty asked, doing another graceful little spin.

“
It's very big and empty,” Gertrude answered in a small, distant voice. “Not cozy and pretty like here.”

“
well, if it is cozy you want, you should come and see our cottage,” said Jane. “It's so cozy, there is scarcely room to walk.”

“
We're always tripping over the dogs and Mama's sewing,” added Kitty.

“
It sounds wonderful,” said Gertrude. “There is nothing at all to trip over at my house.”

“
Not like here, on the ice!” Kitty cried. “Come on, I'll race you all the to the end of the pond.”

The three girls dashed off amid a tangle of coats and laughter, flashing skates, but Allison lingered to wait for William, who was coming along the field with his skates in his hand.

As she watched him move closer, his golden hair tousled in the wind, his smile bright and warm, she thought about his sister's words. It made her heart ache to think of William and Gertrude living in a cold, empty house, a house that must echo with sad memories of their parents' deaths. At least in their cottage, as small as it was, there was always love and laughter.

Suddenly, her family's quiet life together didn't seem bad at all. She missed her mother with a sharp pang.

“Why, Allison!” William said, coming upon her just as she felt the prickle of tears at her eyes. “Whatever is the matter?”

She attempted a smile. “Nothing at all! How could anything be wrong on such a lovely day?”

“Nonsense. You are almost crying.” He dug out a handkerchief and pressed it into her hand. “Now, tell me what it is, let me fix it.”

“
I was just thinking about my family,” she said, wiping carefully at her cheeks. The soft linen held William's own wonderful scent. “I was missing my mother.”

“
Why did she not come with you to Kirkwood Manor? You never said.”

“
She's not very well, and thought she had best not undertake the journey. But she would have loved this holiday so much. She always tries to make Christmas special for us.”

He nodded thoughtfully, and sat down on a fallen log to fasten his skates. “Well, come skating with me now. The exercise will do us both good.”

“Yes, of course,” she said with a smile, tucking the handkerchief into her sleeve to secret away for later. Later, when she was missing him. “You are quite right.”

“
And you will be glad to know we managed to take a fine rubbing of the frieze,” he said, and took her arm in his strong clasp to lead her back out onto the ice. “Mr. Harper is just gone to find a box to transport it to Kirkwood Manor.”

“
That sounds lovely,” she said firmly, clutching his hand and leading him onto the ice, as light and free as if they were dancing. “But now no more talk of days of Christmas! Let's enjoy this moment...”

**

“Are you going to the village dance, then, Miss Gordon?” asked Lady Kirkwood's maid, Rose, as she helped Allison dress her hair for the day.

“
The village dance?” Allison said, enjoying the unaccustomed luxury of having someone else fix her hair. The curls actually looked smooth and glossy under Rose's hands.

“
Oh, yes. It's a tradition held every year on Christmas Eve on the village green.”

“
An outdoor party in December? Doesn't it get rather cold?”

“
No, miss, not at all! There are bonfires, and the dancing keeps one warm.” She laughed as she threaded a ribbon through Allison's curls. “Not to mention the rum punch from the Rose and Crown.”