Read Online The Royal Scamp by Joan Smith - Free Book Online Page A

here, sleeping between the trunks.”
    “I think not,”Esther objected. “That would crowd the dining area and cause a ruckus in the stable and lobby.”
    “You don’t plan to use this space during the match, then?”
    “Only for storage.”
    “You’re giving spiders free rent,”Fletcher told her, as he brushed a cobweb from his shoulder. He was soon shoving trunks aside to search for secret panels.
    “You’re wasting your time, Mr. Fletcher,”Esther said. “There are no secret panels, no ghosts. Really a very dull building when you come down to it.”
    “What size of a wine cellar do you keep, Miss Lowden?”he asked.
    They went to the kitchen and got a brace of candles before descending to the wine cellar to admire the dusty bottles and black beetles scuttling into dark corners. “Is there just the one doorway to reach the cellar?”he asked. “What I am thinking is that wine could easily be stolen if there is access from outside.”
    “There’s no outside door,’she assured him. “Just the one from the pantry and one from my manager’s office, which used to be the butler’s room. I don’t worry that he is stealing from me; he may have any wine he wants without asking. That’s about it,”she said when they finished touring the cellars.
    “You haven’t showed me the door to your manager’s office,”he reminded her.
    “It’s in that little passage behind the hogsheads," she said, and pointed it out.
    Mr. Fletcher had to see it for himself, test the door, and would have gone up to Ramsay’s office if Esther hadn’t stopped him. “You’ll give poor Buck heart failure,’she warned. “No one uses that door but him.”
    They returned upstairs. “You will have seen the grounds and stable yourself,’she mentioned.
    “Would you mind pointing out to me how much of the land belongs to the dower house, and how much goes with the inn? I noticed you keep your mounts at the inn stable,”he said. “Do you not have a stable at the dower house, Miss Lowden?”
    “Not a usable one.”
    “Then you would want to keep enough land to build one. You won’t want to pay stabling fees at the inn after you sell it.”
    “I’m sure we could work out something on that score. There’s a derelict barn out back,”Esther mentioned. “The lot could be divided to include that tract with the dower house. I didn’t get a formal severance, as I owned both properties.”
    “I don’t remember seeing any stable near your place.”
    “It’s overgrown with vines. There’s a tall thorn hedge between it and the house. It hasn’t been used in decades, as the dower house wasn’t occupied.”
    “I expect you won’t want to go tramping through wet grass in your dainty slippers. We'll do that another time. May I walk you home, Miss Lowden?”
    As they walked along the path to the dower house, he first thanked her for showing him the inn, then said, “How many acres go with the place?”
    “I kept ten, including the dower house and its land. Say eight at the maximum for the inn.”
    “It doesn’t leave much room for expansion,”he pointed out.
    “But on the other hand, you wouldn’t be paying for land that stands idle, and you might be able to buy up a few more acres from neighboring properties if you want it in the future.”
    “I see I’ll get no bargain from you, Miss Lowden,”he bantered.
    “No, indeed. My being somewhat reluctant to sell prevents that.”
    They reached her door, and Mr. Fletcher bowed himself away, promising he would call soon to continue bargaining.
    It was only half past eleven, and Esther decided to change into walking shoes and rougher clothing to go over her land and see how much of it she should maintain for the dower house. Renovating the old barn might be cheaper than building a new stable. She was becoming excited about the possibility of selling, but her eventual plans didn’t involve living year-round in the dower house. It would be only a summer home, while she rented a