Read Online The Taste of Innocence by Stephanie Laurens - Free Book Online Page B

napkin and laid it aside. “That’s exactly what we work to achieve.” She wasn’t surprised that he’d grasped that; like her, he came from a large family.
    Many of the children had already left, some of the staff as well. She rose and Charlie rose with her. “I have to speak with Quince—we need to do an inventory of the linens. It’ll take a few hours.”
    He shrugged. “I’ll just wander and wait.”
    Joseph, rising from his chair opposite, glanced at Sarah, then looked at Charlie. “I promised I’d organize a game of bat and ball for the older lads once they finish their arithmetic. That’ll be in about half an hour. If you have the time, perhaps you’d like to join us?”
    Charlie grinned. “Why not?”
    Sarah excused herself and left them. She had difficulty imagining Charlie, always so precise and elegant, playing bat and ball, at least not the way the older boys played it. They always looked like they’d been dragged through a hedge backward when they came in after their game; even Joseph usually ended badly rumpled.
    But, she reflected, Charlie could look out for himself.
    Determinedly she mounted the stairs to the attics. She had Quince, and what would no doubt prove to be stacks of torn and worn linens, to deal with.
    For the next hour, she and Quince worked through the various piles, checking and noting. They always used the big attic nursery for the chore; the cradles in which Quince’s charges lay were neatly arranged at one end—six of them at the moment, more than usual—but there was plenty of room between the cradles and the neat truckle bed on which Quince passed her nights.
    While Quince, thin and bony, with her severe expression, tightly restrained hair, and outwardly acid temper, might have seemed an odd choice as nursemaid, Sarah had often seen her face soften, her eyes fill with a soft light when she rocked one of the tightly wrapped bundles. The babies responded to that glow, and cared nothing for her appearance. No one was better with infants than Quince.
    In the quiet of the nursery, she and Quince sat and sorted.
    Later they were joined by Katy and Jeannie. As “the linens” included all the napery as well as towels, sheets, and napkins, it was a major undertaking to examine each piece, placing those requiring mending to one side and those requiring extra bleaching in another pile, and reluctantly setting aside those beyond repair or resuscitation to be used for rags.
    The size of the pile for mending was always daunting.
    “Jeannie?” Lily’s voice floated up the stairs. “Your lot are stirring.”
    “Coming!” Jeannie set down the towel she’d been folding and hurried out. She took care of the toddlers who’d been put down for their afternoon nap. Lily, who was working with the older girls, had been watching over them.
    “I’d better get on, too.” Katy hauled herself out of the old armchair she’d sunk into. “Time to get started on supper.”
    Sarah looked up from the mending pile and smiled. “I’ll be leaving once I’ve finished stacking these. I’ll ask Jim to drop them off at the manor tomorrow, and I’ll share them out for mending.”
    “Aye.” Katy nodded. Turning for the stairs, she glanced out of the window, and halted. “Well now, if that ain’t a sight.”
    Sarah looked up, then rose and went to join her. She followed Katy’s gaze to where the older boys, and some of those not so old—and two much older—were playing bat and ball on the forecourt.
    “They usually play at the back,” she murmured.
    “Too many of ’em, today.” Quince had come to stand beside Sarah. “Looks like they’ve made up proper teams.”
    Sarah watched as Charlie lobbed the ball, and Maggs, who was holding the bat, whacked it to the side. To much hooting and cheering, while fielders scampered after the ball, Maggs dashed to where a peg was stuck in the ground; rounding it, he hared back to touch another peg near where he’d started with the bat.
    Retrieving