Page 80 of A Sorceress Comes to Call
Hester sat up. “Willard?”
Everyone turned. Cordelia felt her spine trying to straighten, because sure enough, Willard the butler stood just inside the library door. She immediately felt underdressed.
“What are you doing here?” asked Hester. “Is something wrong at home?”
The butler shook his head. “I fear I do not know. Shortly before leaving for her honeymoon, the new Lady Chatham informed me that my services would no longer be necessary.”
“She what?” Hester half rose from her chair, her face going chalk white with rage. “How dare she? She can’t do that to my friends in my hou—”
She stopped. Her teeth closed in the middle of the word with an audible click.
For the first time, Cordelia saw an emotion cross the unflappable butler’s face, as sorrow and pity filled his eyes.
“Oh,” said Hester, much more quietly. “Oh. I suppose it’s not my house any longer, is it? She’s the mistress of the place now, and I am there on sufferance.” She wiped her hand across her face, then waved Richard away as he moved toward her. “Don’t worry about me. Tom’s the one who’s out of a job.”
“Indeed,” said Willard. “I thought perhaps I would come here and ask if you were planning to set up your own household, and if there might be an opening there.”
“But Jack…” Hester put her hand to her mouth. “You and he have an understanding.”
Willard inclined his head. “It has made things more difficult, yes.”
“Has he quit?”
“I have convinced him to wait. There are not so many jobs available for a stablemaster who comes from outside, instead of being promoted.”
Richard cleared his throat. “I suspect that we can sort something out,” he said. “I can’t possibly replace my butler—I’m sorry—”
“Lord Evermore,” said Willard, with cool dignity, “I should not consider it a kindness to put another out of his longtime job on my account.”
Richard’s mouth crooked up at the corner. “You’re right, and I apologize.”
“Nevertheless,” said Willard, “it seems to me that you have a task where, perhaps, my organizational skills may help.” His gaze swept the library. “And since I am no longer an employee, at the moment, perhaps, Lady Hester, you will finally deign to explain to me what exactly is going on?”
Tom Willard took the explanation about sorcery far more matter-of-factly than any of the rest of them had. He did not argue. He did not even express doubt. He simply nodded. “Very well. The immediate path is clear, then.”
“You believe us?” asked Cordelia meekly.
He turned toward her, still tall and imposing, like a great heron sighting a fish. Then he smiled at her and Cordelia nearly fell off her chair. “It is not my place to believe or disbelieve,” he said. “You all believe it, and therefore we shall act as if it is true. If it turns out that you have all been misled—well, then we shall deal with that when it comes.” He turned back to the library ahead and brushed his hands together. “Now. What is needed here is triage.”
“Triage?” asked Cordelia, who wasn’t entirely sure what the word meant.
“Triage,” said Willard firmly. He pointed. “Any book that is most definitely useless goes there. Any book that might possibly have something useful goes here. Any book that looks as if it is exactly what we need, put on the table here and Lady Hester shall start reading it at once.”
“Why does she get to do the reading?” asked Imogene.
“Because I read fast and my knee hurts too much to carry books back and forth.”
“… Fair enough.”
Willard tapped a finger on the table. “I would bring in more servants, but I fear that the gossip would become unmanageable in short order. I understand why you attempted to keep it quiet at Chatham House.” He nodded to Hester.
“Did we succeed?”
“Admirably, yes. All of us belowstairs knew that there was a conspiracy of some sort, of course, but the assumption was that you were to elope with Lord Evermore and perhaps take Cordelia with you, out of reach of her mother.”
Hester blushed. “But…”
“Come now,” said Willard, in a chiding tone, “do you think that anyone who has known both of you really believed that Lord Evermore would marry anyone else?”
