“Pudding head,” he said. “That’s me. And she’s quick and smart as a horsewhip.”
Azalea marveled as he snapped back into marvelous good humor, an emotional elastic. His hazel eyes brightened.
“Well, that takes pluck anyway, I should say!” he said. “I’ve never had a girl do that to me before! What a rum girl! Absolute pluck!”
“You didn’t bring Mother’s portrait?”
The spring in Lord Teddie’s spine slumped a tad.
“Ah,” he said. “Actually, no.”
“Oh!” Completely unbidden, the portrait of Mother flew to Azalea’s mind, this time with her mouth stitched shut. It stabbed her in the stomach, and Azalea had to lean against the mezzanine railing, gasping for air, to keep from throwing up. She tried to shake the image from her head.
“I say,” Lord Teddie stammered, as she choked for breaths. “I say—are you all right? Your color—I didn’t mean—that is—Hulloa? I say, hulloa? Are there any servants about?”
“I’m all…right,” Azalea managed. “Just…I need some air.”
Azalea tried to go down the stairs, but the room spun, and she sat on the top stair, leaning her head against the cold iron posts. Lord Teddie did his best to cheer her up. He handed her a candy stick, recited limericks, guessed at all her favorite dances and told her which ones he liked best. Eventually Azalea managed to push the picture out of her mind, and even managed a smile when Lord Teddie tried to juggle the coins from his pocket and they pelted his head.
“…I don’t know where Clover is, she’s probably off helping Old Tom in the gardens, she’s been running off to do that lately—Jess, what?”
Bramble’s voice carried down the hall. Lord Teddie, picking up the coins from the rug, straightened, motionless for the first time Azalea had seen him. Bramble appeared around the corner, followed by the mass of girls, running in tiny steps to keep up with her stride. When the girls saw Lord Teddie, a ripple of excitement ran through them.
“Lord Teddie!” cried Ivy as they flocked to him in a mass of black skirts.
“Word Teddie!” cried Kale, who was just learning to talk and parroted everybody.
“What ho!” said Lord Teddie. “What ho! What could you all possibly want?” He bounced on the balls of his feet, beaming. “Hmm? Oh…all right!”
He produced from his pocket wrapped ribbon candies, which the girls squealed over and passed among themselves, unwrapping for one another and smelling the mint-and-treacle flavors. Bramble had remained behind, her jaw up and her hands clenched.
“Bramble thaid you ran away to the butterfly forest,” said Ivy, who was reaching into Lord Teddie’s suitcoat pocket for more candies. She had a lisp ever since she had lost her two front teeth.
“I was in the butterfly forest,” said Lord Teddie. “I decided to come back for tea.”
“Tea was ages ago!” said Eve. “You must be hungry!”
“Oh, I’m all right!” said Lord Teddie. “I don’t eat much! Just a bit of ham and a sweetmeat or two and I’ll be right as rain!”
There was a sticky silence. Ivy looked guiltily at the candies in her fist.
“We have bread,” said Bramble. Her voice reverberated in the silence of the hall. “And cheese. I’m sorry if that’s not good enough for you.”
Lord Teddie’s eyes caught Bramble’s mended, shabby dress. For a sliver of a second, his grin flickered. It was back immediately. The tips of his ears shone pink.
“I love bread!” he said. “I love bread and cheese, cheese and bread! I eat them all the time! I’ll probably turn into a great wheel of cheese, I like it so much!”
Bramble turned her head. Her ears were pink, too. When she lifted her yellow-green eyes, they caught Azalea, sitting at the top stair, hidden by the crinolines and skirts of the others. Bramble pushed past the rest of the girls and ran to Azalea.
“Az,” she said, falling to her knees and taking her hand. “You’re white! What happened? What did he do to you?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing,” said Azalea. She grabbed at Bramble’s arm, pulling her back, for Bramble looked ready to attack Lord Teddie. The yellow in her eyes flared. “Steady on,” said Azalea. “He didn’t do anything.”
Bramble cast one more angry glance at Lord Teddie, but her eyes calmed into their light green as they took in Azalea. She tucked a loose strand of hair behind Azalea’s ear.
“Is it the brooch?” she said.
Azalea wrapped a finger around the iron baluster next to her face, squeezing it hard. The corners bit. Bramble made a face.
“Clover thought Keeper wouldn’t give it back, the rotten thief,” she said. “Wonderful. The King is going to go spare when he finds out we haven’t got it.”
“Who cares about the King anymore?” said Azalea. “I’ll be the one to tell him we lost it, if I have to. But—I’ll think of something first. I will.” She glanced at Lord Teddie, who had pulled a coin from Jessamine’s black curls, making the girls squeal with laughter and Jessamine smile bashfully.
“I’ll tell you more tonight,” Azalea said. “When the gentleman isn’t here.”