Chapter Sixteen

E lizabeth covered her cutting tool with the oil-soaked cloth. The day had been an interesting one. She had talked with Felix, Lydia, and Oscar. They seemed to take a genuine interest in her. She hadn't been like a piece of furniture in the room. This was new to her. She had much to ponder. The day, while good, had been long.

She took a deep breath then set the cloth on the small table next to her. Leaning forward, she started carving into the glass. Engraving always helped her think better about a day's events. It was difficult to know what to do next. She didn't know what to do about Felix. She didn't know what to do about Lydia. The only person she figured out was Oscar, but he was straightforward. He seemed content to eat and talk about what had happened during the course of the day. There didn't seem to be much more to him than that. At his core, he was simple.

Felix and Lydia were different. She was married to Felix. Their relationship demanded greater intimacy than she would ever have with Oscar. Her gut tightened at the thought of having to touch and kiss Felix. While he no longer seemed hideous to her, she wasn't sure how she'd welcome him to her bed. But then, she was the wife. She probably didn't have any say over whether or not he came to her bed. If he was determined to get an heir, she wouldn't be able to stop him. He had made no mention of coming to her bedchamber. When dinner was over, he'd only asked her if she found some books to read. She had told him which books she'd taken from his library, and he had assured her she would enjoy them. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he would leave her alone this evening.

Lydia, it seemed, wanted to be friends with her. Elizabeth had never had a friend before. Was it simply a matter of listening to another person? If so, that seemed easy enough. Lydia had no problem talking. She told Elizabeth about her and her brothers growing up, how she met Rachel and Carol, and how she met Guy. Elizabeth, in turn, had very little to say, and when Lydia did ask something about Elizabeth's past, Elizabeth didn't have to go into detail in order to satisfy her. Lydia wasn't one of those people who demanded someone say more than they wanted to. And that was nice.

Elizabeth heard footsteps coming down the hall. She paused, her cutting tool above the glass ball. She held her breath and listened for where the footsteps were going. They stopped just short of her bedchamber. She heard a door open and shut. That had been Felix. His bedchamber was the first one down the hallway. Hers was the second. Then came Oscar's. Lydia's had been further down the hall, but given the fact that she was no longer here, she wouldn't be sleeping here this evening.

Elizabeth glanced at the clock on her vanity. It was already ten. She was used to Felix going to bed around nine. Surely, he wouldn't come in here this late. Not when he was used to going to sleep early. She didn't realize her grip on the cutting tool had tightened until she almost nicked her finger with the edge of the blade. She hurried to adjust the tool in her hand. She took a deep breath then forced her attention back to the ball.

Concentrating on the design she wanted to create helped her relax. She was able to ease her anxiety so much that she didn't think to look at the clock again until forty minutes passed. Felix still hadn't come into her room. She examined the door separating their rooms and didn't see any light creeping in from his side. He must be sleeping. She relaxed. For this evening, at least, he would leave her alone.

She didn't mind it if he wanted to speak with her in the morning, but she sure was glad he was allowing her to be by herself tonight. Had he been like her brother, he wouldn't have done this. Her brother would have demanded she do whatever he wanted. That was why she'd been forced to go to so many balls and dinner parties. It didn't matter how uncomfortable or bored she'd been. She had been expected to make an appearance so he would be credited for helping her with her Season. So far, Felix had made no such demands of her. Perhaps he really was different from her brother. He was already allowing her to decorate the townhouse with things that meant something to her. Maybe he would allow her freedom to pick her own social activities, too.

As silly as Guy's and Algernon's reaction to the owl had been, she was glad it happened. It had shown her a side of Felix she wouldn't have known existed. Peace swept over her, and she continued to work on the glass ball well into the night.

***

F ELIX WOKE UP EARLIER than usual the next morning to an upset butler and footman who told him someone had painted the words, "A witch lives here," on the front door. When he saw it, the bright red words seemed to leap out and shake him. People could see this from across the street!

"I didn't see who did it," the footman told him while the three examined the door. "He did it while we slept. Believe me, if I had seen him do this, I would have stopped him."

"We didn't notice it until a lad threw an egg at the window," the butler said.

"The lad ran off before I could get his name," the footman added. "I would send a strong word to his parents if I knew who he was."

"Don't worry about the lad," Felix replied.

They had bigger problems on their hands than a child engaging in a prank. Word was going through London that his wife was a witch, and there wasn't any way he could stop it. This was his fault. If he hadn't gotten drunk and gone to Marco's to spread the initial rumor about her, this wouldn't be happening right now.

"Take down the door," Felix instructed. "I don't want anyone to know this happened. I'll see to it that a new door is put in."

He doubted any of the young servants he'd recently hired were equipped to put up a new door, but fortunately for them, Oscar knew how to do things like this. Felix went to his library where he hid a small amount of cash for expenses like this. While the butler stayed to remove the door, the footman left to buy a new one.

"Burn the old door," Felix told the butler.

After the butler assured him he would, Felix hurried to Oscar's bedchamber and knocked on the door. "Oscar, something important has happened. It needs your attention at once."

He waited, but he didn't hear Oscar stirring from sleep.

He rapped on the door again, this time using more force. "Oscar? Are you in there?"

Oscar muttered from the other side of the door, but Felix couldn't make out what he said.

"I know it's early, but this can't wait. Please, get up and open the door," Felix pleaded.

He heard a door open, but it wasn't the one in front of him. Surprised, he turned to Elizabeth's bedchamber. She poked her head out into the hallway.

Warmth crept up his cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I was only trying to get my brother to answer the door." He gestured to it. "He locks it." Probably because the last time he didn't, Felix tried to clean the room. But she didn't need to know that.

"You didn't wake me. I'm already up." She opened the door further, and he saw that she was already in her morning dress, though she hadn't styled her hair yet. "Do you need help with something?"

He paused. He didn't want to tell her that someone had painted the thing about her being a witch on the front door of the townhouse, but he didn't want her to think he was going to reject her when she offered the olive branch of peace, either. And her offering to help was definitely an olive branch. "I would appreciate your help if you could give it, but this involves the front door. I need it replaced," he finally said. "Oscar's the only one in this townhouse who can do that."

"What happened to the front door? It seemed fine yesterday."

He should have known she would ask that question. "Yes, it did seem fine, but really, it wasn't. And I decided today is the day Oscar will replace it. I already had the butler and footman remove it."

Her eyes grew wide. "Then you really do need your brother to wake up and take care of it."

"Yes. That's why I'm anxious for him to wake up." He knocked on the door again. "This can't wait, Oscar. You need to get up right now."

A groan came from within the room, but he heard some shuffling around that let him know Oscar was finally getting out of bed. He sighed in relief. The sooner they replaced the door, the better.

Elizabeth chuckled.

He glanced her way.

"Maybe it's wrong to laugh, but I was certain he liked to wake up early since he's always at breakfast," she said.

"He only does that because I refuse to let him eat it later in the day. If it was up to him, he would eat breakfast at noon. He usually has breakfast then comes back up here to nap."

"I wondered why I didn't see him for a while after breakfast."

The door opened, and a red-eyed Oscar with hair in disarray glared at him. "What do you need at the ungodly hour of six?"

"I need you to put in a new front door. The footman will be here with it soon," Felix replied, hoping he was assertive enough that Oscar wouldn't question him in front of Elizabeth.

Unfortunately, Oscar did question him. "Why do we need a new door? The other one worked fine."

To avoid getting caught in the lie, Felix said, "No, it wasn't. It was old. The footman's been complaining about it. He said it didn't shut and open properly."

"Then all you need to do is make adjustments around the frame," Oscar replied. "Keep the old door and have the footman return the new one to the shop. I'll take care of it after breakfast." He shot him a pointed look. "This is not an emergency, Felix. It can wait."

Felix stopped him before he shut his door. "It's too late for that, Oscar. The butler has already disposed of the old door."

"What? It's a waste of money to get a new door."

"I am the marquess of this estate, and I decided to put in a new door. Stop making this difficult."

"And you had to do this now?"

"Yes." Felix pried the door open farther so that Oscar had no choice but to take care of the new door before breakfast. "The footman can't do his job of greeting visitors if there's no door to open and close. Then we'll be wasting money because we're paying him to do nothing."

Oscar gave a bewildered shake of his head but said, "All right. I'll be down there. I need to put on something decent first, though."

Felix expected him to shut the door and put on his day clothes, but he only slipped a robe on then left the room. Something fell out of his pocket. He stopped and bent to retrieve it. He threw it at Felix. Felix just barely managed to catch it.

"Put that on my dresser," Oscar said. "I want to use that tonight."

Felix opened his hand and inspected the glass tube. "What is it for?"

"For the love potion I'm working on. I had to clean the tube out the other night and forgot to take it back to the lab. Make sure it's where I can see it on the dresser. I don't want to forget it tonight."

Since Oscar was heading down to replace the door, Felix figured the least he could do was obey his brother. He stepped into the room, and, at once, he was overwhelmed with the mess around him. There were piles of clothes on the dresser and nightstand. As he inspected the clothes on the floor, he detected food stains on them. There were no food stains on the clothes on the dresser and nightstand, so they had to be clean. Or, at least, Felix hoped they were.

On the dresser, there were also science journals, some of which were opened, along with many papers with chemical equations written on them. If those had been the only things assaulting Felix's senses, he might have been able to focus, but around the room, there were also pieces of food, used cups, grooming supplies, and a lot of wadded up papers that were scattered about as well. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

"How can anyone live like this?" a bewildered voice asked from behind him.

Felix opened his eyes and turned to see Elizabeth standing in the doorway. Her eyes were wide in shock as she scanned the room. As sorry as he was that she saw this, he felt better in knowing that someone else was appalled by how messy his brother was.

"I've been asking myself that for years," he told her. "He refuses to let anyone in here to clean up. He says he knows where everything is, and if someone moves it, he won't be able to find it." He went over to the dresser and opened a drawer. It was empty. He shook his head and shut the drawer. "There's nothing in here. He could put the clean clothes in this drawer and still find them."

"It's hard to know where the clean ones are." She pointed to a shirt that was on the edge of the dresser. The sleeve hanging down on it was covered in something brown. "Is that a wine stain?"

Felix stepped over a pair of boots and a pair of breeches to take a closer look at it. "I'm not sure. This could be something from one of his experiments." He bent forward and sniffed it. "The shirt smells like it's been washed. Maybe this is a stain that won't come out."

"Either way, it's disgusting. Your bedchamber isn't like this, is it?"

He gasped and straightened up. "I would never let such a mess accumulate in my bedchamber. I am very strict with what I allow Oscar to do and where he can do it in the rest of the townhouse. I just can't stop him from making a mess in this room." He gestured to the moldy piece of cheese that was resting on the floor next to the leg of the dresser. "I won't let him eat anywhere but the dining room because of things like this. He sneaks food and drink in here. I don't approve of this. I'm surprised he let me come in here. He knew I'd find this."

"He must have been too tired to know what he was doing. I don't blame you for being upset about this. I'm shocked a bunch of rats aren't in here."

Felix had to agree with her. And this room couldn't be allowed to remain like this. "I'm having the maids remove the food and drinks that are in here. They'll come up here while he's at Marco's. I doubt he'll notice that the food and drinks are gone with all of the other things littered through here."

He paused as he searched for a place to set the tube on the dresser. After a moment, he set it on top of a journal that was open to a diagram of the human brain. He spotted a half-eaten biscuit wedged between the journal and a newly cleaned folded pair of breeches. He shook his head. This was ridiculous. Maybe he should ban Oscar from eating in this room since he couldn't manage to throw discarded food into the rubbish bin.

"One would swear Oscar was a child," he muttered under his breath as he left the room.

"I'd like to think a child has better sense than to let his room get like that," Elizabeth replied as she followed him.

"I'd like to think that, too, except Oscar was like that ever since I can remember. I did my best to teach him that cleanliness is next to godliness, but all of my efforts were in vain." He shut the door. "I'm sorry you saw that."

She offered him an understanding smile. "For what it's worth, I'm glad it wasn't your bedchamber." After a moment of awkward silence, she touched her hair and gasped. "I need to make myself presentable. I'll see you in the dining room."

She hurried to her bedchamber then closed her door.

He stood in the hallway for a moment, pleasantly shocked. She actually seemed as if she was looking forward to seeing him again. Maybe their repulsion at Oscar's messiness had unexpectedly given them a reason to like each other.