Chapter 22: Tea and Conversation

There was no time to dwell on it. I had my own follower to worry about. As soon as I thought of that, thoughts about myself vanished. I had sent Elspeth off, both of us knowing that I would be meeting an old lover. How could I have been so callous? Rather than risk Boston traffic, I phoned. Elspeth picked up on the first ring. Doh!

I had no idea where Elspeth wanted me to go. The GPS in my phone led me to a large house with an iron fence. Someone opened the gate as I drove up. In another context, it might have made a good horror movie scene. I parked the car in the drive and walked to the front door, past caring how I looked. The door opened before I knocked. A man, presumably the majordomo, held the door. I marched in to face the music.

Looking back, at no point did I think of Dr. Richards. In hindsight, that strikes me as unusual. It was rather like my meeting with the senior faculty, just before orals. I entered as Siobhan Richards. Whomever I met would not stoop to mispronouncing it.

She was a small woman, who reminded me a bit of Diana Rigg. There was the shrewdness you see in Game of Thrones, not to mention the wrinkles. I was expecting Elspeth's mother, but this could only be Adele Cabot. Fortunately she had Sean's habit of talking to herself.

She said, "I suppose I cannot complain about you wasting time." You might have chanced a bath.

I said, "My apologies. I felt that things were urgent. If you wish to lay out tea, I could change."

Mrs. Cabot pursed her lips. Not bad. Thinks on her feet. "An excellent idea. John will show you to your room." We will see what she considers presentable.

I said, "Thank you. I am afraid I have nothing appropriate, but I can improve on this. I was down south." I sniffed. "You can probably tell." That scored. Mrs. Cabot fought a laugh, though it looked rather like a frown.

She said, "Indeed. Such as you may. I shall await you." This is proving more interesting than I hoped.

I went to the car and retrieved my earlier outfit. John offered to carry the pile of clothing, which surprised me. I declined, with thanks. He led me to a room, with a half bath across the hallway. I did some perfunctory washing, concentrating on removing the make up. None was better than too much. I redid some eye liner and a slight touch of lip color.

The room, my room it seemed, was frilly in a preteen style. The drapery was blue gingham. The four post bed had a lace skirt, though the bed cover was hand embroidered and probably hand quilted. It would bring a small fortune in a knowledgeable auction. Once I noticed that detail, the room came alive. Everything in it was valuable, both by age and by quality. Sheila could die happy here.

My first thought had been that Mrs. Cabot wanted me off balance, hence the young girl motif. On further thought, I decided this was her regular guest room. She was "Grandmother" to all the well bred girls in Boston. This room told me she liked to have them sleep over, when they were ten to twelve years old. If time were not pressing, I could spend a day cataloging and analyzing the furnishings and brick-a-brac.

Instead, I changed back into my suit from lunch. It was wrinkled and not hour appropriate, but needs must make do. I removed most of the rings and replaced them with studs. One exception was the one in my nostril. We might discuss Veronica. If you have ever had to borrow a pen, when you should have had one, I felt like that. Reminding myself that perfection would not be good enough, I went back out.

She was sitting at a tea cart, with a lovely sterling tea set. Judging from everything else, it was potentially made by Paul Revere. That would make a nice teaching moment for the young girls, which made it a good place to start.

I said, "Thank you for waiting. That's a lovely tea set. Is it Paul Revere?"

I could read the gears turning in her head. Well. That was unexpected. "It is. Made in 1773. The china is a family heirloom, brought from England, though it is of German manufacture. Dresden." I nodded. She knows something of fine porcelain.

I said, "My sister-in-law would love this. The Residence was constructed in 1742 and enlarged in 1795, 1849 and 1967. Mother and Father essentially abandoned the old house when the new wing was complete. Sheila had the house refurbished for the wedding. We put it, 'Well made and enduring.'" That brought no reply, spoken or otherwise.