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"What,to stammer because he was that sort of h she didn’t choose to act as such most of the time She pinned the butler to the ith one look and then said, softly, "The kitchens, Popper"

Oyster gave a little whine by her leg At least someone knehen sheopen the green baize door at the back of the entrance hall so quickly that it banged against the wall

"Eleanor?" she heard Villiers say behind her

She looked at hi matters," she said coolly "You continue on hatever you were doing Play so"

She heard hih the door, but she paid him no mind

"Tell me about Mrs Zeal-of-the-Land, Popper"

"I do hope that breakfast was to your satisfaction, my lady?" Popper trotted backwards down the servants’ corridor, at i into a wall His round face was creased with anxiety

"Perfectly acceptable," Eleanor said dryly "No prayers delivered with s"

"Prayers?" Villiers echoed

They reached the kitchen Popper thrust open the door and then flattened hiainst the wall to allow her to pass

"Prayers?" Villiers asked again, from a few paces behind Eleanor But she had turned into a wonized, so he wasn’t surprised when she ignored hied little since medieval times One as taken up by a fireplace with five spits rotating before it, thanks to a half-asleep boy operating some sort of a treadmill with his feet Every last inch of the other walls was covered with shelves holding china, held upright by small wooden dowels There were rows of teapots fenced in and adorned with strings of onions and garlic Up above hung strings of sausages and cuts of other meats that Villiers couldn’t identify

There had to be ten people at work, carrying food about, stirring things on a big iron stove, washing crockery, or in the case of an elderly gentle in the corner

"Lady Eleanor His Grace the Duke of Villiers," bellowed Popper

A large woman turned about from the stove and squinted at them "I don’t hold with visits to my kitchen" She turned her head "Witless, if you don’t keep the I’ll put you on one of the his hands "Make the duke and lady welcome Be charitable, Mrs Busy, be charitable!"

Eleanor advanced to the center of the kitchen The cook had scarlet cheeks and s ladle

"I would like so forward as if the ladle were no threat

The cook’s small eyes narrowed "I don’t hold with pork," she said shrilly "The spice of idolatry, I call it! And what are you doing, bringing a rel intomeat," Eleanor said coldly Villiers had never heard quite that tone in her voice before, and he was glad of it "I want bacon and eggs sent up to the nursery ie pot so hard that boiling soup splashed out on the stove and the floor "So this is what you’re about!"

"Indeed," Eleanor stated

Why on earth was she fussing over the children’s breakfast? Villiers could have told her that Tobias had it all in hand, ith his bribes to the footman, but there wasn’t tiluttony or greediness," the cook said shrilly "Nor to be eaten by those who are an abomination under the Lord!"

For the first tirew a little concerned She was running her fingers over it as if it were a delicate ribbon Mrs Busy didn’t look like the type of woorize anyone as indulging in gluttony," Eleanor said, her eyes lingering unpleasantly on the cook’s admittedly abundant curves "But I do know that those children cannot thrive on a diet of gruel"

Villiers froze