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One afternoon, Phoebe went in search of West and discovered hione untended since the old gardener’s onset of rheu at the threshold of a set of open French doors, she took in the scene with an absent s the tree with shears at the direction of the old gardener who stood below

“What do you think?” West called down to Justin, as gathering twigs and branches into a pile as they fell

The child viewed the topiary critically “Still looks like a turnip”

“It’s a perfectly recognizable duck,” West protested “There’s the body, and this is the bill”

“It has no neck A duck needs a neck, or he can’t quack”

“I can’t argue with that,” West said ruefully, turning back to clip more leaves

Laughing to herself, Phoebe withdrew back into the house But the i Henry’s beloved topiary trees, spending time with his son

Thank God Georgiana ay for the winter: she would have been appalled by the way West’s presence had dispelled any lingering sense that this was a house of otten: far froer anchored to gloo honored, while a breath of new life had swept into Clare Manor He had not been replaced, but there was room for more love here A heart could make as much room as love needed

In the e, early breakfast, after which he would ride out to soone with him the first day, but it had quickly become apparent that her presence unnerved the tenants, ere overawed and nervous around her “Much as I love your company,” West had told her, “you may have to let me approach them alone After years of no direct interaction with any of the Larsons, the last thing they’ll do is speak freely in front of the lady of the manor”

The next day, when he’d gone out on his own, the results were est leaseholders, who had shared a great deal of infor mystery

“Your estate has so problems,” West told Phoebe when he returned in the afternoon, finding her in the winter garden with the cats He was in a buoyantin the fields He smelled like autumn air, sweat, soil, and horses, a pleasantly earthy mixture

“I don’t think I want interesting problelass of water for him “I’d rather have ordinary ones”

West took the water with adown the rippling front of his neck Phoebe was briefly transfixed by the ht before when he’d arched over her, his shoulders and back lifting as his muscles had bunched with pleasure

“I saw solass on the tray table “Now I understand why your crop yields are better than I would have expected, despite the pri methods the tenants use But there’s no way to avoid it—you’re going to have to invest in e and hire a steaers to loosen up all that heavy clay None of your fields have ever been cultivated deeper than a wineglass The soil has been trodden by horses and cole for plants to sink their roots into it The good news is, once the ground is loosened and aerated, that alone will likely double your production”

“Lovely,” Phoebe exclai problem?”

“No, I’ entries in the crop book, in which soive four different numbers for their crop yields?

“Yes”

“It’s because many of your leaseholds are still laid out in an open-field system, the way they were back in medieval times”

“What does that mean?”

“It means a farm like Mr Morton’s, which I visited today, is divided into four strips, and they’re scattered over an area of four square miles He has to travel separately to farm each strip”

“But that’s absurd!”

“It’s ie landowners did aith the open-field syste to have to find a way to put all the acreage together and redistribute it so each tenant can have one good-sized plot of land But that won’t be as easy as it may sound”

“It doesn’t sound easy at all,” Phoebe said glureements”