Ellie took a few more steps before she realized she had no idea where she was going. She turned to Helen and said, “Perhaps you should show me the way. It is difficult to play the crusading avenger when one doesn't know the way to the holy land.”

Helen giggled and said, “Follow me.”

The two women wound through a labyrinth of hallways and staircases until Ellie could hear the unmistakable sounds of a kitchen through the door in front of her. She turned to Helen with a smile on her face.“Do you know, but at my house, our kitchen was right next to our dining room. Exceedingly convenient, if you ask me.”

“The kitchen is much too loud and hot,” Helen explained. “Charles has done what he can to improve ventilation, but it is still quite stifling. It must have been unbearable when Wycombe Abbey was built five hundred years ago. I cannot blame the first earl for not wanting to entertain his guests so close to the kitchens.”

“I suppose,” Ellie murmured, and then she opened the door and immediately realized that the first earl had been very smart indeed. The Wycombe Abbey kitchens were nothing like the homey little room she'd once shared with her father and sister. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling, large worktables took up space in the center of the room, and Ellie counted no less than four stoves and three ovens, including a beehive oven set into a large hearth with an open fire. There wasn't much activity at such an early hour, and Ellie could only wonder what the scene would be like before a large dinner party. Utter chaos, she imagined, with every pot, pan, and utensil in use.

Three women were preparing food in the far corner. Two appeared to be kitchen maids, and they were washing and dicing meat. The other woman was a bit older and had her head in one of the ovens. Ellie assumed she was Mrs. Stubbs.

Helen cleared her throat, and the two maids turned to look at them. Mrs. Stubbs rose too quickly and banged her head on the lip of the oven. She let out a short howl of pain, muttered something that Ellie was certain her father would have disapproved of, and stood upright.

“Good morning, Mrs. Stubbs,” Helen said. “I would like to introduce you to the new countess.”

Mrs. Stubbs bobbed a curtsy, as did the two kitchen maids. “My lady,” she said.

“You'll be wanting something cold for that bump,” Ellie said briskly, in her element now that she had found a task to complete. She stepped toward the kitchen maids. “Would one of you be so kind as to show me where the ice is stored?”

The maids gaped at her for a moment and then one of them said, “I'll fetch some for you, my lady.”

Ellie turned to Helen with a slightly sheepish smile. “I'm not used to having people do and fetch things for me.”