“It is not as though you wear silks, Adelaide. You look very well, exactly the part of the mine owner’s wife.” He put a hand on her arm. “There are no formal introductions here. You already know Bodville, but, if you like, I can reacquaint you.”

“No, that is not necessary.” Adelaide straightened up, folding her hands before her calmly. “If there is anything that I consider a strength in my being and character, it is being able to adapt my demeanor and protocol adequately for any people or circumstance.”

“Yes, I was going to ask you about that,” Basset mused. He nodded at a young man who saw to the horses, walking with Adelaide toward the mine. “I witnessed your skills at such things the night of our ball. I wonder, why have I not been the beneficiary of your talents?”

Adelaide scoffed very softly. “You have, my lord. Why else would I return fire for fire when you so skillfully send your barbs in my direction?” She laughed once and moved for the group of ladies standing nearby, grinning to herself at hearing her husband’s laughter behind her.

He laughed so rarely in truth, naught but a wry chuckle here and there, yet what she heard was full-bodied laughter, and the sound of it was glorious indeed. Why did she never try to make him laugh before this, only seeking to spite him and garner some kind of reaction from him?

Giving him cause to laugh provided so much more satisfaction.

She thought to raise her chin for a moment, until she recollected the simple, hard life of these people, and no composure or finery would impress them. “Good afternoon, ladies. What a lovely day this is!”

The group of them bobbed curtseys, their ages varying. “My lady,” they all murmured as one, still smiling at her with more warmth than she had ever received from a group of ladies in London.

She smiled in return, oddly comfortable in their company. “What are your names, then? This is my first time to Wheal Lidden, and I don’t know a thing about mining.”

They made quick work of the introductions, and soon, she had her very own guides to every aspect of the operation above ground. The ladies knew everything, it seemed, and were able to explain it to her in a way that actually made sense. How smelting was the means by which metal was obtained from ore, and the process by which they worked as bal maidens. How their husbands, brothers, and sons worked below ground, and the struggles of life when a mine was not profitable. She had never imagined that any lives could hinge so heavily upon the success of anything, let alone a mine, but they were the embodiment of such a thing.