He followed her up to her rooms. Having paid them little heed the night before once he’d located her bedchamber, he was now surprised to discover how simple the parlor was. Although it wasn’t precisely a parlor. It was a relatively large room that included a small kitchen, where she had set her basket on a square table. Joining her there, he placed his basket beside hers. He hadn’t actually brought her the pub but rather had asked the cook at his proper residence to prepare something. The dear woman who had served the household for years had been thrilled with the opportunity to provide dishes that would be eaten by more than the servants. He did hope Fancy wouldn’t think anything of the fare being a bit fancier than what was usually served across the street.

“I haven’t a vase,” she said. “Will you be offended if I use a pitcher?”

“It would take a good deal more than that to offend me.”

She brought over a pale yellow piece and began arranging the stems in it. “Feel free to look around, make yourself comfortable. I won’t be but a minute here.”

Wandering away from her, he noted that the remainder of the area was devoted to comfort. A dark blue settee and a low rectangular table rested before the fireplace. On either side of them and nearer to the hearth were two plush chairs of robin egg blue with threads of yellow creating an assortment of swirls. She liked her yellow, it seemed.

The mantelpiece held a framed portrait of four tall men and one tall woman—all young, not much older than twenty if that, he’d wager—standing outside a tavern. The Mermaid and Unicorn, according to the sign hanging over the threshold. An older woman of small stature stood among them. Pressed up against her and nearly buried in her skirt was a tiny sprite who couldn’t be much older than six or seven.

“My family,” she said quietly, coming to stand beside him. “The day Gillie opened her tavern.”

“I thought as much.” Another nearby photograph, also framed, sat a few inches from the first. Based on the gown Lady Aslyn wore and the church behind the assembled group, he assumed it had been taken on the day she stunned London Society by marrying a man with no lineage. Fancy had been on the cusp of womanhood, her grace and charm shining through.

“Shall we eat before it cools?” she asked.