He grunted, which was about what she’d expected from him at this hour. She was frankly surprised he’d put a few entire sentences together already. But he could be rather eloquent with his expressions. Now, for instance, he narrowed his eyes at where Mabena and Casek were laughing together by the globe and then turned a questioning look on Libby.

She smiled. “I’m afraid my lady’s maid has given me her notice. It seems she intends to stay here and marry.” Though she said it quietly enough that Casek wouldn’t hear. Mabena probably meant to let him chase her awhile yet.

A sudden crash drew her gaze back to Oliver and Sheridan, where the guest had somehow managed to drop an entire stack of books onto the floor. Odd, since he wasn’t usually clumsy. But then, he was darting a mortified gaze even now toward the door while he bent to retrieve the tomes.

Libby peered around her brother and saw that Beth had appeared in the doorway, looking like a very different person from the one who had raced past them on the road into Old Grimsby. Instead of the utilitarian braid, she’d brushed her hair into a simple, elegant chignon. The trousers and man’s shirt had been exchanged for a day dress in pale blue that perfectly complemented her complexion. She couldn’t have spent more than five minutes on her appearance after she’d checked on her grandmother, yet she looked more put together than Libby felt after an hour of Mabena’s ministrations.

She almost felt a twinge of jealousy. For half a second. Then she was just glad that this young lady she didn’t know had come home, and that it looked as though she meant to stay for a while, if she was changing back into what must be her normal attire.

Oliver accepted a few of the books that Sheridan thrust at him and put them back on the shelf. “How was Mamm-wynn, Beth?”

“Sleeping, it seems. Could I borrow you for a moment, Ollie? I’d like to hear what happened to her. And perhaps Benna can—Casek Wearne?” She frowned, having not looked to her cousin until that moment. “What are you doing here?”

“Gloating,” his lips said, though the hand he had on Mabena’s back said, Courting far more loudly.

Beth’s frown only deepened. “Hadn’t you better be getting home and cleaned up so you can go to school?”

“School?” Back on his feet with a stack of books helter-skelter in his arms, Sheridan quirked a brow toward Casek.

Mabena smiled. “He’s the headmaster.” Only a dunce could have missed the pride in her tone.

Beth was apparently no dunce. She blinked, opened her mouth, closed it again. “It seems I missed quite a bit while I was . . . on holiday.”