Hester and Mungo 4
Dec. 30th, 2021 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rix_scaeduAt lunch Hester asked her new mother-in-law about the practicalities or, indeed, the necessity of using her own sheets while staying at inns. She added, "Assuming of course that I had my own sheets, but if I need them for tomorrow I could go shopping this afternoon."
"It depends on where you think you are going to be staying," replied Isabel, thoughtfully. "If it's at major posting inns, there shouldn't be a problem. If you are unavoidably staying at a place that you've had damp or dirty sheets at before then you might want to make special provision. It is the sort of thing that might put the innkeeper's nose out of joint if they think you're getting above yourself, and that could lead to inconveniences. If you were a duchess, or fabulously wealthy, then it would simply be an eccentricity. If you weren't gentry then it would be...."
"Pretension?" Hester suggested the word quietly, "With perhaps a sliding scale in between?"
The older woman agreed, "Yes. Definitely."
"Then I don't have to charge out this afternoon and obtain bedsheets," replied Hester. "Speaking of obtaining things, I have clothes being made for me in Lundun, but that doesn't include night attire. Can you suggest where here in Dunedin I could order such things to be made up for me while Mungo and I are away on business for two weeks?"
"Mistress Pringle over in Lawnmarket," replied Isabel Munro promptly. "She's who I use when I need something while I'm in town. We can take you there after lunch. I'm sure Ellen and Margaret will want to come too, and we can take you looking for embroidery supplies as well."
"I would like that very much," Hester smiled at her mother-in-law. "I'm not in the way of shopping for women's clothing, and I suspect that being a grown lady with money in her own purse is a very different experience to being sixteen and allowed to come along with your mother and older sisters."
"You'll be after completely different things," agreed the older woman, "and, thanks to my son, you're not confined to a debutante's colours. If strong colours are what suit you, and you want them, then you can have them."
Hester looked over to where her husband was talking with his father and his brothers. "I wonder if Mungo is going to see Colonel Ross and Major Hogan this afternoon?"
"To let his friends know that he's not staying in town?" Mungo's mother looked across at her men folk. "He may well be, particularly as they travelled up from Lundun together."
"I might just go and ask him about it," Hester commented thoughtfully, "because I'd like to go with him. They are my friends too." What Hester didn't say to her mother-in-law was that she was sure the three men had been travelling north with intentions that only involved going home as a cover for something else, and frankly Hogan hadn't even had that excuse. She had a filial fondness for James Hogan, but the man was a charming liar when he wanted to be, and Ewan Ross firmly believed in not telling her things he didn't think she needed to know. Mungo himself, well, she knew he was capable of telling her what was needed to make the things he wanted to happen, happen - and she wasn't yet certain how much being married to the man would change that. Not that he seemed to object, or mind being married to her, and she was finding that she liked being married to him. Hester gave herself a shake because if she wasn't careful that line of thought would have her making calves’ eyes at her husband in public.
Instead of making a spectacle of herself, Hester finished her lunch and then joined her husband when they all rose from the table. Mungo looked at her with something that might have been affection and asked, "Yes, dear?"
"I was wondering if you are going to visit Colonel Ross and Major Hogan this afternoon, because if you are, then I would like to come too." Hester smiled sunnily at him.
Colonel Mungo Munroe, coordinator of spies, intelligence agents, exploring officers, and their reports, looked at her shrewdly and asked, "Why?"
"Because I don't know what the three of you are up to and I do want to know if I might have to help rescue someone." She gave him what might be called a speaking look.
"What makes you think that might be needed?" His look wasn't telling her anything, except that he was stonewalling her.
"Because competent, intelligent, and knowledgeable officers get into trouble all the time with competent, intelligent, and knowledgeable opposition. Or disease and accident." She pursed her lips a little.
He raised his eyebrows and asked, "And why do you think you'd be doing the rescuing?"
"Because I'm your wife and I'm sure it's part of the job." She added thoughtfully, "I'd probably need to bring a few solid footmen and grooms with me, of course." She gave him a hard look and added, "If the three of you together manage to get into a fix that you can't get out of, then extra muscle power will probably be needed to get you out of it. Or to keep you in your sickbeds until you heal."
"You wound me, madam!" He affected a hurt expression.
She replied pertly, "If I wounded you then you would need to stay in bed." Then she remembered the last man she'd wounded, and her face and mood dropped. "Please don't ever put me in a position where I have to do that."
"I'll do my best not to," he assured her. "So, you want to come with me to see Ross and Hogan. Do you have anything planned with my mother and sisters-in-law this afternoon? There seemed to be some intent discussion going on."
"Your mother is taking me to order night rails and a peignoir or a dressing gown." Hester smiled cheekily at him and admitted, "I'm not sure that I know the difference. I suspect it could be the fabric, or frills. Regardless, as the wife of a gentleman I suspect that I should have at least one of them."
Mungo Munroe pursed his lips consideringly and replied blandly, "I suspect that you're right. Should you get at least two? One warmer than the other, because well, we are going into the Highlands tomorrow, and I expect we'll be making return journeys."
Hester cocked her head and said, "This is probably the wrong time and place to ask you if you have a preference in what I wear for such things, isn't it?"
He lifted an eyebrow. "Minx. When did you get so cheeky?"
"Some time after I married you," she returned. "I like to think that on the subject of these particular garments, ours are the only opinions that matter."
He leant forward and whispered in her ear, "Make sure at least one garment is pretty and frivolous. We both know you want something like that - indulge yourself." He straightened and added more loudly, "And remember to make sure that you have the bill sent to me. I know you have your own money on hand, but please let me fulfill my responsibilities to look after you."
She looked at him for a moment, then stepped back and gave him a half bow. "As you wish, Colonel Munro." She straightened then asked, "So where are we meeting up so I can come and see Major Hogan and Colonel Ross with you?"
He gave her a cool, considered look. "If I don't take you with me, would you take it upon yourself to find Colonel Ross' address and attend there on your own?"
She cocked her head again, and answered, "I'm beginning to think that might be a good idea. Please remember, sir, that your wellbeing is a matter of concern to me. I understand that there are things that you can't tell me or discuss with me, but I will not pretend to you that I don't know that you have matters on and in hand. If I am to be your effective strategic reserve, I need not to be completely in the dark."
"And I don't want to put you in danger." He had an uncompromising look on his face.
Hester dismissed the obvious comments about her previous work for him, and replied, "Thank you, but wouldn't it be better to think of me as a trap for your opponents sitting in plain view?"
He lifted her hand to his lips and smiled, "With sword and pistol in hand?"
As he kissed her hand, she replied, "Don't forget the boot knife."
His younger brother asked loudly, "Is this the good example he's supposed to be setting me? Mother, shouldn't you be boxing his ears or something?"
"The lady is his wife," pointed out their mother, "and he is the only one of you without children. At least he knows how to sweet talk her."
Hester kept her back to the rest of the family and said, very quietly and to her husband, "I'm not going to comment. I'm not going to comment."
"What no list of names?" He was just as quiet and was still bent over her hand.
"Neither of us needs to know how exact my knowledge of that part of your life is," she replied quietly.
"And it's no business of my mother and siblings either," he agreed. "I'm married to you so my courting days with other women are done. Shall I meet you at the seamstress' establishment after you've done your shopping?"
"It might be the only way I can fit in the shopping and calling on our travelling companions before we need to get ready to go to your sister's for dinner," agreed Hester.
They parted after lunch to go their own ways. Hester bought her embroidery materiels, and then was taken to Mistress Pringle's establishment. Mistress Pringle was happy to take an order for night rails in fine lawn with lace and ribbon embellishments for a newly married lady, plus a brocade dressing gown and a lighter silk wrap. She also had a sample dressing gown, made up in wool, that was a little large for Hester and in last year's style, but it was available, so Hester bought it and arranged for it to go home with her mother-in-law and the embroidery shopping while Hester went with Mungo to call on Ross and Hogan.
The Ross townhouse was newer than the Munros' house and stood on Charlotte Square. A tall, balding, beak-nosed butler admitted Colonel and Mrs Munro and, having surveyed Mrs Munro's dress, placed the pair in the back parlor while he went to ascertain whether Colonel Ross and Major Hogan were at home to visitors. Hester spent the time mentally cataloguing the differences between parlors in Iberian and North Marches’ homes, and asking herself questions about the difference between front and back parlors. She might soon have to consider the decoration and furnishing of her own houses and saw no reason that she shouldn't pick up ideas as she went. Mungo spent the time examining the contents of the bookcase that adorned the room. They didn't have to occupy themselves for long because Ross bounded into the room less than five minutes after the butler had left.
They exchanged bows and Ross said cheerfully, "Munro, Hester! Good to see you both! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Mungo replied, "I need to let you know that Hester and I have to go out of town for two weeks on a matter of business."
James Hogan entered the room at that moment, letters in his right hand. "Munro, good that you're here. There have been developments." He looked around, caught sight of Hester and said, "Ahhhh, Mrs Munro." Then he bowed to her.
Hester bowed back, the replied, "And I want to know what is going on. You three were not just travelling north together, and now you say that there have been developments. If I'm going to be your reserve and support, it would help a lot if I knew what is going on."
Hogan and Hester locked gazes while Ross started to say, "There's nothing-", then grunted as if someone might have elbowed him in the ribs.
James Hogan spoke first. "There's nothing I'm allowed to tell you about."
Hester replied, "You do know that you have tells, don't you?"
He chuckled, "So, what are they telling you?"
"You're not telling me everything and it's deliberate." Hester smiled. "Have you considered how useful I could be to you?"
Hogan looked again at the bundle of papers in his hand, then asked, “Where is it that the two of you are going?"
This is now continued here.
*laugh*
Date: 2021-12-30 08:58 am (UTC)Re: *laugh*
Date: 2021-12-30 09:01 am (UTC)Re: *laugh*
Date: 2021-12-30 09:10 am (UTC)Now you're playing rash roulette because no telling what chemicals the hotel may have washed with. Hence travel sheets and sleep sacks.
Re: *laugh*
Date: 2021-12-30 06:34 pm (UTC)Re: *laugh*
Date: 2021-12-30 06:42 pm (UTC)However, I still need to be able to sleep without the sheets taking my skin off, and that's happened multiple times.
Re: *laugh*
Date: 2021-12-30 09:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-30 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-30 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-30 05:56 pm (UTC)(Is this going to be a very oddly-ordered romance novel?)
Possible typo: In "Hester brought her embroidery materiels", possibly "brought" should be "bought"? (And now I must ponder when I'd use "material" vs. "materiel" and why.)
<bounces impatiently>
no subject
Date: 2021-12-30 09:20 pm (UTC)This came from a prompt "only one bed" and at the moment I'm not sure if it's a romance novel or a novel with a romance plot strand in it.
I looked up the difference and 'materiel' includes equipment for doing a thing.
no subject
Date: 2021-12-30 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 12:29 pm (UTC)One typo:
"I was wandering if you are going to visit Colonel Ross and Major Hogan this afternoon, because if you are, then I would like to come too."
Shouldn't that be "wondering"?
no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-31 12:32 pm (UTC)😁
Date: 2022-06-24 12:12 pm (UTC)I am absolutely delighted to be reading more about Hester and Munro, and can barely wait for the next installment.