It was Cleome’s habit to take the record books into the downstairs sitting room after dinner and tally up the expenditures and profits of the day. It was a chore she enjoyed and more than once, she had told her granda that balancing the books was like putting a great puzzle together. He always said it made him proud that she had inherited his quickness with sums. She had been responsible for shrewd changes in the Eagle’s Head since her grandmother’s death, changes that had saved them a lot of money. Her active brain appreciated any exercise and since Mr. Stoneham had ordered coffee and brandy for his guests, Cleome thought she would have time to attend to her bookkeeping. She was bending over the huge ledger, a rose-colored shawl draped about her shoulders, the feather of the quill pen resting against her cheek, when the door opened and Garnett led the gentlemen into the sitting room. With him were Lord Easton, Sir Rudgely Foxworth and Sir Rudgely’s brother-in-law from Manchester, who owned several coal mines.
