The Vanished Pearls of Orlov

"You're becoming the most dangerous person I know."

     She was legally married, something she had never believed she would be. Legally married to a man she was falling in love with yet she wasn't sure if he felt the same since while Charlton's actions said one thing, his words said another.

     Even so, normal life went on. When the ceremony and celebration were over, everyone had to get back to work.

     Charlton changed into grubby clothes, kissed Iolanthe goodbye with his apologies and returned to the village with Jorge and his headman, Paco. The manor house's servants began cleaning up, leaving Iolanthe to sit in the drawing room with a pad of paper and consider what she was going to do next. She could manage Orlov Castle with its staff of hundreds but that staff knew who she was and what her capabilities were. Equally important, she knew the exact condition of every room in Orlov Castle from the grand ballroom down to the meanest attics and their furnishings.

     Having enjoyed a full day's residence, she could already see how badly Charlton's manor house needed a guiding hand and guess at how many much bigger problems remained hidden. She made a note on her pad to ask about insect infestations, vermin, and terraformers. There were more clues overhead. Those painted-over water stains on the ceilings would reappear in short order if she didn't have the leaks located and patched. Iolanthe cringed. She was sitting in a room on the main floor which said, as plainly as if the house had spoken, that the leaks were infiltrating the walls of the manor house: a three-story building with additional attics and basements. Leaks like what the stains were implying guaranteed mold, fungi, and terraformers grew inside the walls where they couldn't be seen. She made another note. Unfortunately, an entirely new roof would have to wait at the end of a long list of needs.

     Perhaps Zachery was correct. The manor house would be repaired more completely if it was burned to the ground and then rebuilt. He, however, wasn't going to pay for a rebuild.

     She looked around again, tapping pen on paper, wishing again she had a dowry of coin and not skills. Constance wouldn't be any help in deciding what to tackle first.

     Her new mother-in-law had drifted among the peasants — smiling, chatting, and cooing at babies —then vanished back into her solarium to embroider more flowers. They were stunningly lovely portraits to be sure, but useless. Although. Iolanthe turned her attention to the wall opposite her while her hand went still. Shadows on the faded wallpaper shouted the locations of sold artworks, replaced by Constance's artistry in smaller frames. She'd never seen more gorgeous thread paintings and if Constance's work could be sold — at a premium because they were rarities representing the time, expertise, and talented hand of a lady of the Four Hundred — that would bring in much needed coin. Eventually.

     Iolanthe made a note to discuss this possible source of income later with Charlton. Considering his desperate need for cash, she doubted he would complain about selling his mother's artistry rather than save it for future generations. If necessary, she could point out that selling a few embroidered paintings would patch the roof and save the rest of the heirlooms from water damage.

     In the meantime, Constance was just as inadequate when it came to managing the manor house as Ulla had described. She was sweet-natured, generous, and oblivious to her surroundings because she remained absorbed in her own dreamy world of color and flowers and embroidery floss. Constance didn't notice when the sheets needed mending or the rain blew in through the broken windows.

     Ulla had been depressingly accurate about Charlton's grandfather. He was best ignored for the time being. He (drunk but not nearly as bad as the sot could get) had flatly refused to dress and leave his bedchamber. Iolanthe was unsure if he had bothered to stagger over to the window to witness the wedding ceremony and celebration of his only grandson.