The first thing I was told as the new maid was that singing was forbidden—and two girls had already been dismissed for breaking that rule. Forty-two mornings later, I forgot myself and sang while scrubbing the gallery floor. The grieving duke came to throw me out, then recognized the melody his dead wife used to sing. He stood in the doorway with my dismissal on his lips—and could not make himself speak.
Nathaniel never gave the order. He stood behind me until I finished the verse. There was a small silence afterward….