Magic Below Stairs by Caroline Stevermer Read Free Book Online

he couldn’t help it. That’s his nature. Hobgoblins make chancy houseguests. Next time he may take it into his head to clean the chimneys with a featherbed.”
    A little desperately, Frederick said, “If he does, I’ll pay for the damages.”
    â€œYour wages won’t cover the damage a hobgoblin can do,” said Lord Schofield. “A brownie took a liking to my brother, Edward, when we were both boys. Every plant the gardener set out would turn up in Edward’s room sooner or later, in every container you can imagine, from shoes to chamber pots. By the time my mother banished him from our house in the country, that creature had the whole place turned upside down.”
    â€œWhat if Billy Bly promised not to do any damage? What if he swore?”
    â€œWouldn’t swear,” said Billy Bly. “Wouldn’t promise.”
    â€œYou may keep your position, Frederick. But the brownie must go.” Lord Schofield lifted both hands in the air. “No hard feelings, Billy Bly.”
    â€œNone at all, your bossiness,” Billy Bly replied. To Frederick, he said, “Mind how you go, lad.”
    Lord Schofield moved his hands in a quick, graceful gesture. Frederick’s ears popped again, and the chalk circle was empty. Billy Bly was gone as if Frederick had dreamed the whole thing; nothing remaining of his presence but the fading sound of dry leaves rustling from every direction.
    â€œThat’s that.” Lord Schofield dusted his hands. “You may scrub the floor now, Frederick.”
    With a sense of chill disbelief heavy in his stomach, Frederick fetched a bucket of water and a brush. Carefully he scrubbed the chalk marks off the study floor. While he cleaned up after the very first magic spell he had ever seen cast, Lord Schofield wrote notes in a big leather-bound book.
    So finally he knew, Frederick told himself. It was no dream. Billy Bly had been as real as Mr. Vardle. Now Billy Bly was gone. The empty feeling soaked into him the way the cold water soaked his knees as he worked.
    Now Frederick was alone in Schofield House, lonely in a way he’d never been before. He was used to feeling alone. But he wished he had known Billy Bly had been there. Frederick would have asked Billy Bly a thousand questions, trying to learn everything there was to know about brownies and hobgoblins. More even than the lost chance to learn, Frederick mourned the loss of his unseen companion. He wished, more than anything, that he’d known someone in the world had cared about him enough to follow him from the orphanage. Too late. In a house full of people, Frederick found himself alone.

5
    IN WHICH FREDERICK GOES UP IN THE WORLD
    From the day he banished Billy Bly from Schofield House, Lord Schofield took an interest in Frederick. He already behaved to everyone as if the work they did for him was important, and he never seemed to notice there was a rule that the servants should not speak to him unless he had spoken to them first. In Frederick’s case, Lord Schofield added curiosity to his usual courtesy.
    â€œYou haven’t seen anything of Billy Bly since I sent him away?” Lord Schofield asked, almost daily. “You would mention it if you had, I hope?”
    Sometimes Frederick would listen hard as he polished furniture, but he never heard leaves rustling, nor ever felt the slightest sense of unseen companionship. “No, my lord,” he assured his employer. “Of course I would, my lord.”
    â€œExcellent, Frederick. Good work. Keep it up.”
    Frederick was unsettled by Lord Schofield’s air of friendly interest. Since he had explained about the business with Billy Bly to Bess first chance he had, he asked Bess for her opinion while they were scrubbing the kitchen floor together.
    â€œNo mystery there,” Bess said. “Magic is the one thing Lord Schofield truly cares about in this world, right?”
    Frederick knew no such thing,