Being Mother of a Man (is stressful) | @Brooke's 29th- Xmas 1677

[Hope]

Brooke House

 

 

 

The sandstone Brooke House on Pall Mall is the London residence of the Earl Brooke, Sir Robert Thomas St. Leger, and his family. Set on a few acres with a walled and tiered garden, the house sits on the rise of a small hill which slopes in the back to small fashioned pond. Climbing roses and berries grace walls and terraces interspersed with ivy with the occasional cluster of manicured fruit trees. It boasts a large royal oak just off the back corner of the mansion with two wide swings which used to be a familiar playsite of the younger Lord Beverley, Robert St. Leger and his sister Lady Doneraile. Now it is a frequent site of play for the lady's 3 little boys when they are visiting their grandfather although they most often stay in Battersea a few miles down the Thames. The garden wall and various garden half-walls are a familiar haunt for Lord Beverley to lay about and read or nap.

 

 

Brooke House itself is a large, thick rectangle. While wingless, the set of rooms on the second floor to the right rear, belong to Lord Beverley, the Earl Brooke's heir. The second floor to the left going down to part of the first floor are the rooms of Lord and Lady Brooke who traditionally keep separate bedchambers. Lord Brooke's rooms go down to his study and an anteroom on the first floor. Facing the garden between those apartments on the second floor is a garden room which is popular for a morning meal or tea. The rear of the first floor is dedicated to entertaining space with a large hall/dining room, library, and a gallery. Guest rooms are found on both floors but most specifically on the second floor facing the front of the property.

 

When arriving in front, there are always blue liveried servants with badges of the Earl's arms on their coats to greet you and attend to your needs.

Margaret looked up from her needlework for the umpteenth time as a phantom creak in the hallway lifted both her hopes & fears.

 

They had been talking for hours now. *Glance at clock* Well forty five minutes at least!

 

It took her every effort not to steal away down the hall to listen at her Husbands study door. What were they saying? Were they being kind to each other, or righteously stubborn as she knew they both could be! "Dear Lord, let them find love in their words, and mercy in hearts. Let them dare show the deep care I know they hold for each other!"

 

Lady Brooke had a great ball of emotion stuck in her throat, and was at the brink of tears as she prayed fervently for the men to reach some positive resolution. "Heavenly father, make them repair, and I shall never ask for anything from you ever again." she wrung her hands.

 

Why was it so quiet down the hall. Why wouldn't somebody come and tell her something.

 

"Dottie, bring me the little blue bottle." she instructed her maid. Since Beverly had left, she’d been taking some from the blue bottle with increasing regularity. There were days when she was convinced it was the only thing that kept her sane.