It had been dismal and dreary for nearly a week, and Merryweather could not resist staring outside for the entirety of her French lesson. With the cessation of the rains, the grass had taken on an attractive shade of green, and hints of buttercups peeked out in patches across the lawn.
When her class had finally commenced, she hurried to the cupboard, where Riff was surveying the cutlery, and tugged at his coat hem. Surprised by the interruption, Riff soon crouched down so that the little mistress of the house could make her secret request.
Within an hour, Mary and, with a great deal of sulkiness, her older brother, sat on a yellow blanket, damp with the remnants of the recent storms, under a pleasant spring sky. "Older brother, isn't it wonderful? This is the first true day of spring!" Merryweather chimed, spreading her skirts as she lowered herself to a sitting position. "I have waited so long to see it."
"Indeed, wonderful," Cain muttered. "Perhaps even more wonderful if we weren't sitting in the mud among the bullfrogs."
"Don't be so sour. I have never seen finer mud! And look, Riff is almost here with our tea." Cain raised his eyes to meet the smiling blue ones of his manservant. He knelt down to place an assortment of cakes and scones between the siblings, leaving also a porcelain tea service.
"Enjoy your tea, Miss Mary," he added, before turning to leave.
"Oh, do stay with us, Riff! Cain is so unpleasant." He looked over his shoulder to his master for approval or rejection, but only found a scowl.
"Yes, Riff, you may join our tea party. If you want to, that is," he finally responded, eyes shifting up to the sky at a bird soaring overhead.
"I suppose I would not be missed too greatly if I was just here for a few minutes." Cain began to make room for him to join the group when Mary interjected.
"No, sit next to me," she protested, scuttling across the sheet in a flurry of petticoats. "If you please," she added as an afterthought, with a tiny smile meant for enticing. Riff, amused silently at the choice looked from one Hargreaves sibling to the other. Finally, he favored Mary, much to her delight. "You see, Cain?" She sported a haughty grin in the style of every Hargreaves before her. "You are so miserable that Riff does not want to be near you."
"That's not true," her brother grunted. "If you hadn't practically begged him to sit next to you, he probably would have chosen me over you. Much to my misfortune, I do not possess the weapons of puppy-dog-eyes and crocodile tears as methods of persuasion."
"You think that just because you and Riff always sneak off on secret missions together that he likes you best, but I think we've just proven that isn't so." The squabble continued as Riff poured each member of the party a cup of tea, laughing inwardly, but continually silent in the contest for his own affections.