Nell (7 page)

She had made no attempt to teach the child beyond introducing her to the implements she must use. Upon being shown her slate, Hetty had immediately taken a piece of chalk and proceeded to scrawl pictures upon it that were largely unrecognisable. Nell had instantly praised her efforts, and moved to the blackboard where she drew a crude representation of a castle. When Hetty left her desk and came to join her, she had hopes that the child might attempt to copy her drawing. To her disappointment, her pupil merely took the opportunity to scribble her own hieroglyphics upon a larger canvas.

Nell stood back and left her to it, now and then putting a question that might encourage the girl to identify what she had drawn. She was ignored.

Shortly thereafter, Duggan had announced that it was time for Hetty’s luncheon. When Nell had asked what time she might expect the child back in the schoolroom, she learned that Henrietta always took a nap in the afternoon, after which she was permitted to play. In other words, Nell had realised irately, she was expected to accomplish the child’s education in a couple of hours each day!

It would not do. It was going to be uphill work as it was. Besides, what in the world was she to do for the rest of the day? Perhaps Lord Jarrow expected her to make up the hours with household tasks! If so, he would soon learn his mistake. Except that she might well be driven to offer her help to Mrs Whyte out of sheer boredom.

Discovering that she had reached the other end of the roof walkway, Nell swished about and began to stroll back again. She had gone but a few steps when she was attacked by an eerie sensation that she was not alone. Halting, she turned.

In a doorway to the turret she had just passed stood Lord Jarrow, watching her.

She had seen him. Not that he had been at pains to conceal his presence, but he had not meant to disturb her. Too late. There was nothing for it but to speak.

Miss Faraday had halted, but she made no attempt to approach him. Jarrow gave an inward sigh and made towards her. He had known her but a few short hours, but already he could tell at once that she was in an uncertain mood. As he neared, he tried to read her face. She was eyeing him with complete assurance, but there was stiffness in her carriage. He plunged straight in.

‘Are you wishing to leave?’

Her brows rose. Such hauteur! It could not but amuse him, no matter how misplaced. But then Miss Faraday was no ordinary governess. That much he had deduced at the outset.

‘Why should you think so, sir? Nothing has occurred since I saw you last to change my intention.’

Jarrow smiled. ‘I am glad to hear it. But you will not persuade me that there has been nothing to disturb you.’

She hesitated, but only for a moment. She gave a decisive nod. ‘Since you have guessed it, sir, let me not beat about the bush.’

‘I am all ears, Miss Faraday.’

Nell was almost betrayed into a laugh, but she stifled it. She had been excessively annoyed, and here was the opportunity to unburden herself.

‘This morning I was privileged to have Henrietta in my schoolroom for the better part of an hour, and no more. Admittedly we began late, for I overslept. But even taking that into account, it is absurd to expect me
to make any progress if the child is not to have lessons in the afternoon at all.’

To her further annoyance, Lord Jarrow did not even respond to her complaint. His brows had drawn together.

‘How did you get on?’

‘We cannot be said to have got on at all!’ retorted Nell. ‘That is what I am trying to tell you. Is it not possible for—’

Jarrow interrupted her without ceremony. ‘Miss Faraday, you are the child’s governess. If you wish her to come back to you after her nap—I gather that is where she is now?—then that is what she will do. There is no necessity to drag me into the business.’

It gave him a curious sense of satisfaction to see her nonplussed. She said nothing for a moment, but he could almost see thoughts revolving in her head.

‘This,’ she said at last, ‘becomes interesting, sir.’

He bit back a laugh. ‘Indeed? How so?’

Nell gathered her forces. Let them establish this immediately, for it would make her life a good deal easier.

‘The nurse Duggan, my lord, gave me the impression that she is the arbiter of what Henrietta may do. Now you tell me that I must decide. Were I in the nurse’s place, I should certainly resent interference from one who necessarily knows less than I, particularly in a case such as this. I should expect her to take my advice. On the other hand, it is unlikely that Nurse Duggan and myself will easily reach agreement upon any point.’

She thought there was a good deal of comprehension in his eyes. Yet there was also a gleam suspiciously ironic.

‘Tactfully put, Miss Faraday. Let us find a compromise. I will tell Duggan that Hetty is to attend school at
your pleasure. After all, she is no longer a baby, and some change in her routine is to be expected.’

‘But?’

He noted the returning stiffness. She was no fool! He could not help a rueful note from creeping into his voice. ‘I confess my reliance is a great deal upon Duggan. The arrangement is not ideal, but frankly, Miss Faraday, I don’t know what I would do without her.’

‘The matter is now perfectly plain, sir.’

Jarrow frowned. ‘You are angry.’

Disconcerted, Nell looked quickly away. He saw too much! Abruptly recollecting his distressing bereavement, with all that Mrs Whyte had let fall, she felt immediately guilty. Who was she to be causing him difficulties? Naturally he must value Duggan above herself, for she had done nothing yet to demonstrate her usefulness. Besides, she was perfectly capable of dealing with the nurse herself. She forced a brief smile.

‘Not at all, sir. I quite understand. It was perhaps a little disappointing to have done nothing to further Henrietta’s education.’

‘It is early days, Miss Faraday. You have barely begun.’ He wondered if it was too soon to ask, but anxiety got the better of him. ‘What did you think of her?’

The forest eyes instantly clouded and his heart sank. Then she had seen it too! He could not bring himself to speak, and waited in a species of torture for what she might say.

Nell saw the withdrawal, and sympathy stirred her response. ‘The truth, Lord Jarrow, is that I do not know. I found her a trifle unnerving at first—she stared so. But then I was a little heartened when she answered me with sense.’ She saw a quick frown, and hastened to elaborate. ‘I do not mean to imply that she talked nonsense. Far
from it. Only her responses were out of place to start with. That is not uncommon in young children, and certainly she did find some apt answers. But I will not conceal from you that the task of teaching her is not likely to be an easy one.’

He was looking a little less tense, Nell thought with relief. In the broad light of day, the lean features were decidedly less worn and his true age was more apparent. His voice sounded easier.

‘I had anticipated as much. She will no doubt prove a handful.’

‘I suspect the problem will be to get her attention to remain for long enough upon one thing.’ Nell gave him a smile she hoped was reassuring. ‘There are ways to counteract it, my lord.’

‘Such as?’

Was he interested? Or did that dry note betoken scepticism?

‘It is best with a butterfly mind to engage in a frequent change of subject. The moment one detects inattention, it is time to turn to something else.’ His aspect did not change, and Nell felt compelled to offer more. ‘If that does not work, one may allow the child’s interest to lead, introducing several possibilities and letting her choose. Or else there is the tried and tested method of endless repetition, which I do not favour. It is much more productive to go over something a second time on another occasion rather than to bore the poor child into a stupor by going over and over the same thing.’ Warming to her theme, she found various precepts she had been taught flooding into her mind. ‘And if all else fails, one may set aside the primer and teach through fairy stories. Which, since your daughter mistook me for a princess, might well work in her case. Otherwise—’

Jarrow threw up a hand in laughing protest. ‘No more, I beg of you! It is clear that your head has been stuffed to bursting at your Seminary with endless schemes for a pathway to success.’

Her features lightened in a smile of such warmth that he almost lost track of her answer. His mind caught on something she had said earlier. Henrietta had thought she was a princess—due to the hair, no doubt. It glowed in the sunlight, a very halo about her head. She was not beautiful in the conventional sense. Not like Julietta, whose lush enchantment had made his senses swim on that far-off accursed day of their first meeting. But the hair, together with her unusual eyes, had a quality of making this girl appear almost angelic. An epithet that could not have been less apt! Miss Faraday had far too strong a personality to be mistaken for an angel.

Jarrow became aware that she had ceased speaking, and was regarding him with question in her face. He brushed away the stray thoughts. But the words that came out of his mouth had no volition.

‘You are such an innocent! Why in the world are you here? Why are you not looking after some innocuous young females in a country mansion where your comfort would be assured? Is it the challenge, or what?’

Utterly taken aback, Nell could only gaze at him. He had read her so accurately! Yet they were scarce more than strangers. It did not occur to her to deny it. Indeed it felt natural to confide her fears to him.

‘Am I too ambitious? Last night when I arrived, I thought I had been taken at fault. My stupid pride! Only now that I have met her—’

‘You have changed your mind?’ he broke in swiftly.

‘Oh, no, Lord Jarrow. The reverse! I want to help her—if I can.’

He found the little smile she gave unbearably touching. ‘But you don’t know that you can.’

She shook her head. ‘If only your fears may be unfounded! She is so very beautiful. How shocking it would be if her mind is indeed disordered!’

‘Only because she is beautiful.’

Startled at the sudden harshness, Nell’s eyes flew to his. ‘Of course not.’

There was a spark in the dark gaze. ‘But her beauty makes it the more shocking, does it not? Don’t I know it!’

Bitterness was rife in his voice and the furrows deepened in his countenance. Dismayed, Nell withdrew a step or two. What intimacy they had briefly shared was shattered. How changeable a man he was! And she had allowed herself to forget it. Although she was at a loss to know how she was to guess what careless remark of hers might set him off. Best to leave him now, before she laid more coals on the fire. She dropped a curtsy and turned away.

‘Miss Faraday!’

Nell checked, looking back. ‘Yes, Lord Jarrow?’

He brooded for a moment, his eyes hard and unyielding. What now? Nell waited, conscious of a faint motion in her veins that she did her best to ignore.

The breath sighed out of him, and his gaze dropped. ‘Nothing.’ Curt, and dismissive. ‘I should not have engaged you.’

Indignation rose like thunder in her breast, all but choking her. She watched him walk away, the door to the turret closing behind him with the snap of finality.

There was tension in the dining room. To Nell’s consternation and—to her shame!—her secret relief, Toly
Beresford was absent. Lord Jarrow had given the brief explanation that he was dining out with nearby acquaintances. His tone had been stiff. With resentment? Nell could not judge.

‘I trust it will not discompose you to be dining tête-à-tête?’

‘You trust wrong, sir,’ said Nell instantly. ‘It is excessively improper.’

He had shot her a look that might indeed have discomposed a woman of lesser nerve. Nell had thrust down on the flutter at her stomach. Lord Jarrow had become acid.

‘Your virtue is in no danger, ma’am. But, if you wish for it, I shall ask Keston to have Mrs Whyte come up.’

Nell was immediately ashamed of herself. There was no question of troubling the housekeeper, who must be at her wit’s end down in the kitchens. She lifted her gaze and looked her employer in the eye.

‘That will not be necessary. Your butler’s presence will afford protection enough.’

She was treated to one of his ironic glances. ‘Let us hope he will prove able to curb my unnatural desires.’

Silence reigned through the first course. But by the time Keston had removed what remained of the fresh beef roast, along with a selection of plain boiled vegetables that had been served alongside, Nell had become acutely conscious. Her conduct was disgraceful! What the Duck would say she dared not think. The wonder was that his lordship had not thrown her out on her ear!

While the butler passed from the table to the door, collecting the next set of dishes from whoever it was outside—the unfortunate Grig, Nell supposed—she debated what she should say to Lord Jarrow. An apology was certainly in order. She had thoroughly overstepped
the mark, and he had every right to be as surly as a bear. Merely because he had pokered up this afternoon—leaving her, it had to be admitted, positively fuming!—was no reason for Nell to forget her manners.

From the array of fruits offered, she selected an apple, taking time over peeling the skin. She saw that his lordship ate nothing from the second course, instead brooding darkly over his wine. Nell’s guilt increased. What was she about to be adding to his distresses in that shabby way?

She waited for the butler to withdraw into the background. Then she took a breath, trying to quiet the faint tattoo that would keep erupting in her veins.

‘Lord Jarrow?’

Over the rim of his glass, his eyes looked towards her. They wore a sombre expression. He did not speak, and Nell’s courage almost failed her. The apology was hovering on her tongue. Why could she not say it?

He was waiting. She must say something! Her usual calm had deserted her. Her mind swung wildly this way and that, catching at some point of observation. She chose at random, the first thing that entered her head.

‘It—it struck me today—when I was walking by your battlements…’