Titus was waiting in the study. Mr. Winter had graciously vacated it for the morning, giving him the privacy he needed to catch up on his correspondence. He had called in at the office whilst on his way to pay for the chair, finding a number of new requests for assistance waiting for him. Mrs. Cartwright had been surprised to see him, woken by his arrival as she napped in a corner. Suitably contrite after being admonished for her slothfulness, she was left with strict instructions to work through the figures and organise the annual accounts, a job onerous enough to keep her alert and busy for the rest of the week.

Titus had laughed to himself as he thought about her trying to make sense of his handwriting. He glanced back through the window as he left. She was already asleep. Not surprised, he left her to it, making his way to the bank to retrieve the funds needed to pay for the chair.

He’d taken the letters back to the house with him, waiting for an opportunity to deal with them. There was a second request from the Dubois family, begging him to change his mind as their younger daughter was becoming unmanageable. He was still deciding how to more politely word the phrase, “Stop asking me, you clots” when someone knocked on the door of the study.

“Come in,” he called out, folding the letter as the door opened and Rose walked inside.

“You wanted to see me, Papa,” Rose said, standing with her hands behind her back, her feet pointing inwards, wriggling her hips from left to right just enough to make him want to leap over the table and kiss her.

“I did. We’re three days into the seven days I intend to remain here and I think it’s time to decide what you want to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I think we’ve both gotten a little confused by this entire process.”

“I’m not confused, Papa.”

“Well, I am but how you answer the next question should resolve that for me.”

Rose stood waiting in silence, looking as if she were desperate to start fidgeting.

“Do you want to grow up and be the adult your parents demand or do you want to stay little?”

He waited with baited breath for her answer. She pouted as she thought, a finger on her bottom lip. “I’m not sure,” she said at last. “I want to please you all but I don’t know how. Must I decide? Can’t you decide for me, Papa?”

“Sadly, this is the one thing you must choose for yourself. At dinner tonight, you will find me waiting in the dining room. In your bedroom, you will find a dress for a grown up and a dress for a little. Decide which outfit you think most appropriate.”

“Must I choose?”

“You must. I cannot know how to proceed unless I know exactly what you want to get out of this experience. You are dismissed.”

“Yes, Papa.”

He watched her go before sinking back in his chair, his mind thinking back to his previous students. Some of them had fallen for him, that was true, but he had never fallen for one of them. He had never spent his free time thinking about them, not like Rose. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. She had taken over his mind so quietly, he had hardly noticed it happening.

But now most of his time was spent thinking about her, thinking about what it might be like to slide inside her, to take her from behind, to come inside her. His member twitched at the thought, warning him that his ardour could not be contained much longer. If she were to turn him down, he must leave. He did not trust himself to remain in the house if he could not have her.

He found Mr. and Mrs. Winter in the drawing room together. Mrs. Winter was sewing by the window, making the most of the bright summer sun to cast a light on her work. Mr. Winter was in an armchair, half hidden behind an enormous leather bound book.

“Interesting work,” Titus said, nodding towards him.

“You know Sophocles?”

“One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life. That word is love.”

“Very good. Nobody likes the man who brings bad news.”

“Touché. Men of ill judgment oft ignore the good that lies within their hands until they have lost it.”

“I remember Lavinia’s father telling me that one.”

“Obadiah!” Mrs. Winter snapped. “That is hardly appropriate.”

“I am sorry, my dear. Now, do you bring bad news, Mr. Burlingham? You look a trifle surly.”

“Not at all. I come to make a request.”

“A request? And what request might that be?”

“I wish to begin the next stage of Rose’s tuition. To do that, I need you both to leave the house this evening. I ask you to put your trust in me that this request is made for Rose’s benefit.”

Mrs. Winter put down her sewing. “I am not sure I am comfortable leaving my daughter alone in the house with you.”

“Her nanny will act as her chaperone, of course. You have nothing to fear.”

Titus felt a strange sense of guilt as they reluctantly agreed to take dinner in town that evening. It was the first time he had lied to them and it didn’t sit right with him. It had to be done though. Telling them he was beginning the next stage in Rose’s tuition was far better than the alternative. He wondered just how they might react if he told them he wanted them out of the house so he could take Rose to bed and make her his own.

Only if she chooses to remain little, he told himself as he left Mr. and Mrs. Winter and returned to the study. If she appears at dinner in the little dress, I shall make her mine for good, I shall own her; I shall possess her; I shall worship her. If she comes downstairs looking like a respectable lady, I shall accept defeat of my urges but victory of my task, bittersweet as that victory will be. It’s all up to her now, everything that happens from here on in depends on her, her choice, her decision.

He realised he was nervous. He was so used to predicting how his students would behave in any given situation and now for the very first time, he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen.