Chapter Fifteen
Nicholas, who sat across from Sophie in the carriage, was regarding her with an altogether too somber expression for one so young. She smiled at him. “I hope you enjoy your visit with me to Grey Street. You will have fun, I know.”
He scowled slightly. “As long as you remember that you ain’t allowed to leave me there.”
Leaning slightly forward, she looked directly into his little blue eyes, her heart melting. “You have my word I will not.”
Fear all but radiated from his every pore, although he did seem to relax slightly at her words. “All right. I suppose if Dev trusts ya, I will, too.”
“Thank you. I am determined we shall be good friends, you and I.”
“We can’t be friends. You’re a girl.” Terror was replaced by mortification at the prospect.
“You can certainly be friends with a girl.”
“I can?” A small smile slowly started to spread across his face. “I ain’t had a friend before.”
“Really? But what about on the ship you grew up on?”
Nicholas glanced out the window, his attention momentarily diverted by a flower girl before returning to Sophie. “Nah, them men were all crew of me pa’s. They taught me some really great stuff sometimes, but mostly they were too busy working to play with me. Suppose it would be all right to have a girl as a friend.”
“Perfectly all right.” Sophie laughed.
“Okay then, friend.” He extended his right hand.
Reaching out with her own hand, she shook his. “It’s official,” she said. “So what things did the men teach you?” She was genuinely curious to know.
His eyes lit up in enthusiasm. “They taught me how to hock me spit over the side of the boat. And how to make funny noises with my hands, and how to cuss real bad, and how to fight with my wooden sword.” He brandished the wooden sword that was sitting to his left and waved it in the air.
Sophie laughed again, delighted by the thought of being a mother figure to this effervescent little boy.
“Me pa said I was a natural,” he said with a big grin. Then slowly his grin disappeared. “But I ain’t allowed to do any of that here.” He put the sword back down on the seat next to him.
“Well, perhaps not everything you were taught is suitable in polite society. Though I am sure Devlin could arrange some fencing lessons for you. You would have to use a much thinner sword then you currently have, but you would be able to learn more fighting skills.”
He pursed his lips. “You’re a girl. How do you know about fighting skills?”
“My brother believed in teaching me how to defend myself.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes at her, almost perfectly imitating Devlin. Her fiancé really must spend quite a bit of his time with the boy, in an age where many noble parents chose to shunt most of the responsibility for raising their children to the servants. Perhaps he wasn’t all devil after all. “I ain’t never known a girl that could fight before.”
“I must confess that I’m not a very good fighter,” she began, “but I am rather good with a rapier.”
“What’s a rapier?” he asked.
“It is a very thin sword, used in fencing.”
“Girls don’t know how to use swords.”
“That is what men would have everyone believe, but luckily, my brother thought different.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Your brother sounds all right.”
“Yes, he is.” As annoying and bossy as he could be, she loved her brother greatly.
“So you really gonna come and live with us?”
The change of topic stopped her short. It still seemed so surreal that she was going marry the Duke of Huntington. Particularly now she had agreed to do so within the month, rushing the wedding in exchange for his escorting her to the Crowleys’ to search for Jane.
Funny how quickly one’s life could change in only one day. “Yes, Nicholas,” she answered him. “I am.” How on earth was she going to break the news to Mabel, let alone her brother? Definitely a task she was not looking forward to.
“So does that mean that I don’t need no stinking governess no more?” he asked, an expression of hope lighting up his face.
“No, you will still require a governess to teach you your lessons.”
He kicked his little legs out in frustration. “I hate stupid books. I don’t need to learn nothing.”
He looked angry but scared, and she remembered his earlier comments about reading. “You did say that the words got all jumbled up on the page, did you not?”
“Yeah. So what?”
“Mmm, well, a friend of mine who is a doctor might be able to help minimize the words getting all jumbled.”
“A doctor? I don’t want one of them quacks near me.”
“That is up to you, of course,” she said in a gentle tone. “But what do you want to do when you are all grown up?”
“I’m gonna be a captain like me pa,” he declared.
Sophie tapped her index finger on her chin. “A very good choice. But captains need to be able to read maps and write logs and chart navigational courses. I believe reading and writing are essential skills to learn in order to become a captain.”
His face fell slightly. “I hadn’t thought ’bout all that.”
Reaching across, she used her fingers to clasp the bottom of his chin. She tilted his face up toward her and smiled at him. “I know you have only known me since last night, but I promise, you can trust me. I want to make learning fun and easy for you, and I think my friend Dr. McGuiness might be able to help. He provides medical care for the children at the orphanage, and he has been experimenting with some special glasses, with colored lenses. He says the colors in the lenses can sometimes assist you in focusing better on the page, which in turn helps you to see the letters a little clearer. But you do not have to see him if you do not want to, all right?”
“All right. I might think about it then.”
“Excellent idea,” she replied. “I shall send a note to him and ask about the glasses.” The carriage came to a halt, and she peered out the window.
“We here then?” he asked.
“Actually no, I just need to run an errand first,” she replied. “Would you mind waiting in the carriage for a few moments? I need to speak to someone in that residence.”
“All right.”
The footman opened the door, and she stepped out, looking up at Lord Crowley’s residence. It was an impressive brownstone terrace, though the outside windows showed signs of slight neglect, if the film of dirt built up on the glass was anything to go by. She walked up to the door and rang the bell.
A few moments later, the door opened, and a butler of indeterminable years answered.
“Yes, miss?” he asked, his lips pinched into a scowl.
She handed him her card. “Lady Sophie Wolcott to see Lady Crowley.”
The man squinted at her card and then back at her. If he recognized she was sister to an earl, he gave no indication of it.
“She is not in residence,” came his curt reply as he began to close the door.
“Wait!” Sophie said as she put her hand on the door and held it open. “Might I have a word with you for a moment then?”
He cocked his head, a slightly confused expression on his haughty features. “You want a word with me?”
“Yes,” she said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “You see, I believe that a girl by the name of Jane Thompson used to work here as a chamber maid?”
The butler stiffened and scowled. “It is beneath my station to have anything to do with a chamber maid.”
“My apologies,” she rushed out. “I did not mean to offend, but I must speak with someone who knew Jane.”
“That would be the housekeeper’s department,” the butler enunciated.
“Then might I have a word with her?”
His face stretched into a smile, which looked rather more like a sneer. “I apologize, my lady, but my master would never condone a lady speaking with our housekeeper. It would not be fitting.”
“But it is imperative that I speak with her,” Sophie implored. It might well save her a trip out to the Crowleys’ house party. Because contrary to what she told Devlin, she was not looking forward to the festivities, especially after his warning.
“I shall pass on your card to the Lady of the house.”
“But I mus—”
“Good day,” he said before closing the door on her startled face.
Lovely. Sophie reluctantly walked back to the carriage. Now she would have to attend the notorious house party. Well, at least she would learn what sort of activities went on there, something she’d been rather curious about. And she’d be attending with the most notorious rake of the Ton.
Unaccountably, excitement raced through her at the thought.