“No. Mrs Wells, their nurse, has made them ready early this morning so that they might meet you.”
“So, presumably this particular plan was well-known yesterday?” Georgette said, feeling her annoyance begin to rise.
It was clear to her that when the housekeeper had left her yesterday afternoon, she had been perfectly well aware that she would be returning at half past eight the following morning and not just before ten o’clock as she had intimated. It was another little act clearly designed to make Georgette nervous and flustered and rather harried by the time she was taken before her new employer. It was a little act which had clearly been decided between the housekeeper and the nurse rather than something that the Duke had decreed.
“I beg your pardon, Miss Darrington?” The housekeeper looked a little unsettled, and her face very much suggested one who had been found out.
“It matters not, for I am ready in any case,” Georgette said, deciding that she would not continue the argument any further.
After all, she had no need. As far as Georgette was concerned, her point had been made without any fuss. She would meet the nurse and the children and remain calm for the planned visit to the Duke. If the housekeeper had been told to have her there by ten o’clock, then Georgette knew that she would arrive on time. After all, if they arrived late to the Duke, it would undoubtedly be the housekeeper herself who was in hot water with their master, and not Georgette.
Georgette rose to her feet and, calmly walking past Mrs Griffin, took her breakfast tray out and laid it on the table in the corridor. She returned to the room and gave the housekeeper a watery smile.
“Well, I am ready when you are, Mrs Griffin.”
“Right,” Mrs Griffin said, clearly disappointed not to have caused great consternation in the heart of the newest member of the household. “If you would care to follow me, I shall take you directly to the schoolroom.”
“How very kind, Mrs Griffin,” Georgette responded without a hint of warmth in her tone.
Chapter 6
Georgette had been careful to make an absolute note of every turn they took on their way to the schoolroom. She would not leave herself in the position of having to ask for directions ever again.
The schoolroom, when they reached it, was really rather delightful. It was a much bigger room than Georgette had been expecting, and she could imagine herself quite content to spend her days in it. It was painted in a very pale lemon yellow with every piece of skirting and door and window frame painted white. The drapes were rather golden and in a light brocade fabric which did not detract from the light and bright feel of the room whatsoever.
The windows were numerous and gave out onto the rear of the great mansion, onto grounds which were as spectacular at the back as they were at the front. What made the view even better was the fact that Georgette could see clear across to the hills and the woodlands, some near, some distant. It was quite breathtaking, and she thought it a view that she would never tire of looking at, even though she thought herself quite a determined town dweller.
In the very center of the windows was a great glazed double door, leading straight out onto a small flagstoned area. At that time of year, Georgette thought the arrangement a most perfect one and already had it in mind to take the children outside for a portion of the day to learn a little about nature and to keep them alert.
The schoolroom itself did not contain little desks for the children, but rather one great table at which the governess and her pupils were expected to sit together. The very fact was highlighted by the sight of a woman she presumed to be the nurse and two small and very fair-haired little girls who were already sitting at it. The nurse did not look up when they entered but continued with some seemingly clumsy attempt at some sort of lesson with the children.
Having already prepared herself for a certain amount of rudeness, Georgette looked away from the table and surveyed the rest of the room. There was a large stone fireplace, larger even than the greatest of the fireplaces in her father’s home in London. The iron grate was truly enormous and was set, although it had not been lit. In truth, with the sun full up, the day was unlikely to find itself cold enough to need a fire.
On either side of the great fireplace were two high-backed armchairs, each covered in the same golden brocade as the drapes had been made from. There was a low and rather ornate little oak table between the two chairs, seemingly ideal for the placement of a tea tray.
A little further back from the chairs was a small couch which looked neat and just a little uncomfortable in a very pale blue velvet. All in all, the little seating area around the fire was very pleasing to Georgette, and she fully determined to make the little schoolroom her very own. After all, now that she was there to teach the children, there would be no need for the sort of clumsy lesson that their nurse was currently giving them, and therefore no need for the nurse to be present.