A Governess for the Brooding Duke(22)

After all, in all other respects, he had simply spoken to her as a member of staff, nothing more.



As she entered the schoolroom and saw the two little girls sitting in silence as their nurse gazed out of one of the great windows, she put the whole thing to the back of her mind. Clearly, Mrs Wells had given up the pretense of teaching the children and had reverted to doing what it was she likely had done day in day out since the last governess had left them.



As Georgette silently surveyed her, she thought Mrs Wells to be of a type. She was a jaded servant at the top end of the scale who was keen to make mischief and deliver spite merely for the sake of it. Perhaps such amusements were the only thing which stopped a person of low intellect from growing most terribly bored.



Suddenly feeling her assessment of the older woman to be a little harsh, Georgette let out a sigh and rather wished that things could be different. When she closed the door, the nurse spun around, clearly forced out of her reverie by the sound.



“Forgive me, Mrs Wells,” Georgette said although, in truth, she rather thought she was apologizing for her unkind thoughts rather than for startling the woman.



“His Grace is finished with you, then?” she said, her surprise seeming to make her a little more agreeable if only for a moment.



“Yes, it was rather a short meeting,” Georgette said and attempted a warmer smile than any she had treated the woman to thus far.



“And he made it plain that no Welsh words are to be spoken?” she said, with a little sneer which made Georgette regret her moment of weak magnanimity.



“No, it was not mentioned,” Georgette said and told herself she was not lying.



After all, the Duke had said nothing about Welsh words. He had not mentioned the Welsh language at all; rather, he had simply spoken of the English language spoken in a Welsh accent.



Of course, Georgette knew by instinct that the surly Duke was intent upon eradicating Welsh in all its forms from the little girls’ voices and vocabulary, but she was not yet keen to give the dreadful nurse an inch.



“That is unusual. He is normally most keen to see that his will is done in that respect,” the nurse said, and the spiteful set of her face let Georgette know that the woman did not believe her for a moment.



“Well, perhaps that is a conversation for another day,” Georgette responded, keeping her voice calm and hoping that Mrs Wells would not seek to cause her some trouble on account of it all.



“Oh, I am sure of it,” she said, looking ever more self-satisfied.



“Indeed,” Georgette said lightly. “Well, if there is nothing else, Mrs Wells, perhaps the children and I ought to set about our studies for the day. After all, it is now half past ten, and it really is time that we were doing something constructive.”



“Very well,” the nurse said and began to march across the room towards the door, clearly not keen on the idea of having just been dismissed by the new governess. However, since the children were very much in Georgette’s charge at that hour of the day, there was little that Mrs Wells could do about it.



Mrs Wells opened the door and walked through it without another word, pulling it rather sharply closed behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, Georgette saw little Ffion jump at the noise and wondered just how much these two little children had gone through since they had arrived at Draycott Hall.



She had yet to discover exactly what the children were to the Duke and knew only that they were not his own children. In truth, the Duke being based in Oxfordshire meant that she knew very little about him. Undoubtedly, he would be a regular visitor to London, presumably keeping a home there also as most titled aristocracy of his standing did. However, it was clear that they would not have known the same people nor mixed in the same circles, and the fact that she knew so little about him was hardly surprising.



“Well, girls, since we do not have very much time until luncheon arrives, perhaps we should just settle down and get to know a little about each other,” Georgette said with a big smile as she sat down at the table with the little blonde girls. When neither of them responded, Georgette continued, “And perhaps it would be better if we simply began our lessons tomorrow, instead.”



Neither of the girls spoke, but Eleri nodded vigorously.



“So, you told me before that you come from Beddgelert,” Georgette said, careful to pronounce it Bethgelert, just as Eleri had done earlier.



The little girls smiled, and Georgette knew she had found a way to gain their trust. Also, she thought it might help her to establish exactly who the little girls were and why it was they had been left in the care of a taciturn Duke who clearly did not want them in his home.