A Governess for the Brooding Duke(39)
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Georgette said, wondering at his sudden turn in manners. Still, she felt rather more comfortable and somewhat more confident in herself now that she had been treated with a modicum of respect.
“So, tell me, how do the children get on?”
“In the last week, Your Grace, Eleri and Ffion have done tremendously well. We have made some rather nice advances into the alphabet, and they have both taken to it extraordinarily quickly, especially since they are so very young.”
“I am very pleased to hear that, Miss Darrington. Until now, it is my understanding that they have not taken particularly well to the preliminaries of learning to read.”
“It is true to say then, Your Grace, that they have excelled themselves this last week. I find them most attentive and interested, not to mention extremely willing.”
“And how do you find their arithmetic?”
“Your Grace, at little more than four years of age, their arithmetic is, as yet, quite non-existent,” Georgette spoke gently and fervently hoped that she did not sound as if she were patronizing the Duke in any way. That a man should imagine that any child of just four years would be well versed in arithmetic was quite astonishing to her. “But we have made great progress in learning numbers, Your Grace. They have very quickly recognized how to progress in counting without having to commit all of the numbers to memory.”
“Meaning?” the Duke said, leaning over towards her a little, his eyebrows raised in a way which suggested that he was suddenly very interested.
“Meaning, Your Grace, that when they get to twenty, for instance, they realize that they are then simply counting from one to nine, and then when they get to thirty, they count from one to nine again. I have been able to teach them to memorize the tens, if you will. So, they have memorized twenty, thirty, forty, et cetera. Once they reach those numbers, they logically progress through the next nine numbers until they reach their next milestone.”
“Oh, I see,” the Duke said, nodding.
“To a fully-grown man, Your Grace, it might seem like such a minor achievement. But I think we all forget a time before we knew how to count and how to read, and we rather forget what a great effort it takes to achieve the basics.”
“Indeed, I am quite sure that you are right in that, Miss Darrington,” he said and leaned back in his chair again. “And I must say quite openly that this is far better progress than I had expected. In truth, it rather takes the children a little while to settle in with a new governess, so I must congratulate you in your efforts, Miss Darrington.”
“I thank you, Your Grace,” Georgette said and felt strangely pleased by his praise.
The idea that she had been so very pleased by his good opinion had her unsettled her a little. After all, she had been quite determined that she would think nothing of the Duke of Draycott after his performance in the church.
However, she had been truly surprised by his interest in quite how far the girls had progressed. After all, he seemed to care nothing for them, and so she thought it would likely follow that he cared little for how they truly progressed in their education. But perhaps he simply wanted them to be well educated for the same reason that he did not want them to be heard speaking in their own accent in church. Perhaps it was simply for the sake of appearances and nothing more.
“And they have responded to you well, Miss Darrington?” he went on, his tone rather businesslike.
“I believe so, Your Grace. They are very sweet natured children and keen to please.” Georgette thought of the nurse berating the children so badly and how Ffion had gone on to respond in English when Georgette herself had spoken in Welsh. Perhaps the poor little things were a little too keen to please.
“Is something wrong, Miss Darrington?” he said, snapping her out of her world for a moment.
“Yes, Your Grace … I am rather afraid that there is,” Georgette said before she had a chance to stop herself.
Immediately she had spoken, Georgette’s hands felt clammy, and her cheeks flushed.
“And that is?” the Duke spoke in a rather bored sort of voice, almost as if he fully expected that Georgette would be complaining about burnt toast and cold water.
“I have some rather serious concerns about Mrs Wells’ treatment of the children. She is really rather a bully towards them, Your Grace, and it is upsetting them greatly.”
“You mean she chastises them?” he said, narrowing his blue eyes as he looked at her.
“It is my opinion, Your Grace, that her behaviour rather goes beyond simple chastisement. I came upon her the other day berating them in private, Your Grace, and I thought it most terribly cruel.”