Page 41 of The Governess and the Brooding Duke
‘In what sense?’
‘I think she may be having a dalliance with someone else in the household.’
‘What evidence have you of that?’
‘Twice now I have heard the babe crying, and there was no one in his room. I have a concern that she is not wedded to her responsibilities as she should be.’
‘And you are certain she is away because she is engaging in an affair?’
‘No. It is only a feeling that I have.’
‘I will have Mrs Brown speak to her.’
‘Thank you, Your Grace.’
‘Anything else?’
She closed her eyes.
‘Your Grace,’ she said. ‘I do just have a question about the babe. Does he truly not have a name? Only there are times when...’
‘No,’ he said.
That poor child. He was such a pitiable creature. No name, and not even a hint of regret or warmth when his father spoke of him.
‘It does not seem...’
‘It is not your concern.’
‘Sometimes, Your Grace, the child has come close to being my concern, and upon my arrival Mrs Brown and I spoke about what was to be done if ever the wet nurse is indisposed, or not available when need be. It was made quite clear to me that it would fall beneath my area of work, and I take that seriously.’
‘The child does not have a name.’
And he did not go to see the child either.
She felt immense pain in that moment.
She’d avoided the babe, and his own father did as well.
His mother was dead.
The children hated him.
There was tragedy everywhere. In every brick of this house. But life, in her experience, was a great tragedy. No one chose these things. They were not pebbles children collected on a beach. They had been given these burdens to bear, all of them.
These things were inescapable. And ignoring the babe was hardly going to erase the pain in her past.
‘I thought we had agreed that you were to make no more suggestions to me.’
It was easy to be angry at him, but he had lost his wife. It was easy to be angry when she felt like she was bleeding whenever she thought of their loss. It was easy to believe he was a rock wall and nothing more.
She knew it wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.
Because of how he’d held her.
Because of how he’d wanted to protect her.
‘I’m not making a suggestion,’ she said. ‘I’m simply trying to clarify what I am certain is a painful and irregular situation.’
