Felicity made the mistake of glancing at the duke. She almost faltered when she saw the open admiration displayed on his usually impassive face. It made her momentarily ridiculously proud of herself. Shewaslearning to handle the child quite masterfully. But she couldn’t preen in the duke’s presence. That would surely be uncouth and unseemly.
With gestures and waves and a couple nudges, Felicity managed to herd the girl out of her father’s study. He hadn’t even commented on the fact that they were dressed for riding. She was glad. For some reason she couldn’t name, Felicity didn’t want the duke to know she was giving in to her curiosity. Even though he had told her to go ahead and ask in the village, she had gotten the feeling that he didn’t actually want her to stick her nose into it.
“Why didn’t you want me to talk to Father about going to collect my brothers early? They ought to be home with us. In fact, I think they should stay home after the summer and not return to school,” Adelina said forcefully as they walked toward the stables.
Felicity blinked at the girl, wondering for a moment which issue she ought to tackle first. She took a deep breath and hoped she wasn’t about to do the child more harm than good.
“Well, first of all, it wasn’t that I didn’t want you talking to your father, it’s just that he was clearly busy, and we had barged in on him unexpectedly. So, I didn’t think you ought to take up too much of his time. For another thing, you were all but accusing him of not wanting your brothers to come home,” Felicity continued with a frown at her companion. “Did you really mean that? Surely, you know it cannot be true.”
Adelina did not seem appeased.
“He doesn’t seem nearly as excited as I am,” she said with a pout.
Felicity laughed. “It would be difficult for anyone to be as excited as you, Adelina. You’re excited enough for the entire household.”
Adelina laughed but then returned to her worried frown. “So, do you think he wants Gardner and Easton to come home?”
“Of course, he does, my dear,” Felicity answered promptly. “You just have to remember that men don’t get all giddy and excited like girls do. And did you see all those papers on his desk? His mind was somewhere else. He has many things he has to take care of. It would be impossible for him to just drop everything and jump up and down with glee like you would. And to be honest, don’t you think it would look pretty silly if he did?”
Adelina laughed but shook her head. “I don’t think so. It would make me so happy to see him do that.”
Felicity bit her lip and then shrugged. “Well then, you’ll have to ask him to do so when next you see him.”
She allowed a brief silence to develop between them as they waited for the grooms to saddle their horses. But as they began their ride toward the village, Felicity finally asked the question that had been burning in her mind since her arrival. She tried to be nonchalant.
“So, my lady, I feel compelled to ask: what do you have against going to school?”
“What does this question mean,” the girl asked with her nose wrinkled.
Felicity didn’t actually think the girl didn’t understand, and her worry increased.
“You seemed pretty adamant that you want your brothers to be home with you. You said school is dreadful when we were talking about your brothers, but it seems to me that’s a pretty personal opinion. You told your father you don’t want to go to school anymore. That’s why he brought me here to be with you. Why is that?”
“Don’t you want to be here, Jonesy?”
Felicity laughed. “You seem to be quite skilled at avoiding questions you don’t wish to answer, my lady.”
The girl grew silent, and Felicity allowed it to stretch between them for a while, not wishing to press her.
“Do you have brothers or sisters, Jonesy?”
“I do.”
“Don’t you miss them?”
“Of course.”
“Then why did you come here? Shouldn’t you have stayed with them?”
Felicity knew her smile was going to be a little twisted, as it was a complicated situation in her case. But she needed to address the child’s problem.
“We all have to grow up sometime, my dear. My sisters are married. And it was time for me to be a grown up. So, I decided to come here and be with you for a while.”
“Are you going to leave me?”
“Do you want me to?” Felicity couldn’t quite read what the child’s concerns were.
Adelina sighed as though Felicity had turned inordinately stupid. “My mother left. I was lonely at school. I missed my mother, and Father, and my brothers. I just want us to be all together for always.”
“Oh, my dear girl, I know that must have been difficult. Losing your mother is a pain that I can’t even imagine. But you still have your brothers. They just need to get their education, you know. But they’ll be here soon, and you’ll have a wonderful summer together.”
Felicity should have realized it was the child’s grief that was making her reject school. She was probably sent away right after her mother’s death. It seemed so obvious in hindsight. She would have to tell Rathnelly. She only hoped he wouldn’t blame himself.
Adelina had grown sober ,and they continued to ride in silence for a while. But being a sunny dispositioned child, the mood soon passed, and she began to chatter once more making the ride pass quickly, much to Felicity’s relief as she was anxious to get to the village and relieve her curiosity.