When the girl turned to look at her, Matilda quickly looked away so not to make her feel uncomfortable.Some gentle urging is all she needs,Matilda decided, certain that half the governesses who had passed through Thistledown Manor were likely the strict, military, my-way-is-the-only-way type.
"So then, what do you think to reading one of these?" Matilda asked when she had finally recovered herself entirely. She pulled all the books out from the basket she had brought with her and laid them out on the grass in front of Amy.
"Those are all very well," Amy said politely and Matilda was sure that the sharp edge was leaving the girl, "But I have already read them all."
"I imagine that with your love of reading you have likely read almost every book in your father's library," Matilda commented and she saw the shock in Amy's eyes.
"Why, yes, I suppose I have," Amy said with a deep and regretful sigh. Matilda could understand her disappointment. After every book there was always a need for more, a need to know what happened next or to find a new world to dive into.
"What do you say that we read here for an hour and then we return to the drawing room?" Matilda suggested, picking up one of the small books she had brought out. Amy opened her mouth, seemingly to argue, and then closed it again.
"I dislike the work we must do almost as much as you do," Matilda assured her, forcing a deep sigh as she imagined how painful it could be trying to teach a child who did not wish to be taught. "But if you will agree to do an hour or so of schoolwork with me, we can see about asking your father if we can sometime soon buy some new books for the library."
Amy's eyes lit up at that and Matilda felt as though she could see a part of herself in the little girl. It was a great relief to have gotten through to the girl so easily.She is not nearly so bad as everyone has made her out to be!
"I think an hour will not be so bad," Amy admitted, pursing her lips for a moment to choose a book of her own, leaving the first one she had been reading in the basket. Matilda collected up the others and placed them back in the basket to protect them from the sun with a cloth before they both dropped down onto their backs and started to read.
Though all was silent once more, Matilda found that the awkwardness had faded between them, and she was mightily pleased to feel Amy relaxing next to her. She could not help but think,Maybe this will not be such a bad position after all!
Chapter 4
Upon returning home from business in town that evening, Watson was extremely surprised not to find the manor silent. He was even more surprised not to find a weeping governess awaiting him as he had half expected to find. Instead, when Mr Burns opened the front door to him, he found the butler was smiling from ear to ear.
"Burns, what has you in such high spirits?" Watson questioned and almost immediately upon asking it, the sound of laughter was carried to him from down the hall.
Raising an eyebrow, he looked at Burns with suspicion.
"I think perhaps you ought to see for yourself, Your Grace," Burns responded, removing the Duke's coat before gesturing him down the hall in the direction where the laughter was coming from.
"Is that Amy?" he asked himself aloud, even as he began to make his way toward the drawing room. He felt Burns following behind at a distance. Clearly, the butler wished to be there to witness whatever he would find in the drawing room. Standing in the shadow of the doorway, Watson looked into the room, astonished by what he saw.
Sitting there, side by side, with a book between them was his daughter and her governess. The two were so absorbed in their laughter that they did not seem to notice him. Standing utterly still, holding his breath, Watson continued to watch them until he could hold back the questions no longer. "Burns, how long have they been like this?" he whispered to the butler, barely daring to look away in case the scene before him suddenly changed.
"All afternoon, Your Grace," Burns responded, his voice just as quiet as though he too did not wish to disturb them.
It was only as their laughter began to fade that Miss Percival looked up from the book they had been reading together. The moment she saw him standing in the doorway, she jumped up from the couch and dropped into a curtsy, glancing in the direction of the clock on the mantlepiece.
"Your Grace, forgive me. I was unaware of how late it had gotten," she admitted, rising to her feet.
Watson noticed the glance she offered Burns and the butler responded to it openly, "Forgive me, Miss Percival for letting you run over. I did not wish to disturb the two of you."
"Nor did I," Watson added stepping into the room. "I merely came to see how my favourite girl in the entire world is getting on."
The governess' eyes lit up and she smiled warmly at him before turning her gaze upon Amy as if she knew exactly whom he had been talking about.
"Lady Amy, will not you greet your father?" Miss Percival suggested, and Watson gritted his teeth, prepared for the usual silence, and lowered gaze that usually followed an instruction from a governess. He was most shocked indeed when Amy hurried up from her seat and rushed across the room to wrap her arms around him.
""Papa, I have missed you terribly!" Amy exclaimed, squeezing him until he felt as though she were trying to squeeze the shock out of him.
What has happened?he mouthed over his daughter's head to the governess, who stood with a smile of happiness and satisfaction upon her pretty face. She merely shook her head and shrugged as if she had no idea what he was talking about.
"Lady Amy, I am sure that you are famished after all the learning we have done this afternoon," Miss Percival insisted. "Why do you not hurry upstairs to wash for dinner?"
Watson was even more gob smacked when his daughter released him and turned back to her governess to insist, "Oh, Miss Percival, please say you will join us for dinner!"
For a moment, the governess looked just as shocked as he felt. She glanced at him with an enquiring expression before she turned back to Amy, looking as if she were about to protest. Before she could do so, Amy turned back to him and insisted, "Miss Percival ought join us for dinner, ought she not, Papa?"
The hopeful gleam in his daughter's eye made it impossible for him to resist. Never had Amy been interested in inviting her governess to their dinner table. Never had she been interested in spendinganytime with them whenever she did not have to.