It was at the tolling of the grandfather clock in the hallway beyond them that Matilda realised she was running late. “I think I ought to hurry downstairs. I should not keep the Duke and his daughter waiting.”
Helen’s eyes lit up with a little mischief and excitement at her words and she nudged her with her elbow even as they headed from the room, “Also, congratulations on such a good day that you were invited to dinner with the family!”
Matilda’s cheeks blushed at that. She was not entirely sure whether being invited to dinner was something to be proud of or not, but she had to admit it definitely made her feel good to think about it.
Arriving in the hallway at the bottom of the staircase, Matilda found the Duke awaiting her. Though she glanced quickly around for Lady Amy, she was entirely certain that she was not yet there and a part of her worried that somehow, in the time it had taken her to converse with Helen and get downstairs, the girl had entirely changed her mind and decided to go back to her usual rebellious self.
Yet as Matilda reached the bottom of the stairs, the Duke admitted, “Lady Amy awaits us in the dining room. I wanted to escort you in.”
Matilda instantly started to blush. She had never been escorted anywhere by a duke before. Though she had worked for many noble families, she had never been treated in such a friendly manner as this.
“Thank you, Your Grace.” She smiled at him. “I do hope that I have not put you out.”
“Of course not, Miss Percival. After all you have done today, I wished to show my gratitude,” he admitted and offered her his elbow. Mr Burns, who was standing close to the door of the dining room, raised an eyebrow though quickly averted his gaze as the Duke led Matilda past.
Matilda could not say that she blamed the old man. It was not exactly a common thing for a duke to escort a governess into his dining room as if she were an honoured guest.
The moment that they entered, Matilda smiled warmly, relieved that Lady Amy had remembered her manners in quickly pushing herself to her feet where she was sitting awaiting them at the table.
“Miss Percival, I am so pleased that you could join us,” Lady Amy said sweetly, glancing up to offer Matilda an almost embarrassed smile.
“Please, Lady Amy, call me Matilda,” she responded just as warmly with another smile, slipping her hand from the Duke’s elbow even as he moved to pull out the chair opposite his daughter for her to sit. “And it is I who is honoured to join you.”
“Then you must just call me Amy, please. I insist!” the little lady smiled back at her and Matilda was certain she heard a sharp intake of breath from the girl’s father, though she was not sure if it was disgust at his daughter being so informal or the fact that he was in shock as to how she was so comfortable with her new governess where all others had failed.
When Matilda glanced at the Duke, he smiled warmly and gestured her into the chair he had pulled out. “Please, Matilda, sit.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” she said politely, still feeling quite unsure as to how she had come to be sharing a meal with the Duke himself.Best not to question it,she decided even as she slipped gracefully into the chair and was astonished when he helped her to push it into the dining table.
Now that she sat, she was also quite surprised at the beauty of the dining room itself. Though it was not the first time she had seen it, it was the first time she had seen it in full dinner time glory. The table was decorated with a white tablecloth and a red centrepiece cloth.
There were candlesticks decorating right down the centre of the table even though they were only using end. Platters with silver covers had already been laid out before them and the scent of food wafted even from beneath them, making Matilda’s mouth water.
For the first time she realised just how hungry she was and when she looked at Amy, she could see the signs that she felt the same. They had been so distracted by their learning that afternoon that they had entirely forgotten to eat.
The Duke took to his own seat the head of the table and the moment that he did, Mr Burns seemed to appear out of nowhere with several other footmen to pour wine and uncover the food. Even as the men began to serve food onto the plates of the three sitting at the table, the Duke asked, “So tell me, Amy, what have you been learning today?”
“Oh, all sorts, Father!” Amy responded, sounding quite enthused and Matilda held her breath, wondering how the Duke might react toward the subjects she had chosen to share with his daughter that day. “Like, did you know, father, that swans mate for life?”
At the question, the Duke offered Matilda a curious look. The governess’ cheeks started to heat slightly with embarrassment, wondering how such a question might actually be taken from the Duke. Yet, when he returned to look at his daughter, he was smiling, “I did not know that.”
“Then did you also know that a group of crows is called a murder, Father?” Amy continued, looking quite pleased with herself, taking an absentmindedly bite of the food upon her fork.
Matilda tried to focus upon her own food until the Duke asked, “Was all the learning you did to do with animals?”
Please have remembered all the other things we learned about!Matilda prayed, crossing her fingers beneath the table. The last thing she wanted was for the Duke to believe that she had been filling his daughter’s head with nonsense all afternoon.
“Oh, yes, Father,” Amy insisted with a very enthusiastic nod. “I learned that we have several different apple tree sub-species in our orchard.”
Matilda’s belief that Amy had taken in anything important was slowly starting to fade and yet the Duke did not seem to be growing angry or frustrated. He listened to his daughter talk of animals, plants, and all other manner of nature’s beauty intently, offering several comments and even a joke or two.
Then, finally, Amy admitted, “Then we did some maths and for every equation that I got right, Miss Percival taught me about a new animal!”
“Considering how much information you have given me on animals this evening, I assume your mathematics lesson went well?” the Duke asked with a small hint of laughter and Amy smirked proudly back at him, nodding with great happiness. Matilda was more than a little happy to see the expression on her young charge’s face.
“We did the same with knitting, though for every row I knitted, Miss Percival taught me something about plants!” Amy exclaimed, sounding just as happy about the plants as she had about the animals. “Mr Burns, please will you bring Father his present out?”
Matilda could not stop herself from smiling as the butler came forth with the brown and white striped scarf that they had knitted together that afternoon. It was folded neatly in the palms of the butler’s hands as if he had laid it carefully out on the serving table awaiting Lady Amy’s instructions to bring it forth.