Henry blinked. “You what?”
“I needed someone immediately, and Tessa… she responded well to her. It felt like an opportunity.”
Henry stared at him for a long moment, then burst into incredulous laughter. “Only you would hire a governess because your daughter hugged her at a festival.”
Wilhelm grunted, refusing to rise to the bait.
Henry reined his horse closer. “So. What else?”
Wilhelm shot him a dark look. “She has… opinions.”
Henry laughed outright. “Oh no. A woman with thoughts. How terrifying.”
Wilhelm glared. “Henry.”
“All right, all right,” Henry said, raising both hands in mock surrender. “Does your sulking have anything to do with the new governess?”
Wilhelm’s grip tightened around the reins. “I am not sulking.”
“So it is about her,” Henry said brightly. “Excellent. I have been waiting for some gossip.”
“We are notgossiping.”
Henry snorted. “Wilhelm, every time a woman under the age of fifty enters your household, something dramatic happens. A resignation. A small fire in the schoolroom. A governess fleeing in the night. Frankly, I am surprised the new one has survived the first day.”
“She has,” Wilhelm said, though the words came out waspish and harsher than intended.
Henry’s eyes widened with mock astonishment. “Remarkable. And she is the one causing this face?”
“I do not have a face.”
“You do,” Henry insisted. “You have four distinct faces. This one is the ‘I am troubled but would rather swallow nails than speak of it’ face.”
Wilhelm breathed out through his nose. “Your observations are unnecessary.”
“And yet accurate,” Henry said, undeterred. “So. Tell me. What is troubling you?”
Wilhelm clenched his jaw. “The new governess… Miss Watton… frustrates me.”
“Ah,” Henry breathed, as if savoring the word. “Now we are making progress. In what way?”
“Every way.”
Henry waited.
“I hired her for her instant connection to Tessa, and for her qualifications as a tutor, of course,” Wilhelm said, forcing his voice into something steadier. “Her methods are unconventional. She challenges everything. And?—”
“Are her methods effective?”
Wilhelm pursed his lips. “Yes.”
Henry grinned. “Wilhelm, most men would call that a relief. You have had a string of governesses who obeyed so meticulously that they became stiff as boards.”
“At least they listened.”
“And yet none stayed,” Henry reminded gently.
Silence followed, because Wilhelm knew Henry was right, and yet he hated the truth of it.
