“Will you tell me why she was bleeding?”
Adeline shook her head firmly and Winston felt the affront that only a lord denied what he sees as his rights can feel. He met Adeline's eyes. Steady. Unblinking.
“Will you swear that it is nothing that need concern me?”
The trust he was offering felt like a step taken in the dark.
“I swear it. It is nature, not illness or injury.”
The way she looked at him was so direct that he knew she was telling him what he wanted to know, telling him without breaking her promise to Louisa. A shaft of light through the dark. Winston understood. He blushed.
“Good Lord!” he whispered.
Then, he felt ashamed and pricked by his honor.
“I apologize.”
“Noted.”
“But not accepted?”
“For the moment, it is noted. I would rather talk of Louisa.”
Why do I feel a sting that she does not forgive me? Why does it matter?
“Of course.”
“My experience with my mother tells me that she will sleepwalk again and to the same place.”
He nodded, once, slowly. “We will be ready in that case. The door can be kept latched.”
“No bright lamps on the stairs that might lure her. The bed should be more persuasive than the night,” Adeline said.
It was a sound plan and showed Adeline’s level-headed competence as well as her knowledge. Winston had to admit to himself that he was impressed. Adeline looked away, biting her lip. When she looked back, there was a question in her eyes.
“We?” she said.
“Yes. We will all need to be ready,” Winston replied, lost in thoughts of how to keep his daughter safe.
“But I have resigned,” Adeline said, quietly.
Winston had half-turned from her, following the path of his own thinking. Now he whirled. Adeline lifted her chin, firming her lips as though preparing for battle.
“You will withdraw your resignation,” Winston commanded.
“That is an order you cannot give.”
“I just did.”
“It is an order I am under no obligation to obey.”
Winston clenched his fists, feeling the tightrope on which he walked. A blast of temper might just blow Adeline further away from him.
“I…would like you to continue to be Louisa’s governess,” he said, slowly.
“For the remainder of the month?”
“Yes, or until another is found.”
