The little girl nodded, and all but whispered, “Yes, Mrs. Baynard.”
“Dinner will be in one hour,” the housekeeper said and then immediately left, her heavy black skirts swishing like a cat’s tail as she did so.
Once they were alone, Philippa offered the child a smile. “What is it that you are writing, Elizabeth?”
“A letter,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “To Miss Hawley.”
Philippa pulled out one of the small chairs, “May I?” The little girl nodded, and Philippa sat. “Who is Miss Hawley?”
“My governess before,” the little girl replied absently.
Curious, Philippa probed further. “Before what?”
The child halted her writing and looked up. “Before you, Miss Thomas.”
“You liked Miss Hawley, didn’t you?”
The little girl nodded though somewhat hesitantly.
Hoping to get more than a silent gesture or a few-words answer, Philippa continued. “Why did she leave? Miss Hawley?”
Elizabeth’s gaze was terrifyingly mature in such a young face. But it was her very succinct and matter-of-fact answer that was the most disturbing. “She didn’t leave, Miss Thomas. She died.”
Chapter Two
The following evening,prepared for another tray to be delivered to the schoolroom, Philippa found herself in a rather perplexing situation. Dinner was not as she had expected. She was not dining in the nursery with Elizabeth. Instead, she was seated in the formal dining room across the table from Mr. Falconer. When the maid had summoned her to the dining room, she’d been quite shocked. Now, seated across from Mr. Falconer in the formal dining room, she felt so terribly out of place she could hardly eat a bite.
“Is the food not to your liking, Miss Thomas?” The tone of his voice sounded terribly concerned.
She glanced up. “Oh, it isn’t that, sir. Everything is quite delicious. I am simply puzzled that I am dining here with you rather than with Elizabeth.”
“It’s selfish, I suppose,” he admitted. “I dine alone with such frequency that having a dinner companion is quite the luxury.”
“Perhaps you could try dining with Elizabeth?” Immediately, she realized how that sounded. “I do not mean that I do not wish to join you, sir, only that it might be good for Elizabeth. She is so very quiet, and having an opportunity to engage in conversation or watch how others converse might be good for her.”
“I confess, Miss Thomas, to not knowing a great deal about children or how to interact with them. I’ve only recently returned to England. When I received word that my brother hadpassed and my sister-in-law was ill, I sold out my commission. Alas, I was too late. It was not a happy return. My sister-in-law had already passed, and Elizabeth, at only seven years old, was alone in the world save for an uncle who is little more than a stranger to her.”
“I see... and then she suffered another loss. Miss Hawley.”
His fork clattered against his plate. “Why must that infernal woman’s name forever torment me?”
A sinking feeling in her stomach unsettled Philippa greatly as she asked, “So when Elizabeth said Miss Hawley had died... did she—how did she die?”
“She drowned in the river, Miss Thomas. That is all I mean to say on the subject.”
“Forgive me, Mr. Falconer. I should not have pressed so.”
“You have a right to know,” he said. “After all, she was your direct predecessor. And many lay the blame for her demise on Peregrine Hall... and indirectly on me.”
“You cannot be held to blame for the accidental drowning of one of your employees. You hardly told her to go to the river, did you?” Philippa reasoned. “I am truly sorry. I know it must have been a horrible time.... Was Elizabeth terribly upset by it?”
“She was. Elizabeth was very fond of Miss Hawley, though I feel that the relationship was not a healthy one. Miss Hawley... well, she put ideas in Elizabeth’s head.”
“What sort of ideas?”
“It doesn’t matter now. It only matters that they were inappropriate. If I had sent her packing at the first sign of such behavior, she might yet be alive today.”
“I am sorry for her untimely demise, but I fear that you may take too much responsibility for it upon yourself, sir.” Philippa realized that she was defending him far too vehemently for someone she had just met, and for someone who was both a stranger to her and her employer. It would have helped, shethought, if he’d looked like an ogre, or at the very least like a not-ridiculously-handsome man. With dark brown hair that swept across his forehead and chiseled features, he was already very well favored. Tall and lean with a bearing honed by his years in the military, he was a commanding figure. And yet there was a kindness in him. It was evident in the warm gaze of his brown eyes. Realizing that she was staring, Philippa abruptly looked away just as Mrs. Baynard marched into the dining room.
