“The man at the door wasn’t going to let us in right away,” Nancy explained, her voice muffled in Amelia’s shoulder. “Tiny rushed past him, and we tried to follow, but he stopped us. At least, he tried to stop us, but Marjory punched him in the stomach.”
As if summoned by the account of her deeds, Marjory appeared in the doorway, red-faced and disheveled but certainly determined. A pale footman hobbled after her, half-doubled over.
Amelia winced, glancing guiltily at her hosts. Stephen’s expression was deadpan and unreadable, but Letitia looked thoroughly gleeful.
“Welcome, girls, welcome,” she said, rising to her feet. “Jane, you are excused from this scene of chaos.”
Tiny gamboled back to the old woman and received head scratches, and—to his absolute rapture—a piece of bacon.
“Why don’t you sit down and have some breakfast?”
Marjory’s gaze fell to the breakfast spread. Her eyes widened, and Amelia could almost hear her stomach rumble.
There wasn’t much for breakfast, then.They are hungry.
“We are not here for breakfast,” Nancy informed them sternly. “We are here to take Amelia home. Amelia, you should have taken Tiny with you yesterday. He would have protected you.”
“Are you sure?” Stephen drawled, arching an eyebrow at the dog, who panted happily up at him. “I think he wishes to be my dearest friend, despite his enormous size.”
Nancy’s eyes flashed.
Amelia anticipated her dart forward, snatching her up. Nancy struggled in her arms, desperate to get down. Amelia hung ongrimly. There was no telling whether Nancy would try to copy Marjory’s attack on the footman. Best not to risk it.
“No, he would defend her. He would, he would!” Nancy insisted, giving up on her attempt to free herself. “He’s the best dog in the world.”
“Hear, hear,” Letitia agreed. “It’s been so long since we had a dog around the place. I wonder how your cat will react to him, Stephen.”
“That creature is not my cat. He simply followed me home,” Stephen retorted. “You, Miss Spectacles. Sit down, eat. Have you had breakfast?”
Marjory’s face heated. She shoved the spectacles in question further up her nose. “Why, yes,” she responded tightly. “I am not hungry at all.”
Ah, this was posturing, Amelia could tell. She could almost hear her sister’s stomach rumbling.
Nancy, who had no ounce of pride, wrinkled her nose at her sister. “But you must be hungry, Marjory. We only had a bit of bread for breakfast, and you let me have more because I needed it to grow up, as you said.”
Marjory scowled at her. Nancy stuck out her tongue.
“Girls, please,” Amelia interjected tightly, offering a nervous smile to Stephen and Letitia.
“Well, at any rate, we don’t have time for breakfast,” Marjory said, rallying. “We are here to collect you, Amelia, and then we shall leave. We shall leaveimmediately.”
“Oh, yes,” Nancy piped up. “We’re here to save Amelia from the monster. Marjory told me all about it.”
A tense silence settled over the room. There was, of course, no question of who themonstermight be.
Swallowing, Amelia risked a nervous glance at Stephen. As always, his expression was smooth and serene, giving nothing away.
Letitia was pouring herself another cup of coffee and gave no indication of having heard Nancy’s comment. It seemed too much to hope that she had not heard it at all, but if she wasn’t going to remark on it, that was good enough.
He won’t let me go,Amelia reminded herself.Three months. If the girls could stay here with me… well, we would lose our home, but we would stay together. We would have food and shelter better than what we are used to. Besides, there’s no sense in frightening them, is there?
Clearing her throat, Amelia averted her gaze from Stephen’s cool stare. She met Marjory’s eyes first and gave her a warning look, then glanced down at Nancy.
“It was all a misunderstanding, Nancy. There’s no monster.”
“Yes, there is,” Nancy insisted, frowning. She freed her arm, pointing at Stephen. “Marjory said thathehad kidnapped you.”
Amelia sucked in a breath.
