“French, and a bit of Latin.”
He chuckled as if he didn’t believe her, or perhaps he thought Eve only had a rudimentary understanding of the language.
As she straightened her spine, Eve responded in what she knew was perfect French, but translated to,I’m ready to be done with this inquisition. If there is something you wish to teach me, then teach it.
Kilsyth’s eyes widened in surprise and he smiled further, as if she hadn’t just ordered him to do something. Perhaps he was the one who didn’t speak French.
“Yes, well, I see you do speak French.” The he leaned forward. “Not only that, Miss Doyle, but with an accent that would make one believe it was your first language. Not that I could be fooled of course, as I have an ear for dialects, but I don’t believe anyone else would ever guess you were from Ireland, if you spoke only French.”
“As I will not be goin’ around speakin’ French, I don’t see dat it matters none.”
“Oh, on the contrary. It matters very much, Miss Doyle.”
Chapter 5
Wiggons’ School for Elegant Young Ladies,
Cornwall, England
“Must you still read those journals,” Eliza complained to Sophia. “Aren’t you finished with them yet?”
“They only arrived yesterday,” Sophia reminded her friend.
“They can’t be so fascinating,” Eliza whined.
“But they are.” Sophia opened a page. “Look at the drawing of this stone. Mrs. Fairview was able to capture quite a bit of detail.” She flipped the page. “And these are the markings she copied. Don’t you wish to know what it says?”
Eliza grabbed the journal and tossed it aside. “No. I don’t.”
“Be careful with my mother’s journal,” Rosemary chastised as she picked it up and smoothed the pages.
“Those were carved or written centuries ago, how can it possibly relate to us?” Eliza demanded.
“It relates because it’s fascinating. I’d love to know what it says. What message was someone trying to tell?”
“It could be just doodling. An ancient Egyptian didn’t have anything else to occupy their time, so they put silly symbols on a stone.”
Sophia blew out an impatient breath. “I am certain that is not the case.”
“Well, unless you can read hieroglyphics, I suggest you put the book away for the day.”
“It’s not just hieroglyphics, but Greek, and other languages.”
“Another language you can’t read,” Eliza reminded her.
“What do you propose we do?” Sophia demanded. It was Sunday and after attending morning services they were free for the day.
“Oh, I don’t know.” Eliza picked at the trim on her skirt. “Go for a walk, maybe.”
Rosemary jumped up. “Where to?”
Eliza didn’t express the same enthusiasm. “Nobody is interesting anymore. It’s been months since anything exciting happened.”
Which was perfectly fine with Sophia since exciting usually meant dangerous, with Eliza only making it worse.
“Does anyone want to walk down to the beach?” Olivia Westbrook asked as she glided into the chamber, Victoria, her twin behind her.
Olivia and Victoria had been at the school for almost as long as Sophia and her friends but until Christmas, they’d not been friends. That changed when the twins credited the three for saving their lives. Once again Sophia, Rosemary and Eliza had been where they weren’t supposed to be, but they’d also seen the twins taken away by their eldest brother, who turned out to be a traitor, and had alerted their teachers to the danger.
