Then the force of that smile hit me, and I had an inkling what Saul must have seen when he said that she made you feel alive just by being in the same room.
“Miss Wilson?” she asked, taking a step forward. “ItisMiss Wilson, isn’t it?”
“You’re Louisa,” I said, my mind blank with astonishment. “You came back.”
“Of course I did.” She took both my hands in hers. “Saul and Rose have told me so much about you. I can’t ever thank you enough for what you’ve done.”
(Shemeantit too. That was part of what was so astonishing. It wasn’t just words. You couldn’t doubt that she meant every word that she said.)
“It was nothing. I mean—no, I don’t mean it wasnothing, but—” I floundered a bit and tried again. “Anyone in my position would have done the same.”
“I doubt that highly.” She squeezed both my hands and released me and I took a step back.
It was easier to look around the room than at the naked gratitude on Louisa’s face. “I… err.” I swallowed. “This is your room. I should move my things out.”
Louisa started to protest, but I waved my hands, trying not to show the pang that I felt.Things are changing again. You had a little time, but now that’s over. On to the next thing, whatever that is.“I should have gone before now. I just… err… hadn’t.” I went to the table and began hastily picking up my brushes. Some of which wereherbrushes.Oh damn…
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
She asked it softly and kindly and certainly did not mean for it to feel like a knife of uncertainty sliding between my ribs. I picked up the unopened envelope from Headmistress Silverton. “No need to worry,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”
Louisa was silent for a moment, then said, carefully, “Do you mean that you’ll actually be fine, or do you mean that you don’t want to impose?”
I met her eyes, startled. They were a muddy hazel color, nothing to incite a poet’s fancy, but in them, I saw a terrible understanding.
Of course. She fled with nothing and had to make her own way for the last few years. She’s been there too.
“I…” I licked dry lips. “I don’t actually have anything lined up,” I admitted. “If I could stay for a few days, just long enough to send some letters, and see…”
“Miss Wilson, you can have a fewyears, if you want it. And the estate certainly owes you for the work you’ve done. I can never repay you for saving Saul’s life.”
I shook my head. “You don’t need to repay me for that.”
“He says that you know about him.”
“I do, but…” I spread my hands helplessly. “You don’t haveto buy my silence about that. I won’t tell anyone.” A laugh crackled out of me. “Hell, no one would believe me anyway.”
She snorted. “I know. I felt the same way when I found out. It’s all completely mad, isn’t it?” She rubbed her forehead.
“Completely. Utterly.” I felt a sudden rush of fellow-feeling for the only other human who knew about Saul’s people.
“Did he show you the teeth?”
“Yes!” I shoved my hands into the remains of my hair. “I didn’t know whether to scream or have him do it again in better light!”
(Saul’s teeth were indeed in his throat, after a fashion. They lay far back until he flexed some muscle or other, then they swung forward and fitted behind the front set. It was shocking to see and I still wasn’t sure how he didn’t slice his tongue to ribbons.)
“It’s called a ‘pharyngeal jaw,’ I think,” said Louisa, reminding me that she too had spent a long time as a naturalist. “At least, that’s what they call it in moray eels. I don’t think most mammals have them.”
“Let me guess,” I said. “You told him that and he said, ‘Oh, so now I’m an eel?’”
“Oh, so youhavemet him!”
Our eyes met and we both began to laugh. I won’t swear that it wasn’t a trifle hysterical on my part, but maybe it was for her too.
“I’ll stay,” I said, when I had wiped the tears from my eyes. “At least for a little while.”
“Oh, good.” Louisa hooked her arm through mine. “Because as it happens, there’s a project I need help with, and I think you’re the only other person who will understand.”
