“What holds the individual works together?How do you envision the final product?”
“I, that is, I don’t know.I think of each one as its own self.”
“What is your vision for them?”
“I have none.They just need to be heard.”
“Voices that need to be heard.Fair enough.”He had no doubt whose voice needed to be heard.
Georgiana fussed about on one side of the worktable in his study, reviewing the contents of just one box; two others identified by their labels as related notes rested nearby.He kept the well-worn table between them and tried to concentrate on the work.
Georgiana reached for the papers he perused and smiled.“Korinna.She gives me great difficulties but also great rewards.”
He deliberately set his face into its best schoolmaster mask.
“This body of work is much more extensive than I realized, my lady.I will require time to review the whole before I can begin to address your questions and the individual translations.”
Her protests were loud and immediate.“I wish to begin work today.”
“If you want my tutelage, you will permit me to become acquainted with the whole first.”
“But you will need my explanation and?—”
“I asked for your brief description of the treasures you’ve scattered over half of my sittingroom so that I would know what is in each.Finish, please, and then I will need silence.”He nearly growled that last.
“Mr.Mallet, I?—”
“Lady Georgiana, which of us is the tutor?Do you want my help or not?”She agreed in the end to a week.
She described each box and its contents for another hour, giving him a clear commentary on the general state of each part of the work.She managed to communicate most of her questions at the same time.
He resorted to a firm hand on her elbow and steered her to the door.
“I do have a question, Lady Georgiana.”Her eyes, instantly alert, met his.He hesitated.One question had plagued him since he encountered her leaving Mr.Peabody’s premises, a personal question that he hesitated to ask.
“What is it?”she rasped.
“Your own health.I believe...that is, it seems as if there may be concerns.Forgive me if I intrude, but will your health interfere with this work?”
An alarming shade of red flooded up her neck and exploded onto her cheeks.He couldn’t decide whether she felt anger, embarrassment, or both.
“I apologize,” he murmured, “if I overstepped.”
“My health, Mr.Mallet, isn’t your concern except for this—I will finish this work!”She swallowed, shook off his hand, and steadied herself.“There may be times, periodically, you understand, when weakness prevents me from being as industrious as I wish, but those are becoming fewer.It won’t be a problem.”
She looked back at the boxes with a wistful expression, stricken like a mother who was leaving her only child.
“Georgiana, I will care for them as though they were my own.Your work is safe with me.”Her given name came naturally to his lips.She didn’t seem to notice.He longed to comfort her and take her in his arms, but he didn’t.
Three weeks later Andrew watched Georgiana frown glumly at an open book and scribble notes in furious bursts of activity.She had visited him every day for two weeks, save Sunday.
He thought that he should interrupt and help her with the passage she was struggling with, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.For one thing, the sight of her at work in his study gave him more pleasure than he ought to allow, so much pleasure that he tried again today to insist that he should come to Helsington.
“Don’t be absurd, Mr.Mallet,” she had declared.“However much good Mr.Peabody has done you—and I beg to reserve judgment about that matter for some weeks longer—you aren’t ready for a daily carriage ride.”
“Daily is perhaps excessive, my lady.”
“Daily, weekly, however long it takes.It won’t do for you to travel to me.If your reputation cannot sustain visits from a lady and her companion, I can arrange to?—”
