I frowned at the effort. “Are you certain you can see it?”
Augusta huffed. “I have no reason to lie.”
Augusta had not progressed in her reading, even with our persistent, daily efforts. When teaching my last charges, our progress had been slow, but steady. Since Augusta was so much older, I assumed we would move through the lessons at twice the pace.
I moved closer, watching her carefully as she studied the word. “Is this better?”
She tried again, with no success. “Can we not stick to smaller words?”
This time, I came straight to her and handed her the paper. “Try to sound out each letter.”
Her shoulders fell as she attempted once more to break down the word. I knew it would prove challenging, but I was desperate to understand what wasn’t working for her.
Sliding the paper across the small table between us, Augusta stood. “It’s too hard. I give up.”
Augusta had little patience for her school learning but an abundance of it for other areas of her life. I, too, was frustrated. “Please sit back down. My purpose of this activity was not to drive you away, but to test you.”
“And I failed, as always,” she grumbled.
“How do you know, when you don’t even know what I was testing?”
Augusta crossed her arms and scowled. “Very well. What were you testing?”
I motioned for her to take her seat again. “I was curious about your eyesight.”
“Why did you not simply ask? I can see perfectly well.”
“I had to know for certain. Spectacles would be an easy fix if they would help you.”
“And the difficult word?” She gave me a pointed look. “Were you also trying to torture me?”
I laughed. “Not at all. I wanted to see if you had made progress.”
Lord Camden selected his book and moved toward us. My entire body froze. Did he approve of my methods? He seemed to be everywhere in this house, and there was no escaping his judgments. Deep down, I wanted him to approve. No, it was more than that. I wanted to impress him. Unfortunately, frustrating his sister was not exactly impressive.
“May I?” he pointed to the paper I had tested Augusta with.
I gave a small shrug and handed it to him. “Of course.”
He took the paper and kneeled beside Augusta’s chair. His tone was patient and kind as he turned to Augusta. “If you cover up the bulk of the word and just focus on the first few letters at a time, it won’t feel so overwhelming.” He set his book over all the words but the letters E and N. “Let’s start here.”
A flurry of warmth curled in my middle. I had never seen anything as sweet as a grown man helping his grown sister. I sat back, my eyes riveted to Lord Camden’s profile. He had been handsome before, but I had only allowed myself to see him as my employer. Now he improved in my sight infinitely so, and I had to catch myself before my imagination ran wild.
But I was afraid it was already running faster than a deer in full sprint.
When they finished the word, Lord Camden cheered. “Capital, Augusta! I knew you could do it.”
Augusta grinned. “Now, if I can manage to read a word in half an hour instead of an hour, I might end up as a great scholar.”
The siblings laughed together, and I found myself joining in. Lord Camden turned to me; his dazzling smile still full across his face. I knew he wasn’t directing that smile at me, but still my breath caught.
“Keep up the good work, Miss Lewis.” He pushed up onto his feet and collected his book off the table. “I will see you both at dinner.”
My eyes trailed after him until he exited the room. Forcing my attention back to Augusta, I pushed the reader to her. “Shall we continue?”
“Must we? I read one difficult word, but it is still a task I do not care for,” she said with a pout on her face.
I had to celebrate the victory of a small battle and recognize that we would not win the war in a day. I set aside the reader. “How about a change of scenery? I propose we take another walk for our history lesson today.”
