“Which is?” William asked.
“What we are out by taking in this,” Mr. Willis hesitated, “girl.”
William removed his coin purse from his jacket pocket. “What is owed to you?”
“We had little choice but to rent a coach to pick her up from the rookeries,” Mr. Willis said. “We couldn’t very well have picked her up in a hackney.”
Removing a few coins, William placed them onto the table and asked, “Will this be sufficient?”
Mrs. Willis glanced down at the coins as she replied, “That would be if she had been given proper clothes to wear at the orphanage. We require all of our staff to pay for their own clothing, and we couldn’t let her wear the frock that she arrived in. It was in such a state that we had to burn it.”
William removed two more coins and placed them onto the table. “Are we done here?”
Mr. Willis interjected, “We were also forced to bear the expense of buying her a new mattress and bedding to sleep in the attic.”
Not wanting to remain in their presence for a moment longer, William dropped a few more coins on the table with a meaningful glare. “Which bedding you will use for the next maid you hire. This concludes our business.” If they still weren’t satisfied, so be it. He turned towards Sarah. “Let us depart.”
Georgie sat in the kitchen as she watched Mrs. Peters stir the contents of the pot hanging over the hearth. She was in a terrible mood. Why had she been so intolerably stupid, telling Lord Grenton the truth? Well, part of it. She hadn’t revealed everything about her situation, and she refused to do so.
What was it about Lord Grenton that had made it so easy to confide in him? When he had offered to retrieve Sarah, she had found herself so touched by his thoughtfulness that she let her guard down. But it would not happen again. His handsome face would not beguile her.
Drat. She knew that was a lie. Lord Grenton had a gruff exterior, but she’d seen past that. There had been glimpses of a kind heart, but she had a suspicion it hadn’t been used in quite some time. What had caused him to lock it away?
Now that Lord Grenton knew what circumstances led her to the orphanage, would he send her away? She hoped not. She had grown fond of the girls, and she didn’t want to leave yet. There was still too much to do to help them.
Mrs. Peters stopped stirring and turned around to face her. “Are you done feeling sorry for yourself, dearie?”
“I am not.”
Mrs. Peters gave her an understanding smile. “All is not lost,” she said. “If he dismisses you, we will make do until you reach your majority.”
“But what will happen to the girls?” Georgie asked. “If Mrs. Hughes is left in charge, she will dismiss the tutors and return the orphanage to the way it was before I arrived, spiriting girls away at whim.”
“That is true, but you don’t know what Lord Grenton will do. He may surprise you.”
“I doubt it,” Georgie muttered.
Mrs. Peters placed a hand on her hip. “You are being quite the naysayer,” she chided lightly.
Leaning back in her chair, Georgie said, “I’m sorry. I am just frustrated at myself for telling Lord Grenton about my brother.”
“What’s done is done,” Mrs. Peters advised. “There is no good that will come out of sulking. That won’t change anything.”
The back door opened, and Alice stepped into the room. She glanced between them and asked, “Am I interrupting something?”
Georgie knew it would be best to tell her the truth and be done with it. “I let it slip to Lord Grenton about my brother and the circumstances of how I arrived at the orphanage.”
Alice’s eye shone with disapproval. “Why would you do such a thing?”
Mrs. Peters interjected, “I suspect it has something to do with her having feelings for the boorish lord.”
Georgie shook her head. “I do not have feelings for Lord Grenton.”
“Then why did you take him into your confidence?” Mrs. Peters asked knowingly.
“I was touched by his thoughtfulness when he offered to go retrieve Sarah,” Georgie admitted.
Alice looked at her curiously. “Where did Sarah go?”
