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She entered the room, picked up Janet’s file from the desk, and glanced at it. “Now perhaps you comprehend why I’m so cautious when it comes to hiring people to work here.”
He could only nod. Oh, yes. I understand all too well, now.
“Who are you?”
A bead of sweat trickled down the back of his neck. “You already know—”
“I know who you pretend to be. Who are you, really?”
Praying, he looked her straight in the eye and lied. “You checked my references, madame. I am William Woodson, former tutor to Lord Mulgrave’s children.” Go on, Danbury, brazen it out. He held up Suzette’s folio. “I might ask a similar question of you. What is this place, really?”
Her eyes narrowed, and he held his ground for all he was worth, hoping.
After a long moment, she seemed to make a decision. “A very special place, monsieur. The only place for girls such as these. Their lives, their futures, are in my hands.” She ran the tips of her fingers along the spine of one of the files on the desk. “Their past must remain here when they leave. It’s the only way they can progress beyond their humble beginnings. It’s the only way they can ever be free.”
Humble beginnings? The woman had a gift for understatement. “If you’d told me the truth in the beginning, I would have—”
“You would have pitied them,” she interrupted. “Each of my girls received pity in plenty when she was first brought here, but pity can do only so much. It can feed, house, and clothe them for a time, but it will not serve them in perpetuity. My students must have strength, courage, and purpose in order to survive once they leave my care. It’s my duty to impart to them these things as well as skills and knowledge.”
Again, questions filled his mind. But though they teemed on the tip of his tongue, he couldn’t bring himself to voice them.
“Now I must ask you, Monsieur Woodson: can I trust you? More importantly, can my girls trust you to keep their secrets? Not only from others, but from themselves?”
“Themselves?”
“How do you think the Misses Stone would feel if they thought you knew of their past?”
Discomfort threatened to make him squirm. “I see your point. Very well, I’ll tell no one of what I’ve seen here.”
“Neither can you discuss it with the other teachers,” she warned. “Not all of them are aware of the truth—at least not in whole. You may, of course, speak to me about it, provided there is adequate privacy in which to do so. It would not do for the students to overhear such a conversation.”
“But they already know.”
“We don’t discuss the past among ourselves here, because it serves no purpose to be reminded of it. We can none of us change what was, but we can have an effect on what is to be. That is my work here. It is also yours, if you choose to let it be so. If you wish to remain here, monsieur, I must ask you to respect this rule.”
“And if a student should come to me with a concern involving her past?”
A sad smile tilted her lips. “I cannot promise you it will never happen, but it’s most unlikely. My students hardly come to me with such concerns. They will never forget where they came from, but we do our best here to allow them to put it behind them. Some take longer than others to make
the adjustment, but they all do, eventually.”
She patted the little pile of files on the desk. “Emma and her sister, for example, are close to reaching a critical point in their new lives here, the time when they finally begin to realize there is real hope for a better life, that they can reinvent themselves. I beg you not to do anything to hinder their progress.”
He couldn’t stand it. He had to know. “Does this reinvention include giving them new names?”
The way the color drained from her face told him the truth before she could speak. When she finally did find her tongue, her voice came out unsteady. “In some cases, yes. I’m sure after reading some of those files you can understand why they might wish a new identity.”
That, he couldn’t deny, though he’d seen only a few. “And do you do this with the blessing of your nameless sponsors?”
“Yes. It’s an approved part of the process.”
“And what of the girl who arrived last night? When can I expect to see her?”
Chapter Nine
The ground shifted under Jacqueline. “How do you know about that?”
“I was awake and happened to be at my window last night when the carriage passed. I grew curious when I saw it stop in front of the school. Three people entered here—one of them a child. Two adults left.”
