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‘So, tell me about your little group,’ he was saying. ‘Where did you find them?’
Glad that he’d invoked the children—the surest way to ground her—she said, ‘Jemmie, the oldest, is the son of Father’s sergeant-major, who was already with the regiment when we joined it in India. His mother died in childbirth—all too common an occurrence for English women in Calcutta, I’m afraid. The sergeant-major was killed by a sniper while directing the rear guard during the retreat to Corunna. Jemmie’s about twelve, we think, and more than ready to begin training for an occupation.’
‘Maria, the older girl with the sweet smile, is about seven. We found her at a convent after the Siege of Bajados, brought there with her dying mother, who’d been...abused by French soldiers. The sisters suspected Maria had witnessed the attack, for she’s never spoken, and is very shy around men—quite a disadvantage for a female travelling with an army! She grew to be easy with my father, and accepts Jemmie and Charles, but she prefers to stay close to me or Constancia.’
‘Anna and Georgie are the newest, just arrived from Belgium. I understand Anna’s mother died in Brussels right before Waterloo, and her father was killed in the battle, leaving the five-year-old orphaned. Georgie we found at the docks in Calais, as he was about to be turned over to a gendarme for filching a meat pie from one of the army provisioners. He’s about seven as well.’
Jemmie had approached them as Theo finished that last, and shook his head. ‘Still not sure it was such a good idea, taking in a thief, Miss Theo! The Colonel always said them that thieves small will thieve big, sooner or later.’
‘Which may be true for soldiers, but I don’t know that the rule applies to a starving child, Jemmie,’ Theo said.
Jemmie shrugged. ‘S’pose we’ll see. Right clever she was about nabbing him, though,’ he said, turning to address Ransleigh. ‘Fat pieman about had his thumbs around ol’ Georgie, hollering as how he’d stolen a pie and he was goin’ to turn him over to the provost. Miss Theo nips over, cool as you please, and spins him this faraddidle about how she’d sent Georgie to get pies for us, and how Georgie was naughty to make the man chase after him, rather than just buyin’ the pies from his stand.’ Jemmie chuckled. ‘The man just stood there, gogglin’ at her, cause he weren’t born yestiddy and knew as how she was bammin’ him, only when Miss Theo gets her “colonel’s daughter” agoin’, who’s to gainsay her?’
He turned back to face Ransleigh. ‘So you see, sir, Miss Theo kin look after herself, what with me to help out. And Miss Theo, though that building is sturdy enough to make a fine shelter if we wanted a billet, I don’t see why we need a school. I’m too old for one, Maria never lets out a peep, and Master Charles will be getting a tutor anyway, won’t he?’
‘That’s as may be, but remember, there will be more children coming to join us. All of you will need to learn your letters and a trade.’
The boy’s frown deepened. ‘Sure you got enough blunt to keep more army brats, after paying to rent that fancy manor house?’
‘You watch my money closer than I do,’ Theo said with a chuckle.
‘Don’t want you to run short,’ the boy said seriously. ‘Not afore I’m old enough to join the army, so’s I can earn enough coin to support us. I promised the Colonel before he died that I’d take care of you, and I mean to.’
‘I know you will,’ Theo replied, an ache in her throat as she looked at his earnest young face. There would be time later to argue over his desire for an army career—and its potential financial returns. ‘But to earn enough to take care of a family, one has to have schooling. You’ll like it, Jemmie.’
‘Mebbe,’ the boy conceded. ‘I’d rather watch out for the horses, like I did for the Colonel. I will be able to tend horses here, won’t I?’
‘We’ll see,’ Theo replied diplomatically. ‘You’ll need to do lessons as well, though. Now, will you round up the others for me? It’s time we went back.’
Jemmie nodded. ‘Whatever you say, Miss Theo.’ Turning to Ransleigh, he said, ‘Nice to meet you, sir. I expect we can manage on our own now.’
After giving Ransleigh a bow, he trotted back towards the barn.
‘I think I’ve just been warned off,’ Ransleigh said, watching the boy walk away.
Theo shook her head ruefully. ‘He’s grown quite protective since Papa died. Though he’s a boy still, he’s at that awkward age, not yet a man, but thinking to take on a man’s responsibilities.’ She laughed. ‘Which I guess explains why he tried so hard to demonstrate how clever I am and how well we are able to hold our own in the world, without anyone else’s help.’
‘You are clever. Nor do I think I’d want to cross swords with you when you’ve got your “colonel’s daughter” goin’.’
‘You already know I’m managing. I suppose it doesn’t take much of a stretch to think of me as manipulating as well.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘I seem to remember a caller waiting on a wall in the rain until the reluctant host felt obliged to receive her.’
She laughed again. ‘I object, sir! That was tactics, not manipulation.’
‘And quite effective,’ he admitted. ‘You’ve told me about the others, but what about the one he called “Master Charles”? Who’s not to attend the school, but to have a tutor?’
‘Ah, Charles.’ She gathered herself to give him the story she always told of how the boy had become like her own. ‘He is an orphan, but not the offspring of a common soldier. His late father, Lord Everly, was the youngest son of the Marquess of Wareton. Before joining his regiment on the Peninsula, Everly persuaded the daughter of a curate to run away with him. They were both of age, and wed by an army chaplain after their arrival, but the marquess, who was furious at his son’s union with a girl whose father was barely a gentleman, never recognised the marriage.’
‘Everly,’ Ransleigh said, frowning. ‘I knew him slightly. He was at Cambridge when I entered Oxford. Didn’t last long, as I recall; sent down before the first term ended. Wild to a fault. Poor girl.’
‘Poor girl, indeed. He got her with child almost immediately, and a very difficult time she was having of it. I persuaded her to accompany me back to London to my aunt’s house for the birth, but before we reached Lisbon, we received word that Lord Everly had been killed. Distraught and hysterical, she was unable to travel further. We ended up staying at a convent until the child was born, and sadly, she did not long survive his birth. I brought Charles back with me, only to learn upon my return that Lord Everly’s father had no intention of acknowledging the woman or a brat from a marriage he refused to recognise. So Papa and I kept Charles. Indeed, I look upon him as my own son now, and shall do my upmost to see that he receives an upbringing and education suitable to his birth—whether or not he is ever received by his grandfather.’
‘Raise a child on your own? Once again, a commendable aim, but isn’t that an even weightier responsibility for a young lady?’
‘With Papa gone now, too weighty, my aunt would say. But why should an innocent child suffer for the folly of his parents, the hard-heartedness of a grandfather and the death of a male sponsor? Especially as dear and clever a boy as Charles. Which is, of course, another reason a Season in London would only disappoint my aunt. I don’t imagine many gentlemen would be eager to court a lady who comes with a child attached, one whose blood family refuses to receive him. And I will never give him up.’
Before Ransleigh could attempt a reply—fortunately, for Theo wasn’t sure what a gentleman could safely respond to such a startling revelation—Constancia trotted up with the children in tow.
The full truth of her circumstances should effectively snuff out whatever attraction he might have felt for her, she thought, both relieved that the temptation he represented would soon be removed—and a little sad to lose it. Like the last vestiges of her youth, disappearing for good.
Immured in the country, he might find flirting with a safe but willing female mildly attractive. Even flirting with one who had a troop of orphans to supervise might not be too daunting. But trying to flirt with a woman surrounded by a gaggle of orphans who also had a child clinging to her skirts would doubtless not seem worth the effort.
‘The children are all here, Senhorita Theo, except for Jemmie,’ Constancia said.
Pulling herself back to the present, Theo said, ‘I thought he was doing the gathering. Where could he have got to?’
She was about to call him when her attention was drawn to a flicker of movement glimpsed from the corner of her eye. Turning, she saw in the adjoining pasture the boy approach a tall, prancing stallion.
