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“What in the world are you doing!” Isabel cried.
Millicent immediately whipped around, her eyes filled with tears.
“I am disciplining your wild child,” Mrs. Pemberley said in a calm, measured tone.
Isabel clenched her teeth so hard her jaw almost snapped. “Get out of this house!” she growled and rushed toward Millicent to embrace her.
Millie stepped back but stumbled and fell to the floor. She looked up at Isabel, her gaze filled with tears of betrayal. Isabel scooped her up and pressed her tightly against her chest. Millie thumped Isabel on her arm with her tiny fist, crying in earnest now.
“You don’t know how to discipline children properly. No wonder she is a wild hellion!” Mrs. Pemberley said.
“I said get out, or Lord forgive me, I shall throw you out and use your cane to aid me!” Isabel’s voice broke as tears slid down her cheeks. How could she have invited this monster into her house?
“You told me to teach her discipline, and now you are ruining my work!” the old governess persisted.
Isabel sat Millie down, stood, and approached the servants’ bell with sure steps. She rang with such force she nearly pulled the bell out.
Edith ran inside, her eyes wild. She saw Millicent curled up on the floor and immediately ran to embrace her. Mrs. Ainsworth was on her heels.
“Mrs. Ainsworth,” Isabel said, gathering a deep breath. Her voice was hoarse, and she couldn’t calm the rioting beating of her heart. “Please ask Rogers and James to throw this child-beating monster out of the house!”
Mrs. Pemberley threw her a menacing gaze. “Your ideas about childrearing are the monstrous ones. She will be a menace to society. I tried to make a lady out of her. But now I see why she is a hellion. She takes after her mother!”
Mrs. Pemberley threw her head back and walked out of the room, her spine straight.
Mrs. Ainsworth followed her out. “I shall make certain she is gone quickly,” she said quietly as she slunk out of the room.
Isabel’s chest heaved with the force of her breaths. She wiped at her face and pulled her hair back.
Millicent sat on the floor, cradled by her nursemaid, her cries quieting to soft sniffs. Isabel approached her, but as Millie saw her, she cried out, burrowing her face into the crook of her nursemaid’s neck.
Isabel swallowed. She deserved Millie’s anger. It was all her fault. Tears slid down her cheeks again, and her lips trembled as she tried to speak. “Edith, please do not leave her side until she falls asleep.”
“I wouldn’t, my lady.”
Isabel nodded and left the room. She needed to pen a letter to her husband. It was time for him to hurry home.
