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“We won’t let that happen,” said Michel fiercely. “Don’t you try to convince us that it’s the right thing because we won’t listen.”
“We’ll never leave each other. Never as long as we live,” vowed Adele.
Miss Perkins was silent for a moment. “I’ll not try to convince you of anything tonight,” she said, “except to take a spoonful of this.”
She fetched a glass apothecary bottle from a shelf and Edgar had to duck backward for a moment so she didn’t catch a glimpse of him.
Miss Perkins held up the bottle and read the label. “One Tea-Spoon to be Taken at Bed-Time in the Event of Homesickness.”
“Homesickness?” asked Adele. “That’s a funny thing for a label to say.”
“Well some children are beset by colds, others with overexcitement. This will help what you’re troubled by. Try a small taste. I promise you’ll like it.”
“Do we have to?” groaned Adele.
“I won’t,” said Michel.
Miss Perkins poured some liquid into the spoon and held it out to Adele, who took a tiny taste.
“Sweet as strawberries,” Adele said with astonishment, finishing the spoonful. “You’ll like it, Michel.”
Miss Perkins wiped off the spoon with a cloth and poured some for Michel, who drank his spoonful down in one gulp.
“Not half bad,” he admitted.
Miss Perkins smiled at the children. “I told you that you’d like it. Now then, it’s past your bedtime. Go to bed late, stay very small. Go to bed early, grow very tall.”
“Miss Perkins?”
“Yes, Adele?”
“When we were sitting by the Thames, you said we needed a bridge.”
“There’s no bridge between England and France,” scoffed Michel.
“I’ve figured out what you meant,” said Adele softly.
“Have you now?” asked Miss Perkins.
“You’rethe bridge, aren’t you? Crossing from our old lives to our new ones.”
Miss Perkins smiled at Adele and swept a lock of hair away from her face. “That’s right. I’ll be your bridge. If you let me.”
A lump rose in Edgar’s throat.
He’d built his defenses and written his rules so methodically.
Control your anger. Drink only in moderation.
Control in all things.
Guard against the misuse of power.
Guard against love, for it makes a man a fool.
What he’d failed to do was build a defense against something like this.
Miss Perkins reading to his children. Telling them stories and giving them remedies for homesickness.
