Raven frowned. “I have heard some unpleasant tales about foundling homes. About the cruel lives their inmates lead.”
“Not all such places are cruel. And it will be best for Nate to be around boys his own age and to learn a trade. The lad is sharp-witted for all that he seems so cowed.”
“But it must be frightening for him to go to live in new surroundings.”
“This home is not so frightening,” Kell replied. “The headmistress is a jovial sort and gives out gingerbread to the newcomers to make them feel welcome.”
“I should like to see that,” Raven said thoughtfully. “Would you consider allowing me to accompany you when you deliver Nate there?”
Kell’s eyes narrowed with something like suspicion. “Why would you wish to?”
“Because I have little to occupy my time. And I would like to do something worthwhile, rather than moping around here, feeling lonely and sorry for myself. Please? I promise I won’t make a nuisance of myself or cause you any trouble.”
Reluctant amusement lit his eyes. “Your middle name is trouble, vixen. But if you seriously want to go…”
Raven gave him a brilliant smile. “I do.”
“Very well. Now will you permit me to finish my breakfast in peace?”
“Certainly,” she agreed, “if you will hand me a page or two of the paper. Are you always such a bear in the morning?” she couldn’t resist asking when he had complied.
Kell’s stare turned to one of exasperation. “Might I remind you that you were supposed to be a wife of convenience, not a termagant?”
Forcibly Raven swallowed her amusement and applied herself to the society page, content to retreat after her small victory.
Four days later she found herself accompanying Kell and Nate on the drive from London to Hampstead, where the Charity Home for Indigent Boys was located.
Nate at first seemed overwhelmed by the luxurious interior of the coach and by the unfamiliar sights of the passing countryside. He sat rigidly, not daring to speak as he stared out the window, yet he was obviously listening avidly to every word Kell said.
It amazed Raven to watch Kell reassure the boy.
“If you don’t like the place, you don’t have to stay. But there will be other lads your own age. And you will learn a trade that will allow you to be your own master some day.”
“Not a sweep?” Nate asked in a small voice.
“No, never again. But you will have to learn to read and cipher.”
His nose screwed up in distaste. “Why must oi learn to cipher, sir?”
“Because if you can calculate numbers, you won’t have to toil at physical labor. You could be a tailor’s apprentice or shopkeeper’s assistant or perhaps even a clerk. And you will be less likely to be fleeced by merchants who are eager to cheat you out of your hard-won earnings. Trust me, when you are at the beginning of your career, you can’t afford to forfeit even a penny.”
With a sleight of hand, Kell pulled a penny from behind the boy’s ear and presented it as a gift.
Nate stared wide-eyed in wonder and delight.
“Here, lad,” Kell added, fishing in his pocket for a small purse. “You will need a little spending money to see you through your first weeks.”
The boy was speechless, while Raven felt tears sting her eyes. Doubtless such kindness was rare in Nate’s young life.
r /> When they arrived at the charming village of Hampstead and dismounted from the coach, the boy clung to Kell’s hand. The large, mellow brick manor covered with ivy looked much like a country gentleman’s residence, but behind the house stood outbuildings and fields more appropriate to a farm, with chickens and pigs and grazing livestock in view.
Much to Raven’s relief, the headmaster who greeted them seemed kind and intelligent. And his wife was indeed a jolly soul who won Nate over with gingerbread and soon had him answering gentle questions about his origins.
Nate knew nothing of his father, but apparently his mother had been a Covent Garden doxy who’d sold him into the hellish life of a sweep when he was five. And he was clearly terrified of the man who had been his master.
Mrs. Fenton assured him solemnly that no one here would beat him or force him to climb anything except perhaps a ladder to the haylofts in the barns. Eventually she introduced Nate to a half dozen other boys who took him off to tour the outbuildings, while Mr. Fenton explained the workings of the place to Raven.
The home housed perhaps forty orphans, many of whom were former beggars, cutpurses, or climbing boys. They slept in dormitory rooms according to age and were required to do daily chores around the farm, but they spent several hours each day in the schoolroom and the remainder apprenticing with masters of various trades.