Sylvia gave them leave to run home and ask and return to the warehouse promptly with anyone willing to help. The other boys she directed to start gathering their books and slates.
Kit walked forward, allowing the boys leaving free access to the door. They grinned at him as they passed, and some bobbed their heads and murmured, “Your lordship.”
Kit grinned back at them, which sent their grins even wider, then they were gone.
Jellicoe and Cross approached as Kit halted. He had no difficulty in pegging both as younger sons of the gentry who’d had to make their own way; from their families, they would have received a sound education, but little else.
Jellicoe held out his hand. “Thank you, my lord. We were fearing that the school would close, and that would have been the end for these boys’ educations.”
“Indeed.” Cross waited until Kit released Jellicoe’s hand to offer his own. “You might not realize it, but this is a very good deed you’ve done, my lord.”
Kit shifted, uncomfortable with the praise. “Don’t credit me with too much altruism, gentlemen—I wanted the warehouse as soon as possible and finding the school new premises seemed the easiest way to that goal.”
Neither Jellicoe nor Cross looked as if they believed him, and in truth, gaining the use of the warehouse early had never been Kit’s primary objective. Acknowledging that, he added, “However, I do support the notion of education for the masses, so I was happy to help in this way.” And seeing the transformation in the faces of the boys and the teachers had already been sufficient reward.
That, both teachers accepted. As Sylvia came to join them, they looked at her with an eagerness to rival their pupils’.
“How should we do this?” Cross asked.
Kit listened as Sylvia outlined a plan to move the heavier items first—the desks and the two blackboards; Kit assumed the latter had been brought in by the teachers—they hadn’t been there when he and Wayland had viewed the space.
“Once we have those arranged in the new hall,” Sylvia went on, “we can return here and ferry everything else across.” She paused, then added, “I don’t want the boys struggling with anything they might drop while they’re crossing the Frome.”
“No, indeed.” Jellicoe looked at the boys who had remained in the warehouse; they were busily emptying the desks and stacking books, slates, chalks, and papers on the tops. “We’ll need at least two trips for the smaller stuff, and depending on how many men turn up, at least two for the desks and boards. Even emptied, those desks are too unwieldy for any one man to manage on his own—even a dockyard navvy.”
Just then, a thin, faded older lady, gray hair pulled back in a tight bun, walked into the warehouse.
“Miss Meggs.” Sylvia went forward to greet her. “I’m relieved to say that we’ve had some excellent news.”
While Sylvia explained about the new school hall, bringing a relieved expression to Miss Meggs’s face, Jellicoe murmured, “Our assistant. She’s a good soul and handles the boys surprisingly well.”
Cross softly huffed. “I think the boys see her as a vague but doting aunt they need to take care of—which is not a bad thing.”
Jellicoe laughed softly. “I think she plays up to that—when it comes to organizing our lessons, she’s as sharp as a tack.”
Kit watched Sylvia animatedly explaining the school’s change in circumstances to the older woman. Their meeting with the prior the previous evening had gone much as he’d anticipated, with one major difference; the prior, Sylvia, and Kit had discussed various payment options, and, in the end, in order to avoid any future onus falling on Sylvia regarding the rent, they had agreed—Kit reluctantly—to put the lease in his name, with him making payments directly to the Abbey, rather than having Sylvia’s name on the lease, with him standing as formal guarantor, and the payments routed through her. While she’d been perfectly content with the arrangement, Kit had to w
onder if she realized just how much at his mercy that left the school. Of course, he would never do anything untoward, like renege on payments or cancel the lease, but she didn’t know that. He’d ended with the distinct impression that Miss Sylvia Buckleberry, clergyman’s daughter, trusted too easily for her own good.
Except, of course, when it came to him, but he was working on that.
One of the boys who’d gone to fetch family members returned, towing his older brother by the sleeve. The pair were quickly followed by the other four boys with their willing elders in tow. Most weren’t fathers but older brothers and cousins, hale and strong from working on the docks. When all were assembled, they had twelve men, in addition to Jellicoe, Cross, and Kit himself.
Kit glanced at Sylvia, and she stepped forward. In a clear voice, she thanked the men for coming and outlined the proposed sequence of ferrying items to Trinity Street. “I’ll go ahead and open up the hall there. Please, before you leave the warehouse with anything, notify Miss Meggs”—Sylvia waved to the school assistant, who now stood by the warehouse door, board and pencil in hand—“so she can ensure that we successfully get everything to its new home.”
The men nodded readily.
One said, “We’re pleased to help, miss. But about our money...?”
Kit stepped forward. “Come to me at the end of the day for payment—at that time, I’ll be at the Trinity Street hall.” Kit ran his gaze over the boys and men alike. “And the end of our day is as soon as we clear this building and ferry everything to the new hall.”
The boys cheered, and the men looked eager to start lifting and carrying.
Kit waved them forward with the stipulation “Two to a desk. We don’t want any dropped and broken.”
The move got under way, with everyone in high good spirits. The men could easily handle a desk between two, and the boys loaded their arms with books and slates.
As Kit had suspected, Jellicoe and Cross folded the stands of the two big blackboards, then carefully set the boards into strap-like slings and set off, each carrying one of the boards slung on his back and the folded stand in his hands.