Lord Barnes tugged on his ear. “How can I put this delicately?”
I waited, heart pounding.
“I have a predicament.” He cleared his throat. “You see, there are men here who are coarse—uncouth and uneducated and angry that their hopes for gold or silver are squelched when they arrive to find the mountains and rivers stripped of their former bounty. There aren’t many women. If you were an ancient schoolmistress, I wouldn’t worry.” He rose from the chair and crossed the room to a table with various decanters of alcohol and poured himself another drink.
“Worry?” I squeaked the word out of my dry mouth. What did he mean?
“Yes, Miss Cooper.” He sat across from me once more. “I’m afraid that a lovely young lady will not be safe at the boardinghouse. In good conscience, I cannot allow you to live there.”
I swallowed tears. If he made me go home, I would die. Yes, die. How could I fail so miserably already? I cursed myself. I should have told him the truth about my age during our correspondence. “I’m tougher than I look, Lord Barnes.” My voice wavered, defying my argument.
“Miss Cooper, I’m sure your moral toughness is unparalleled. Your grit has been demonstrated by making the journey alone without funds to eat properly. However, given your…your appearance…it’s simply not possible for you to live at the boardinghouse. We have one woman to eighty men. I wouldn’t sleep at night.”
I reached for my water glass but instead picked up the one with brandy in it and took a large swallow before I realized, which caused another terrible coughing fit. By the end of almost hacking up a lung, I wished the floor would simply open up and consume me. So much for the lion or the plucky heroine. They’d both died a quick death. My vision blurred with tears from the fit and the panic that surged through me. “Please, don’t send me back. I need this job desperately.”
He put up his hands, obviously alarmed by my tears. “No, no. I’m not suggesting that at all, Miss Cooper. I was honest with you in my letters. I’ve been trying to get a teacher out here for years.”
“I’m here. I don’t want to go home.”
“Yes, we’re in agreement. I don’t want you to go home, either. Thus, you will live here with me and my family. This way I can rest easy that you’re safe and well taken care of.”
“Stay here?” I couldn’t possibly. A family lived here. I didn’t belong in this posh mansion with an English lord and his beautiful children. “I’m not someone who should live in a house like this.”
“Why would you say that?” The laughter had left his eyes. He stared at me with what appeared to be genuine curiosity.
“I’m… Well, look at my shoes.” Like an utter oaf, I lifted one foot from under the table. “Two weeks ago, I was scrubbing floors to keep my family from starvation.”
His mouth opened, then shut, then opened again. “Miss Cooper, the state of your shoes has nothing to do with your merit. You’ve come all this way, exposed yourself to danger and hunger, which is all I need to know about your character. This house is big enough for all of us. Please, this is the only solution.”
My heart beat so fast I was afraid it might explode. He wasn’t sending me away. He wanted to keep me safe. Lord Barnes was a gentleman with a warm heart. I gushed, the words tumbling out of my mouth. “If you want me here, then I’ll stay. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about my age. I was afraid you’d discard me because of my lack of experience. I left out a few details, which was wrong of me. It’s that I’m desperate. My mother’s sick, and my sister’s only sixteen. They need my salary.”
“Consider it no more.”
I breathed for the first time in more than a minute. “I promise I won’t be a disappointment.”
“I’ve complete confidence in you.”
I murmured another thank-you and studied my hands as fatigue settled on me as heavy as the falling snow outside the window.
“May I ask what’s wrong with your mother?”
“It’s something with her lungs. The city air makes it hard for her to breathe.” I stopped talking, afraid I would burst into tears if I said much more.
He was quiet for a moment before he said, “It’s all right to miss them, Miss Cooper. I hope, in time, your sadness will lessen. We’ll keep you busy enough that perhaps you’ll be distracted.”
“So far, it’s proven to be an adventure.” I let my gaze stray to his face. “I’ve already been thrown from a sleigh, awakened on a stranger’s sofa with the eyes of five little angels staring at me.” I found myself smiling at the memory. “Not to mention the kind offer to let me stay at your magnificent house.”
He looked away as a smile crinkled his face. “I have one more thing to discuss with you.”
“Yes?”
“In our correspondence, I wasn’t completely forthright, either. The job I’m asking of you is not as simple as teaching children. Not in the conventional sense, anyway. We have a great deal of men here who have come from other places and cannot read or speak English. I’d like you to teach them as well.”
“Adult men?”
“I understand it’s a bit unusual.” He swirled whiskey around his glass without looking at me. “I’ll pay you double if you conduct night school twice a week.”
“Double?” Double pay would mean I could save as much as I sent home. I could reunite with my sister and mother sooner.