looked very young and nearly as afraid as I felt. When I hesitated, he added, “Please, Miss Newton.”
I took a couple of deep breaths to steel myself, then followed his instructions. When he winced or gasped in pain, I pulled back, but he urged me on. Finally, I had the wound bandaged.
He inspected my work and said, “Well done. You make an excellent nurse.”
“I hope so,” I said, frowning at him in worry. He still looked awful, all pale and sweaty. Without thinking, because I’d done this sort of thing so often for my mother during her illness, I took the handkerchief from my pocket and blotted the sweat from his face. He closed his eyes and gave a little sigh, and then I realized what I was doing and withdrew my hand. I’d used Alec’s handkerchief, which I’d brought to the party with the intention of returning to him but had entirely forgotten in all the excitement, and it seemed a betrayal of him to use it to tend to a magister. I shoved it back into my pocket.
“Might I ask you one more favor tonight?” Lord Henry said.
I was afraid of what else he might want me to do, but I still said, “Of course.”
“I could use a cup of cocoa. If no one’s in the kitchen, ring the bell to summon a maid. Get enough for two and bring it back here.”
He sounded so commanding that I had to obey. The kitchen was deserted, but rather than wake a maid I made the cocoa myself. When I returned to the study with a tray, I found Lord Henry dressed in a clean shirt. If I hadn’t known to look for it, I wouldn’t have noticed the lump of bandage under his sleeve.
“Oh, bless you, you’re a treasure,” he said as I poured the cocoa into cups and handed him one. He was still very pale.
Concerned, I said, “You should see a physician. You don’t want that wound to fester.”
“Matthews is an expert at tending to these things, so don’t worry yourself. Now, did you enjoy your party?” He sounded more like his usual absentminded scientist self again.
“Yes, quite a bit.” This seemed an odd conversation to have so soon after I’d bandaged his arm. It was so disconcertingly normal, though I supposed there was nothing normal about being closeted with my wounded employer in his study late on a Saturday night. If I’d been a different class of girl, this would have been enough to compromise me, and he would have been required to marry me. My face grew warm at the idea, and I couldn’t meet his eyes when he smiled at me, for fear he could read my thoughts.
Instead, I took the opportunity to look away from him and examine the forbidden room. It was much as Olive had described, full of jars of bugs and spiders, with boards covered in butterflies on the walls. Books were piled on every horizontal surface. Sketches of specimens were pinned haphazardly around the room, and if Lord Henry had drawn them, he had considerable artistic talent.
“Are you enjoying your work thus far?” he asked, startling me out of my observation.
“Yes, very much,” I said. “Olive is a delightful pupil, and Rollo shows great promise. Flora is…” I trailed off, not sure what to say about her.
He grinned. “Yes, quite. Flora is a challenge. Oh, and that reminds me.” He turned in his chair and sifted through some papers on his desk, coming up with an invitation card. “Flora and Rollo have been invited to a dinner party Wednesday, and you’ll need to chaperone them. I don’t like Rollo going out on a school night, but his grandfather the governor issued the invitation, so I don’t have much choice.” He handed the card to me.
His name was included on the invitation, and when I glanced up at him, a smile flickered across his lips before he said with deadpan solemnity, “Unfortunately, I have a feeling I will be quite ill that evening and will have to send Flora and Rollo with my regrets.”
Perhaps it was the lingering effect of the punch that loosened my tongue, but before I was aware I’d spoken, I said, “You don’t get on well with the governor?”
He moved his cup into his right hand, then with his left he reached up to rub his eyes wearily under his glasses. “He didn’t agree with my brother’s choice of guardian for the children. As I recall,