Status Updates From Her Ladyship's Companion (S...

Melissa has decided to leave. Robbie is missing and has been all day. It's likely trouble since he thinks someone is trying to kill him. Giles would admit nothing when Melissa tried to discuss it with him at Robbie's behest.

Giles kissed Melissa and seemed to be calling her a whore. She slapped him and fled, then was accosted by Anna claiming she was throwing herself at him. Giles indicated the dancing was more than innocent to him, but Melissa was not showing much interest then after the kiss, she claims she's hopelessly in love with him????

She has a new position with the Dowager things seem to be off in this house. The 7 yr. old Earl thinks someone is trying to kill him. There had been a fire in the nursery and his governess was not in the house at the time. The door to get him out had been jammed somehow. Two days later she had died by going over a cliff. Murder? Suicide? ?

"And the young earl's governess..."
Her employer's face took on a closed look, not inviting further questions. "Just at present there isn't any governess."
"She left?" something prompted Melissa to ask, even in the face of disapproval.
"In a way..."

"Why must it be Cornwall, of all places? They haven't even paved the roads yet. They don't even speak English there."

"Ridiculous, isn't it, making such a fuss over a minute's harmless pleasure?"
"Perhaps." Giles watched Melissa leave the room and close the door after her. "But it may not have been as harmless as you think."

"This bed is Elizabethan at any rate. Carved oak." Giles patted the coverlet fondly. He managed to resist the temptation to suggest they try the bed out together to see if it still worked.

Why did he choose to send you instead of a respectable middle-aged frump?"
"Following your instructions, my lady," Melissa replied levelly, "I'm sure."
"Mmmmm. So he was. Trust a Methodist to send a surprise package like you to a household full of randy bachelors."

"Delightful. A Botticelli of my very own. Whose bright idea was this—yours or that fool Biddle? Or is she one of Adrian's disgards?"

"Why must it be Cornwall, of all places? They haven't even paved the roads yet. They don't even speak English there."

Miss Melissa Rivenwood, no longer the French mistress at the seminary but now most definitely the former French Mistress, was staring out the gable window reflectively and biting a thumbnail.