Page 5 of Betrayal from Beyond
Niall checked his pocket watch. “What do you say to heading over to Stayme’s?” he asked Harold. “He’ll likely be heading out to Bluefield today. We can ride with him.”
Harold paused long enough in the recitation of marsh animals he now knew hemustsee to agree.
Niall hailed a hack, and they set off for Mayfair. He made a few notes as the boy waxed enthusiastic about the prospect of a visit to Mr. Blundel’s fens, but after a while, Harold grew silent.
Niall looked up to see the boy pressed up against the window. “Is something amiss?”
“No.” Harold sighed.
Niall waited.
“It’s just… Sometimes it feels odd.”
“What does?”
“Riding inside a hack instead of hitching on to the back and dropping off before you’re found out.”
“Ah.”
“Sometimes when I see the street rats, it makes me wonder about my old crew.”
Niall put aside his pencil. “Do you not see them now and again? I would have thought you would run into them in Covent Garden when you help out Maisie with deliveries.” The boy still enjoyed helping out at the pie shop where he lived when they had coaxed him off the streets.
“Not so much anymore.”
Niall wondered if a fair few of Harold’s old crew might not have survived the harsh conditions of London’s streets. He kept the thought to himself and gazed quietly out the window for a long moment. They had reached the first of the cleaner, quieter streets of Mayfair before Harold spoke again.
“Niall?”
“Yes?”
“I truly am recovered. Dr. Balgate said so.”
“I know. And I think you know how relieved and happy we are.” Niall himself was still furious, as the poison that had endangered the boy had been meant for him. But justice had been served, and he had to let his anger go. Or so Kara kept telling him.
“Before I got ill, I asked Kara if I could take lessons.” Harold paused. “The sort of lessons she had when she was younger.”
“Oh.” It was no small request. Kara’s lessons had been extensive and varied—not to mention unusual and, in part, illegal.
“She agreed,” Harold reassured him. “But that was then. I’m worried she might not still feel the same.”
Niall held his breath a moment. He let his gaze wander over Harold’s anxious expression. The lad was growing up. He’d noticed Kara’s worry, and instead of resenting it, he was being careful of her feelings.
Pride swelled Niall’s chest.
“It is very good of you to take her feelings into consideration. Not to mention, it is very mature of you. Well done, Harold.” Niall paused. “I think, if you were to ask again, that Kara would first say that she doesn’t wish for you to worry about your safety, or hers, or mine. I would agree that we want you to know that it is our responsibility to protect you, not the other way around.” He held up a hand as the boy’s expression grew stubborn. “However, I think we both can understand the wish to learn,to prepare, to ready yourself for all of the sorts of obstacles life might throw at you.” He nodded. “If you ask again, I am sure she will agree.” He gave a half-smile as Harold sighed in relief. “But if I were you, I would come up with a list of the lessons you would like, and prioritize them, with reasoning included. You know she respects a measured argument.”
The boy laughed. “I will.” His attention was drawn to the window again as they turned into the wide lanes of Berkeley Square. “We’re here!”
Niall paid the driver while Harold ran ahead to the viscount’s door. It opened just as Niall caught up to the boy, but not before he noticed Harold’s attention fixed on Stayme’s slightly naughty door knocker.
The lad truly was growing up.
Watts, the viscount’s butler, welcomed them.
“Is he in his study?” asked Niall, familiar with his aging mentor’s compulsive habits.
“No, Your Grace.” Watts was entirely too staid to roll his eyes, but his tone got his point across. “Lord Stayme is in the blue bedroom at the moment.”
