“Don't think.”

The knocking grew louder.

“Someone is at the door.”

“No one would be that cruel,” he murmured, his words disappearing into her neck. “Or that stupid.”

“Ellie!” they both heard, and it was immediately apparent that the voice belonged to Judith.

“Damn,” Charles swore, rolling off of Ellie. For no one else would he have been able to hold his desire in check. But little Judith's voice was enough to convince him that he couldn't put his own needs first just then. He sat up and buttoned his shirt. When he looked over at Ellie, he saw that she was hurrying to the door, righting her appearance as she moved. He had to smile at her attempts to smooth her hair. He'd certainly done a rather nice job mussing it up.

Ellie pulled open the door to reveal Judith, whose lower lip was trembling. She immediately crouched down. “Judith, whatever is the matter?” she asked. “Why are you so sad?”

“I'm not sad. I'm mad!”

Both Ellie and Charles had to smile at that.

“Won't you come in?” Ellie said, keeping her voice appropriately grave.

Judith nodded like a queen and entered. “Oh, good evening, Charles.”

“Good evening to you, too, Judith. It's fine to see you. I should have thought you'd be getting ready for bed.”

“I would have been, but Miss Dobbin stole my pudding.”

Charles looked at Ellie in complete confusion. His wife was trying to suppress an amused smile. Clearly she knew what this was about.

“Did she give you an excuse?” Ellie asked.

Judith's mouth twisted into a most annoyed expression. “She said I had misbehaved when we were practicing my letters.”

“And did you?”

“Maybe just a little bit. But certainly not enough for her to take my pudding!”

Ellie turned to Charles. “What was the pudding to-night?”

“Strawberry tarts with custard and cinnamon,” he replied. “It was quite nice, actually.”

“My favorite,” Judith muttered. “And Miss Dobbin's favorite, too.”

“Mine as well,” Ellie added, placing her hand on her stomach when it let out a loud growl.

“Perhaps you shouldn't have skipped the evening meal,” Charles said helpfully.

She shot him a waspish look before turning back to Judith. “I did promise to help you should this occasion arise, didn't I?”

“Indeed you did. That is why I am here. I deserve my pudding! And I can prove it.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ellie could see Charles shaking with laughter. Trying to ignore him, she focused her gaze back on Judith and said, “Is that so?”

“Mmm-hmm.” The little girl's head bobbed up and down. “I brought a copy of my lessons. You can see that I got all of my letters perfect. Even Z, which is frightfully hard.”

Ellie took the piece of paper Judith had pulled from the pocket of her frock. It was a bit crumpled, but Ellie could see that Judith had written out all of her letters in both lower and upper case. “Very nice,” she murmured. “Although you show an extra bump in the ‘M.’”