He looked at her, surprised. “I did it for the best. I’m doing all I can to ensure that by the time the boy reaches his majority, he won’t inherit his father’s massive debt. I moved him out of his family home because it’s a large house at the center of a huge estate—an estate that ought to be prosperous but instead is in debt. I’ve put in a new manager, made a raft of changes and innovations and rented out the house to a wealthy cit who has a fancy to live like a gentleman. And, yes, he wanted to buy it, but I’m determined to save it for the boy.”

She nodded. “I can see that, but what about Phillip?”

“What about him? I’m doing this for him.”

“He’d just lost his father.”

He shrugged. “I don’t suppose the boy knew his father any better than I did. Neither of my parents spent much time at Everingham Abbey, where I grew up. My mother loathes the country and only ever went there on sufferance. And, of course, my father indulged her.”

So both his parents had been more or less strangers to him, George thought.

He continued, “As far as I know Phillip’s father spent most of the time in London gambling hells or at country house parties. Besides, at that age, servants are the most important thing in a child’s life. But he was too old for a nanny, so I hired a tutor who would prepare him for school.”

“So he had nobody familiar?”

“What does that matter? As I said, he’ll be starting school as soon as his health improves, and there will be nobody familiar at school. I didn’t know a soul when I started there.”

“How old were you?”

“Seven.”

She was horrified. “Seven? But you were still a baby.”

He snorted. “Tell any seven-year-old boy he’s still a baby and he’ll hate you for it. I managed.”

“Did you like it?”

He thought for a minute. “Does anyone like school at first? I got used to it, eventually. Once I’d made a few friends there, things were a lot better.” He glanced at her. “Some of those friends are still my friends today—Sinc, for instance. Johnny Sinclair. We met on the first day, but it took us a while to take to each other. Sinc has a knack for making friends easily.” He grimaced. “I don’t.”