“That’s one of the results of divorce.” She frowned. “I hadn’t seen your father in months, but I had a chance encounter with him earlier today. He was furious and accused me of having abducted you from your school.”

“I wish you had!”

“I would have if I’d known where you were,” she said fiercely. “But your father wouldn’t tell me what school you attended. You said it was horrid?”

The boy’s expression darkened. “The Scranton School. Bad food, bad boys, bad masters. It was always freezing cold. Beatings from bigger boys, canings by the masters.”

“It sounds dreadful!” Kendra said, appalled. “I’ve heard that boys’ schools are difficult, but I didn’t think they were that bad!”

“Few are that bad,” Lucas said grimly. “I’m not familiar with Scranton, but I gather Denshire wanted to put Christopher in an unusually harsh school on the theory that such places build strong men.”

“More likely they turn out brutes!” Kendra exclaimed. “Yet you escaped, Kit. How did you do it?”

Christopher grinned, looking very pleased with himself. “Instead of sleeping in a dormitory, I was locked into a separate little room every night. The only window was small, but so am I. I managed to steal a rope from the stables by wrapping it around me under my shirt. Then I took the money of the biggest bully in the school. I escaped out the window that night before he found it was gone.”

“Generally stealing isn’t a good idea,” Kendra said, bemused, “but it sounds as if it was necessary this time. What did you do after you escaped from your room?”

“I hiked to the nearest town. I had to sleep in the woods one night but at least it didn’t rain. From there I caught a coach to Leeds. In Leeds, I got the coach to London.”

“No one questioned why such a young boy was traveling alone?” Kendra said with surprise.

Her son looked impish. “I looked sad and said that my mother was very ill and I’d been ordered to come home. There was no one to come get me so I had to travel alone. I had enough money to pay for my tickets, so the coachies believed me. It was a long ride, but at each stage, nice women looked after me. One gave me a piece of the best currant cake.”

“Your mother said you were clever,” Lucas said admiringly, understanding why motherly women had been inspired to care for him. “She was right.”

“How did you know to come to Thorsay House?” Kendra asked.

“You brought me here once, remember? You introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Brown and said this is kind of a family house. I thought you might be staying here and if you weren’t, they might know where you were.” He used his hand to cover an enormous yawn. “Mama, why are you dressed like a man?”