I let out a faint relieved sigh when I saw that the article was exactly as I had written it. My friends might not have been totally honest, but they hadn’t betrayed my integrity. I looked up at Henry, who was still frowning at the newspaper. His reaction to the shootings and the riots sounded rather revolutionary for a magister—yet another thing about him that didn’t fit.

Someone behind us cleared her throat, and both of us whirled guiltily. Mrs. Talbot stood in the doorway. “His Grace the Duke is here to see you, my lord. Are you at home to visitors?”

“Is he here to see me or the children?” Lord Henry asked.

“He specifically asked to speak with you, on a personal matter.”

Lord Henry suddenly seemed very young, like a schoolboy dreading a meeting with his headmaster. “I suppose I have to talk to him. Have Chastain send him up.”

“Up here, my lord? Not to the formal parlor?”

“He is family, isn’t he? Yes, send him here.” When she was gone, he said, “I feel so small in the formal parlor, and that’s the last thing I need when I face him.”

I remembered the newspapers and hurried to fold them up, the World inside the Herald. “Oh, good thinking, Ver—Miss Newton,” he said with a gulp. “If he’d seen that…”

“I’ll get these out of the way, then,” I said. “I can go see how the children are doing.”

He caught my arm. “No! Don’t leave me alone with him!” He sounded desperate. “If there’s a witness, he’ll have to be careful what he says to me.” With a crooked grin, he added, “Please be my chaperone.”

I glanced down at the newspapers I held, then stuffed them behind a potted palm in the corner. A second later, the governor entered. Lord Henry put on a smile and moved to greet him, stumbling over the edge of the carpet. “Your Grace, what brings you here today?”

“Lyndon,” the governor began, but then he turned as if noticing me for the first time.

“I believe you’ve already met our governess, Miss Newton,” Lord Henry said. “We were just conferring on her plan for the children’s lessons.”

The governor frowned at me, then stared at Henry and waited. Lord Henry looked back at him guilelessly. It took all my self-control to school my face once I realized what was happening. The governor didn’t want me there, but it was up to Lord Henry to dismiss his employee. After a long, silent battle between the two men, the governor gave an exasperated huff and said, “I’m sure you’re aware of last night’s events.”

“Yes, we heard the mob go past the house. It was quite harrowing.”

“Your house seems to have been spared.”