Daring Deception Part 7

"Here is the nursery," he said, opening a door on the right.

"Christabel, there is someone here who wishes to make your acquaintance," he called out as they entered the room.

A spinally woman of advanced years came forward to greet them, her back as straight as a ramrod.

"She's been a rare terror this morning, my lord," she told the earl at once.

Her shrewd grey eyes a.s.sessed Frederiea as she spoke.

"I've been trying to get her out from behind the clothes-press for half an hour, with no success. She's playing one of her silly games, and tells me it is her cave or some such thing. I have a thousand more important things to do than coax a sulky child, I can tell you!"

"Very well, Mrs. Abbott, you may go about your other duties. Miss Cherrystone and I shall see what we can do." He waited until she was gone before turning to Frederica.

"Mrs. Abbott DARING DHCHPTION

is a gem of a housekeeper, but I fear that she hasn't the energy or the time to keep up with Christabel. Nor does she appear to have a natural rapport with children, never having had any herself. "

"Where/s the child, my lord?" asked Frederica curiously, glancing around the large chamber.

A few toys and books were arranged on two high shelves in regimented rows, and a small table was neatly set for a meal. A little bed in the corner was smoothly made, and not a speck of dust or a sc.r.a.p of stray clothing was to be seen. It seemed to her a cold, sterile excuse for a nursely.

"Behind here, I presume," replied Lord Sea brooke, crossing to a large clothes-press in the corner opposite the bed. Looking behind it, he said,

"Come out at once, Christabel. I want you to meet Miss Cherrystone."

In response, there was a high-pitched growling noise from behind the clothes-press, but no Christabel emerged.

"May I try, my lord?" asked Frederica. In spite of her misgivings about the situation, she could already feel st'm'ings of sympathy for a child forced to live in these barren surroundings.

At his nod, she came forward and peered behind the enormous piece of furniture. She could see a small figure crouched in the corner at the other end.

"Christabel?" she said tentatively.

She was greeted by the same growling sound as the earl had been.

Drawing back in mock alarm, Frederiea exclaimed,

"Oh, my! There's a bear back here! It's hiding deep in its den, my lord!"

The growling grew fiercer.

"Perhaps we can lure it out with a big piece of meat," she suggested.

Picking up a biscuit from the table, she held it where Christabel could see it.

"Here, bear, I have some meat. Please don't eat me!"

The growling changed to a giggle, and a little girl in a rumpled pinafore emerged. She brushed back tousled golden curls and looked up at Frederica with enormous, clear blue eyes. She was the loveliest child Frederica had ever seen. "I'm a wolf, not a bear," she informed her with an impish smile.

"Oh, yes. I can see that now," said Frederica seriously.

"Will you take this meat instead of my arm, Mr. Wolf?"

Christabel giggled again and took the biscuit from her. Instead of eating it however, she held one tiny hand out to Frederica.

"Are you going to be my new nanny?" she asked, gazing wistfully up at her with those luminous eyes.

"Miss Cherrystone?" prompted Lord Sea- brooke when she did not answer at once.

Frederica knelt down, never taking her eyes from the child's face.

"Yes, Christabel," she said softly.

"I'm going to be your new nanny."

CHAPTER FOUR.

"So YOU SEE, Milly, it is a respectable position, if rather unconventional.

I believe it will serve my purpose admirably. It is really rather amusing now to remember what we suspected." Frederica took asip of her tea.

"I am to start tomorrow, so we must decide which of my things--and yours-will be appropriate for me to bring along." She had just finished relating the entire story of her interview with Lord Sea brooke and her acceptance of the post of nanny-cure-a.s.sistant housekeeper.

Miss. Milliken frowned.

"I am not certain I should call it precisely respectable, Frederica. If you consider how the child came into the world--which I would prefer you not do, actually-" "It is scarcely poor Christabel's fault, Milly," said Frederica reprovingly.

"She is the sweetest child, and simply starved for a bit of attention and amus.e.m.e.nt. After all, she had no say in the matte rand it seems most unfair that she should suffer for the sins of her parents."

DA. I~NO DECEPTION.

"You are Still very innocent, Frederic. a," said Miss Milliken with a sigh.

"It may not be fair, but it is the way things are in the world. Darling though she may be, your little Christabel will never be accepted by Polite Society. The best she will be able to aspire to is a post as an upper servant.

And there, I fear, her looks will be against her if she retains the promise of beauty you claim she possesses. A much worse, if more luxurious, fate may well await her. "

It took Frederica no more than a moment for Miss Milliken's meaning to become clear.

"Oh, no, Milly!" she cried, aghast.

"That will never be, I am determined.

With me there to guide her, to show her right from wrong, surely"" Frederica, are you not forgetting that yours is merely a temporary post? That your real purpose is to discover enough about Lord Sea brooke to persuade Sir Thomas to let you off marrying him? Or have you changed that plan? I will admit that as Lady Sea brooke you may well have a lasting influence on the child. "

Frederica bit her lip in chagrin.

"Of course you are right, Milly, and I had forgotten, so taken was I with Christabel. But I fear that Lady Sea brooke will have little say in the matter, no matter who she is, for it is apparent that Lord Sea brooke intends to keep Christabel's existence a secret from her."