Jenna Starborn (12 page)

I bent my head over the recorder in my hand and I whispered, “Oh, Reeder, I have met the most remarkable man tonight!”

B
ut the next two days did not, to my chagrin, live up to the promise of the first. That was not a reflection on Mr. Ravenbeck; it was not that, by the cold light of day, he seemed more pedestrian and less able-minded. On the contrary, he seemed invisible. We did not see him at all.

This was a blow to Mrs. Farraday, who lamented the fact over every shared meal and during our quiet, feminine gatherings in the evening. “Poor Mr. Ravenbeck! He has been so busy he's scarcely had time to gobble down a breakfast, and I declare he was over at the mine compound until past midnight last night. Such a shame, for it is nice to see him on those few occasions he is actually here, and I daresay he'll be going away again any day. Well, I will just have the cook go ahead and prepare that special braised beef. I am sure he will have an opportunity to eat it, even if he doesn't get to sit down at a table like a civilized man.”

Ameletta too did much pining over Mr. Ravenbeck's absence, though I had to confess I could not judge the depth of affection that lay between them. They had not seemed to interact at all during the time I had been in the same room with them. Miss Ayerson seemed driven to distraction by the little girl's constant sighing, and spoke a little more sharply than her wont. If she missed Mr. Ravenbeck's presence, she gave no sign.

As for myself, I was conscious of a bitter disappointment, but I conducted myself with all my usual calm dispassion. I had no claim on Mr. Ravenbeck, like Ameletta; no history, like Mrs. Farraday; I had no reason to suppose I would ever lay eyes on him again. Thus, I refused to be sorry that his affairs kept him elsewhere during his brief visit.

“Last time Mr. Ravenbeck was here, he took me for a long ride in his aeromobile,” Ameletta was saying wistfully. “We flew past town and on to the Taff holding, and then we went in and had luncheon. And Mr. Ravenbeck told me silly stories and I laughed and laughed, and he said he had more stories to tell, but he would save them for another time—but the time is now and he is not here!”

“Oh, Ameletta, could you please
stop!”
Miss Ayerson exclaimed. “I am sure Mr. Ravenbeck will find a few hours to spend with you, but it is not attractive to be so desperate over any man's attention, even that of your guardian.”

That statement told me a lot about Miss Ayerson, though I could not exactly argue with the sentiments. I smiled at Ameletta and held out a hand. “Why don't you spend the day with me, Ameletta?” I suggested. “I am going to walk every inch of the forcefield checking for strains, and I am going to bring a picnic lunch with me, and eat it by the oxenheart tree, and then I am going to sit outside in the afternoon sun and read from a book of stories. I think you would enjoy spending such an afternoon with me, wouldn't you?”

A look of mingled relief and guilt crossed Miss Ayerson's face. “That would be very kind of you, Miss Starborn, but you do not need to feel compelled—”

“Yes, a wonderful idea, Jenna!” Mrs. Farraday interposed. “Janet has been looking forward to a free day when she can go into town, but I have not been able to spare Mary or Rinda to watch Ameletta.” These were the two maids-of-all-work who assisted Mrs. Farraday with the upkeep of the household; they were half-cit teenage girls who only stayed at Thorrastone Manor a few days every week, and I had had scarcely any contact with them. Mrs. Farraday continued, “If you think you can handle her, this will suit everyone. I am very sure it will suit Ameletta.”

Indeed, the little girl was bouncing up and down in her seat and mouthing “Please, yes, please, yes” over and over as we debated her fate. I smiled at her again. “I think I will not only handle her, but enjoy her,” I said. “It is settled, then. Ameletta, go change into your most comfortable shoes. I will tell the cook to pack enough lunch for two. Meet me in the foyer in fifteen minutes.”

“Thank you, Miss Starborn,” Miss Ayerson murmured as Ameletta tore from the room.

“A pleasure for me,” I said lightly. “You forget, I was a teacher myself for four years. If I can instill any theories of nuclear physics in her head during our outing, I will do so, but I do not have high hopes of making this an educational episode. I am afraid the most you will have to hope for is that she will be exhausted and compliant by bedtime.”

A few minutes later, Ameletta and I met in the hallway and headed out for our adventure. She was dressed in a bright pink tunic and leggings ; I wore a similar ensemble, though in a more sober gray. She skipped along beside me with so much energy that I thought she might go airborne, like Mr. Ravenbeck's aeromobile. A good thing for both of us to go on a long, brisk walk!

We spent a pleasant day together, once the edge of her excitement was worn off. She chattered incessantly; I needed to do no more than smile, nod, and interject the occasional comment to keep her talking. She loved the holoshows that Miss Ayerson allowed her to watch one day a week, and she described plotlines and character traits to me with so much detail that I would have sworn she was talking about actual acquaintances if I had not known better. A lonely life for a child, I reflected, immured here on this outpost in the company of two spinster women and one who may as well have been. How had she come to be here, anyway? I had never had the opportunity to ask.

At noontime, we spread a thin plastic sheet under the oxenheart tree and unpacked the basket I had carried with me all morning. The cook had catered more to Ameletta's tastes than mine, I saw at once, for there were any number of cakes and cookies tucked inside and very few items of real sustenance. But a diet of pure sugar would not hurt me one day out of the year, I supposed, and so I set out the items with a great flourish. We munched and chatted and munched some more, until Ameletta stretched out on the sheet with a big sigh of contentment.

“That was the best,” she said happily. “I'm so full I think my stomach will pop!”

I was sure Miss Ayerson would not approve of such language, but I did not bother to reprimand her; I felt much the same way. “Would you like to take a little nap? Or would you like to return to the house? If you're tired, we can go back now.”

She shook her head, tangling her honey-colored curls with the motion. “No, I want you to read to me from your storybook. You said you would bring it.”

“And so I did. But perhaps you would like to read to me? And then we could tell Miss Ayerson you have been practicing your vocabulary words.”

She shook her head again. “I am feeling too lazy,” she said. “You read.”

So I smiled and took out my book, a collection of children's stories from across the Allegiance. It was one of the few things I had taken with me from my aunt Rentley's house. “Once, long ago, there was a little girl who lived on the edge of the forest,” I began. Ameletta closed her eyes, and kept them shut until I had read the final paragraph. Then she opened her eyes and gave a little bounce—as much as a person who is supine on the lawn can be expected to bounce.

“I liked that very much!” she exclaimed. “Will you read me another?”

I had the entire day to amuse her; reading stories was the least taxing of the activities we might undertake. “Yes, as many as you like,” I replied, and began the second one.

We were on the fourth tale when I heard the hum of a motor in the distance and paused in my reading. Ameletta scrambled to an upright position and stared hard in the direction of the mine compound.

“That must be Mr. Ravenbeck, returning to the manor,” she exclaimed.

“Now, Ameletta,” I admonished. “Mr. Ravenbeck is a busy man. Even if it is your guardian, we cannot assume that because he is headed in this direction, he has any time to spend with us.”

But I may as well have directed my comments to the tree itself for all the heed she paid me. She leaped to her feet and began jumping up and down, waving her hands wildly to catch the driver's attention. “Mr. Ravenbeck! Mr. Ravenbeck! We are over here!” she called. I sat where I was, making no more attempt to check her. If it was indeed he, and he had a moment to spare, he might stop; if not, he would not. Let the matter be between him and his ward.

Nonetheless, I was a little surprised when the aircar veered from its course and turned our way, coming to a halt a few feet from where our plastic sheeting was spread. The driver was indeed Mr. Ravenbeck, and he swung himself from the seat with all of an athlete's natural ease. I noticed that he did not seem to favor his leg as he strode over to us, and that the three-day old cut on his forehead had healed almost completely.

“Miss Starborn! Ameletta! What a happy chance! I was just thinking I had not seen either of you since I arrived. Ameletta,
chiya,
you need not greet me with quite so much enthusiasm,” he added, for the girl had thrown herself at him the way a puppy will leap toward his boy-owner's face. I noticed the endearment—the first I had heard anyone use toward her—and saw also how it made her flush with pleasure. But I wondered why it would occur to him to use a word that came, if my linguistics were correct, from the Corbramb world where an exotic dialect spiced up the Millennial English used by the rest of the Allegiance.

“It is just that I am so happy to see you,” she explained somewhat breathlessly. “Everyone tells me that I must not bother you, but it does not bother you to take me for a ride in your aeromobile, does it, or to fly me into town for a piece of cake at the pastry shop?”

“No, not a bother at all,” he said, smiling. “In fact, I was wondering if you would like to do just that—ride into town for a bit of a snack.” He looked over at me. “Miss Starborn can come too.”

I smiled. There was nothing I would have liked better, but Ameletta deserved his notice far more than I did. “I think your ward wishes for a bit of your undivided attention,” I said. “She has talked of very little except you for the past three days, and how much she enjoyed your previous outings. I would not like to intrude on that.”

“No intrusion,” he said with a slight frown just as Ameletta was crying, “Oh, Miss Starborn! Please come with us!”

But I was resolute. I shook my head, smiling still. “Some other time, perhaps,” I said, knowing there would probably be no other time. “I have spent the day with this little bundle of energy. I have plenty of things I can accomplish if you are to take over her care for a few hours.”

He still did not look entirely pleased, but he did not let that keep him from patting Ameletta's blonde head with an absent-minded though gentle gesture. “Very well,” he said. “I shall take full responsibility for my ward. But you,” he added, glancing down at that ecstatic creature, “need to run inside and change into something a little more fancy. We will be going to the Mayfair Shop, and I only take the most elegant ladies there.”

She giggled and glanced down at her tunic. “I have the prettiest dress I have been saving for weeks and weeks,” she said. “It is made of ivory lace and sewn all over with pearl buttons. Shall I wear that? Is it fancy enough for the Mayfair Shop?”

“It sounds ideal,” Mr. Ravenbeck said.

“But, Ameletta,” I warned. “You have spent the whole afternoon eating sweets and candies. Make sure you order something healthy and nourishing in addition to dessert.”

“I will,” she promised. “Mr. Ravenbeck, I will be
right back.
Don't move an inch!” And so saying, she took off as fast as her short legs could carry her toward the door of the manor house.

The two of us gazed after her in silence for about thirty seconds. “You could have offered her a ride,” I remarked. “It would have been much faster.”

He gave a short bark of laughter. “I know. That is why I chose to let her run. I wanted a chance to have at least a brief conversation with my new technician. I have been a bad employer, I know. I have not seen you in three days or checked on your work or inquired if you had any questions to ask me. I would remedy that now.”

I took a deep breath. “As to the performance of my duties, I feel reasonably confident,” I said. “The questions I do have pertain more to the inhabitants of Thorrastone Manor, and those perhaps are better left unasked.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “Miss Starborn, you astonish me. Not one woman in ten thousand would have the nerve to bring up such a subject to her new employer mere days after having met him.”

“I have brought up no subject,” I pointed out. “I merely commented that there were subjects I would
like
to bring up.”

“Let me guess,” he said, glancing back toward the manor. “Ameletta.”