After that everything happened so quickly that Valeda thought she must be in a dream.
Hermione finished her cup of tea with a somewhat wry expression on her face, as if it were not good enough for her and said,
“Now you had better hurry because I want to get back to the house where I am staying before it is dark, and we leave very early tomorrow morning for London.”
“You mean me to come with you?” Valeda asked.
“Of course. There is no point in your not doing so,” Hermione replied. “I am staying with a very old relation of Arthur’s who is almost blind. I shall tell her you are my sister, but after that you become Mirabelle’s new Governess whom I am taking to London with me.”
The way she spoke told Valeda she had had it all mapped out in her mind before she arrived. She knew that her si
