"Do you think I'd let my little sister go back there to be molested?" He said, finishing the letter, and pausing to look up at her, "You know your letters, don't you Mary?" He asked. She'd know a few, he was sure, she wouldn't get a position like nursemaid if she didn't know basic letters and numbers. "I've written a letter to send to Lord Stanley, telling him you're resigning from the household." He said, glancing back up at her. "You don't want to stay there, do you?" He added, almost as an after thought.
The last words she said made him pause for a moment, before he smiled, lips twitching upwards. "My wife?" He said, "I ain't married, Mary. Not yet, anyway." He said, glancing over the letter as the ink dried. "But I have a house. A nice one. You'll see. And you won't be staff, you'll be a guest."