The candle flickered when a large piece of wax fell onto the brass dish. Gordon was certain that the light would soon go out, yet he was nowhere near finished with work. Although small, the work of the miss had helped him with the past few days certainly eased his overall workload. Otherwise, her abcense today wouldn't have been so evident.
The butler stood from his desk chair and stretched his stiff legs, the joints in his knees and hips aching. On nights like these he couldn't help but bemoan his old age.
He picked up a new candle from the desks bottom drawer and lit it with a sigh. Although he had no clock to look at the time had to be well past midnight.
Before getting back to it, he looked again at the crumpled open letter next to him with a heavy heart.
Soon, just as he was about to finish the week's taxreview, someone knocked on the door to his office and he almost smeared the ink. He quickly surpressed the rising irritation, well aware that it was due to his own tiredness and nothing more.
"Come on in" he said, and the door creaked open.
In the dark corridor stood the young miss, a thick robe wrapped over her nightgown and her hair disheveled.
"Miss Ainsworth" he inquiered, and a pair of weary eyes met his.
"I am sorry to disturb" she said. "I couldn't sleep, and I noticed the light was still on in here while I stretched my legs."
Her gaze fell on the desk with its stacks of papers.
"I do not wish to intrude. Feel free to say no, I just wondered of there is anything I can help you with?"
Gordon regarded the girl with worry. Since arriving here her condition had seemed to improve, but things appeared to have turned for worse these past few days. Right now she didn't look much better than she had on her first night here. The skin underneath her eyes was dark and puffy and her cheeks lacked their usual color.
"Of course, any help is appreciated" he answered, quickly hiding the letter in the top drawer. Now was not the time for her to know.
The girl pulled out a stool and took a seat by the desk opposite of him like usual.
"I have already finished inventory" Gordon explained."But I'd very much like some help in reviewing this. Do you know mathematics?"
He slid a document across the desk.
"Only the basics" the girl answered and the butler smiled kindly.
"That will do nicely."
The task of overseeing staff's salaries was traditionally only done by the lady of the house but Gordon saw no harm in letting the miss start early. He patiently explained the table's layout and topics and the girl listened intently. She caught on quickly and could be left to it on her own even faster than Gordan had hoped.
'She's a clever one' he thought.
When the miss first came to them Gordon had held a healthy level of suspicion towards her. Despite his Lord's infatuation with the girl and the horrible treatment in the Ainsworth estate that her thin frame so obviously had revealed, that did not guarantee her loyalty to his Grace in his the butler's eyes. However, it had lately become apparent to him that the miss held a great level of affection towards Dario as well.
Though her background was certainly flawed he could think of worse candidates for the position of Grand Duchess.
"I have found an error" she suddenly said.
"In the graph, this is supposed four gold, not five. Shall I mark the page so you can look it over later?"
"No, you can simply cross it over and add a correction."
The girl seemed glad about the trust that he showed her.
"I am aware I've already asked you this earlier tonight, but I want to make sure; did the Viscount do or say anything to you that he shouldn't have?"
She answered without tearing her eyes from the document for even a moment.
"No, my uncle was most courteous and a big help to me."
"Did something else happen then? I do not mean to overstep, but something seems to be bothering you."
She paused her reading and parted her lips as if she was about to say something, then stopped herself.
"Nothing noteworthy happened" she said and nonchalantly dipped her quill.
If Gordon had one thing to note about the girl it would be her secrecy, always keeping her guard up. Though he supposed that wasn't unlike the very man that he himself served.
The butler once more immersed himself in work, only noticing the time's passing when the candle yet again flickered. When he raised his eyes he noticed that the miss had fallen asleep, her tousled hair falling across the desk.
Gordon sighed, deciding that this was enough for him tonight.
After gathering all finished papers into neat stacks, including the document that Amelia was done reviewing and was now resting her cheek on, he scooped the girl into his arms and carefully layed her in the small sofa in office.
'I may be old, but I'm not yet weak' he then thought to himself.
He covered the miss with a warm blanket and affectionatly swept the hair out of her face, chuckling to himself as he noticed that the ink had imprinted numbers on her cheek.
Gordon brought his candle with him as he left the office, hoping that the girl would for once get a peacul night's rest.