Tobias nodded. "That will be for the school to handle." He knew little about how a board school worked as neither he nor his siblings had attended one. "Ye must be right clever if you are so ahead of your age with so little schooling. Tis a pity..." that was a bit harsh, to remind the boy that he didn't have a family and the financial support that came with it. He started again: "Ye might have become a teacher. Ye might still look into finding a way towards a better job. A clerk or sum't."

She had not thought of being a teacher.  All she had done was look toward helping her family business and then everything crashed.  Survival had been her made focus.  That and not ending up a prostitute.  That is what she had overheard some of the street women talking about in how they had been in an orphanage but were too old to be adopted by a family.  The couple that did adopt them had put them to work on the street.  Others spoke of being made into servants, not a family member.  She had not wanted either of those and had gone in panic mode, planning how to avoid both endings.  She had loved the family that had helped her right after she got out of the hospital, but they couldn't afford another head to eat.  She had heard them arguing about it.  The mother had wanted to keep her, but four kids and another on the way in that part of town with low wages, the father just didn't see how they could manage it.  She had left without saying goodbye other than a note to say thanks for all they had done.

A teacher though or a clerk she could do, now that she was of age, they were possible.  "Are there jobs like that around here?  I wouldn't know how to get a job like that."  She asked looking at him.

"It would be hard to become a teacher now. You'd be a pupil teacher first, but you've been out of school so long. As for a clerk you'd need more schoolin' too. And an excellent character. So no more stealing and bein' clever and wanderin' about." He had paid for an apprenticeship for Jimmy's older brother, but then, the Cookes had lived on his lands since he was a teenager, and when tragedy had struck, he had felt responsible as their landlord to do something for them. He wasn't going to make any promises to a child he had just met, but if the boy turned out deserving of it, Tobias might help.

"With a steady job, I wouldn't need to wander around looking for bit jobs here and there.  Definitely won't be needing to steal for food."  She agreed.

It sounded less likely than she had thought at first.  Her face fell a bit.  "I helped at Papa's pawn shop, doing ledger and inventory.  He also taught me to know between the real thing and fake or cheap things.  Though he was fair.  Said to always be fair that way people would come back or pass the word around that he was fair.  So, more customers."  She explained, thinking of her father. 

"But likely would need more learning on what a clerk does."  She agreed.

"Your father had good sense. Fairness and hard work will get ye further. 'T will be hard for you to go to grammar school, but there are short courses in the village that might teach ye some skills. We'll see. For now, ye just make sure ye get yer leavin' certificate and show ye'r responsible."

She thought of the few papers behind the picture in the frame she had deep in her backpack.  "I will do that, for sure."  She assured him.  She couldn't ask him if they had clerk women there.  She didn't know how that worked.  She had worked for her father, but not with an official job title.  She had been too young to be officially hired after all.  She had taken exams early just a few months before the attack.  So, she wasn't sure what would have happened next should they have lived.

"How much farther is it?"  She was getting excited to see where she would be living and working.  It was a typical kid thing to ask too, but she didn't realize that.

"There's the village," said Tobias, and he pointed at a low church tower visible between the trees. "The farm is about two miles out.

In time, they passed through the village. "There's the church. I will expect ye to join the family to church on Sundays." He doubted that the child had had much of a moral or religious education, and Tobias felt responsible to ensure he had it at least while living under his roof.

She remembered going to church with her parents when she was small.  They went every Sunday morning back then.  But she had not continued after the attack.  She had not a strong faith and witnessing her parents' death had toss what little she had out the window.  "Sure."  She figured she could go, it wouldn't hurt anything. 

Getting that close to the farm, she was getting more and more optimistic about her future.

They left the village, crosses another small hill with moorland, and then approached a farm in the valley. The main house was made of rough grey limestone. Behind it several buildings rose: a stable, another barn for hay, a tall open building for machinery, and behind it fields. "Here we are," Tobias said.

A blonde girl of about thirteen and brown haired boy of about eleven were talking outside of the stables. The boy ran towards the cart when he saw it approach. "We were beginning to be worried, Mr. Appleton," he said. He looked at Nat curiously while the older girl drew near.

"Aye, I picked up some extra help. This is Nat. Nat, this is Jimmy and his sister Jenny."

Jimmy's face fell.

Nat jumped down from the wagon and reached in for her backpack.  Moving around she nodded to each of the kids.  "Hi."  She gave them each a look over, one of the things people that lived on the streets would do for their own safety.  Both seemed healthy and cleanly dressed, not ruggedly or torn.  She looked longer at the girl's dress than at the boy, though it might appear she was looking the girl over, it was actually she was wishing she could wear her dress.