Tobias was relieved to find that Mr. Cheevers knew the boy and was happy about him. There had been some anxiety on Tobias' side that the kid might take valuables and steal away in the dead of night. "That's good to hear," he said. He drove the wagon through town up to the road to Castleton. "Like I said, I won't tolerate theft. Ye'll be in police custody sooner than ye can say sorry. But if ye need anything, you merely need to tell me. I'll ask ye to work hard, but ye'r also my responsibility while ye work on t' farm, ye understand?"

She nodded seriously.  "Yes, sir."  She agreed with the rules.  She didn't need much and only stolen when in need of food or clothing.  Well, and the occasional book.  "Do you have some books?  I brought two.  But would like to borrow any of yours if you would not mind."  She was saying the truth.  She enjoyed reading, but also it was to see if he really would borrow the simple item.

"Aye quite a lot of them. You're free to borrow what you like," said Tobias.

He felt comfortable saying that because he had already browsed through the collection of books and taken out sensationalist novels and anything else he deemed inappropriate, after he had caught Alice reading 'Wuthering Heights'. He hadn't even realized he had that novel in the home. He assumed it had belonged to Bess and wondered if their father had known his daughter read such novels.

Alice had not taken kindly to Tobias confiscating the book mid-story. But if he already deemed the book inappropriate in itself due to its stirring portrayal of passion and depravity, he certainly deemed it inappropriate for a young woman with such excitable nerves as his wife's. He feared she had already taken inspiration from its main characters, for she was increasingly obstinate, scornful and melodramatic.

The idea of lots of books that she could read free and with his permission was a thrill to her.  She grinned brightly, obviously excited about that perk of this job.  Food, safe shelter, and books.  She was really feeling she had found the gold pot at the end of a rainbow. 

She watched the scenery as they continued down the road.  She was already planning on saving her wages.  She would have all she needed, so there was no need to use it until she was ready to.  Eventually, she would have had to move as her not getting taller and her voice going deeper would get noticed.  Changing from place to place she had gone to places that though she was still a very younger boy.   She could just say her family had a lot of dwarfs or something, but moving around let her see new places.  The only problem was she had really liked Whitby.  She had made some good friends, like Gus and Mr. Cheevers.  This way she wouldn't see them as often and it would be less noticed that she didn't get taller as the boys she spent time with.

She continued to enjoy the pie, and then wiped her mouth and then her hands off her pants.  "That was good.  Thank you, again." 

She thought for a bit.  "You have a family there?  A wife?  Children?"  She was curious about the people she would be working around.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed Nat wiping his hands on his trousers. They were going to have to work on manners. Though Tobias did not care particularly about all the little demands of etiquette, he did believe that some basic manners were necessary to get on in society.

"You're welcome. Aye, a wife and a newborn bairn. My wife gave birth only a few days ago and is still lying in, and we're glad when our daughter sleeps, so you are to keep your voice down and be calm when ye're in the house. There's also Mrs. Carpenter, the wetnurse, Jenny, the maid, and Jimmy, who helps around the farm outside of school hours. Ye'll share the stables with him as his mother's cottage is crowded."

The idea of a baby made her eyes smile at the image in her head.  She loved babies.  She had been able to help with a few in the area where they had lived.  There had been prostitutes, drunks, and criminals in the area, but also some nice people like the ones that had taken care of her after the attack.  It was their kids that she had seen most of, they were all younger than her.

"Must be tiny.  I will be very quiet."  She promised. She made a mental note of the names and their positions at the home.  She nodded at the comment about her assigned sleeping place.  "It will be nicer than some of the places I've slept on I would imagine."  She responded.  "I am happy to get it."

"Thank you," said Tobias, relieved to find that the kid seemed to understand the importance of considering his wife and child. They left the town well behind them now and followed the river. "You must have stayed in some pretty bad places if a stable is an improvement. Well, there's plenty of hay and blankets to make yourself comfortable, but there's more blankets in the house if you need them."

"Some places better than others, that I will say for sure.  In the summer, not too bad to camp out, winters are harder.  I look for empty places or shacks that have more walls than holes and make due.  So, yeah an already clean stable with good clean hay is great." She looked at the river and enjoyed the way the water moved.  She liked open space and lots of trees too.  The one thing about wearing pants was that climbing when needed was much easier.  She had found climbing trees was exciting.

"I brought my two, but more for the winter, granted I am still with you would be grateful."  She nodded.  "Maybe a place to wash the two I have?"  She asked.  "And my clothing?"

Tobias glanced sideways at the kid, before turning his eyes back on the road. From what the boy told him, it sounded like he had been out on the streets for a long time, and Tobias felt pang of pity, as well as anger about the fact that this could happen in a civilized country. Someone should have noticed and found the boy a home or taken him to the orphanage. Had the kid even finished school?

"You can hand your laundry to Jimmy every Saturday. It'll go to his mother, the washerwoman, with the rest. You'll get it back on Tuesday."

She nodded.  She could wash the bands around her chest when she took a clean-up of her own body.   "That is nice of her.  She only had a couple of sets of clothing, which was stuffed in her pack with her other few things.  "What kind of work would you want me to do?"  She asked.   "I'm stronger than I look."  She promised.