"Six?" Tristan turned to her and looked at her, standing there with her hands on her hips, and he couldn't help slight amusement showing in his eyes. He added in French: "I shall soon find out that my maid is better educated than I am!"

He didn't mind an educated young lady for a maid, as long as she learned to do the housework as quickly as she promised. It was a trade off, he supposed. He didn't know anyone in town, and while he had worked in the asylum, he had often felt starved of intelligent conversation. He wouldn't mind a maid who was capable of discussing more intelligent topics than the weather.

He realized there were some books he would need to store out of sight though. He hadn't bothered before, since they were in foreign languages, but he didn't want to run the risk of exposing a young girl to material that wasn't appropriate for her.