Nat looked over at Mr. Appleton.  Swallowing rapidly and nervously.  "I have to tell you a secret I have had for quite a few years now."  She managed finally.  Her pack back on her shoulders and hanging behind her shifted as she moved from one foot to the other.

"I was talking with Jenny and about religion and the like."  She stalled a bit then went on with it.  Better to get it over.  "I am all that I said, except that I am not a boy.  My name is Natalia.  I am actually a girl."  She winced as is expecting to be hit.

Tobias' face was very still for a moment, as if he could not process the information. Then his frown deepened. "Well why did you lie about it? Ye shouldn't 'ave been workin' like a lad and sleepin' up there in the loft with Jimmy." He looked at Nat, trying to see a girl, but he could barely see beyond the lad of twelve or thirteen. For a girl, she was tall and strong.

Nat looked at the ground.  "I've lived as a boy since after leaving the city when the folks were killed.  I was too old to be adopted by good families and I heard about how some girls get taken for couples to be not as a family situation," she glanced at Jimmy not wanting to say what she had heard by the prostitutes near the younger boy.  She looked to Mr. Appleton.  "I learned to behave by watching the boys that lived on the streets.  Then I worked and got stronger as I got older.  I am very strong and I work hard."  She assured him.  "That I didn't lie about."

"I didn't lie about finishing school either.  I do have my certificate but it had my full name on it so I couldn't show it without my secret coming out."  She explained.

Tobias understood what Nat didn't say. He had read some horrible things about the way poor girls were exploited, and the fact that it had been outlawed didn't seem enough to stop it. But as Nat continued to talk, he grew suspicious. The grim frown was still on his forehead. "Then how old are ye really?"

She looked up at him.  "I am 19 years old, sir."  She answered softly.  "Though I don't celebrate my birthdays anymore, I just happen to notice the date on a paper from time to time and calculate how old I am."

Tobias nodded slowly. His mouth was a hard line. "Right... I'll hand you today's wages tomorrow morning. You can use that to buy a ticket back to Whitby." He decreed. He turned and marched out, but returned almost instantly. "Oh and you'll sleep on the sofa tonight, as you can't sleep up in the loft. But don't bring those blankets in the house. Jenny will get you some clean ones from upstairs."

Nat had felt that would likely be the case.  She kept her face down on the ground trying not to cry.  She should have known better than to hope that she could have a good luck job and situation.  The blankets were her own that she had brought with her, but she would leave them and her pack outside. 

"Yes, sir."  She looked to Jimmy with a sad expression.  She could give no reason to keep her working other than she was a hard worker.  But as a girl, what would she be able to do there?

Mr. Appleton turned and made his way back into the house.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Jimmy wondered out loud: "Does this mean I have 'slept with a woman'?"

Nat couldn't help but chuckle a bit.  "No, not really.  I believe there is more to it than that and usually in the same bed."  She had heard a lot from the street ladies and the men around various places.  Shockingly enough for a young lady, but it did help her know what to avoid.

"I best go inside to the kitchen.  In case I don't get to say goodbye tomorrow, you take care of yourself.  And like I said, you do have a good situation here."

Jimmy nodded. "Aye... You too. Sorry ye wasn't a boy, Nat." He glanced at the strange woman in boy's clothes one last time and then climbed up to the loft.

The kitchen was deserted.