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side.
    ‘Hello, Claudia,’ I said, and squatted down so we were eye to eye. ‘My name is Miss Clark. It’s lovely to have you in my class.’
    Claudia had the biggest brown eyes I’d ever seen, fringed with thick lashes that were like miniature black fans. Her skin was olive toned but quite pale, as if she spent a lot of time indoors. She was small for her age, delicate and finely made, with thin wrists and ankles, and she had a pretty little cupid’s bow mouth that was currently finding it difficult to smile.
    ‘Go on, Claudia,’ Alessandro prompted gently. ‘Say hello to Miss Clark.’
    Claudia’s little cheeks turned bright red and she bent her chin to her chest as she mumbled so softly I could barely hear her. ‘Hello, Mith C-C-C-C-Clark.’
    My heart gave another painful squeeze when I heard that shy little voice with its lisp and stutter. It reminded me of myself at that age, when I had a terrible speech impediment. I was mercilessly teased about it.
    There are times when I can still hear the mean kids imitating my inability to say certain words. Anything starting with a hard-sounding consonant was torture for me. I finally got control of it by the time I was ten—and not because my parents sent me to a speech therapist. They flatly refused to. They believed my stutter was a voice from one of my past lives trying to be heard and that I had to be patient and allow them to channel through me. Yeah, right . Why is it that everyone’s been a prince or princess in a past life and never a penniless pauper?
    Anyway, back to my stutter. It was because of a teacher I had—once we were placed back in school—who was really fabulous at teaching drama. She used to give me the best roles to play and like magic my stutter would disappear. It was as if by playing someone elseI could forget about my speech impediment. I’ve since done a special education diploma in language and learning difficulties, which I’ve found enormously helpful as a classroom teacher.
    I straightened so I could speak to Alessandro. I had to keep my friendly and open smile in place, but it nearly killed me.
    ‘There’s just enough time for me to take Claudia over to the boarding house to meet the house mistress,’ I said. ‘It would be good to get her settled in before class starts. Her roommate, Phoebe Milton, is looking forward to meeting her.’
    A pleated frown appeared between his eyes. ‘You’re right. I should’ve thought of that yesterday. But there’s been so much to do over the last few days.’
    I realised then that looking after a small child of six was a probably a relatively new experience for him. He was out of his depth and doing everything he could not to show it. It made me feel a flicker of compassion for him I wasn’t expecting to feel. I didn’t want to feel a flicker of anything for him, but seeing him with his little niece took the sharp edges off my bitterness—like a file does a ragged fingernail.
    He was so kind and tender and protective of her. He hadn’t once let go of her tiny hand. Just seeing his large tanned hand gently holding that tiny pale one made my heart contract again. There was so much I wanted to ask him, but with his little charge there to hear every word I had to hold my tongue. I also didn’t want to let little Claudia pick up on anything untoward between Alessandro and I.
    He had already said she was a sensitive child and I could well believe it. Her obvious shame at her lisp and her stutter was making my chest ache with sympathy so badly it hurt every time I took a breath. It would be irresponsible of me, not to mention unprofessional, to give Claudia the impression I was at odds with her uncle—even though it was true. From what I’d gathered so far, he was the only anchor she had right now.
    Once we got to the boarding house I introduced Alessandro and Claudia to Jennifer Lancaster, the boarding-house mistress. Once pleasantries were exchanged, Jennifer took Claudia by the hand and