Ms. Harshley gazed at her newest charges, reveling in the fearful looks they gave one another and to her. She smiled wickedly and took satisfaction in the twins hurriedly down-cast, embarrassed glances to avoid looking directly at her.
She gloated mentally, her mind alive with possibilities.
How well she remembered the Wood twins. She had been retained by their parents many years before. They had been about three years old, she remembered. No wonder they did not remember her.
Still, after being their governess for some eleven years, they should have some recollection. But then, they had always been scatter-assed and forgetful and totally unaware of events happening right under their noses.
She had often wondered how the twins might have turned out had she stayed to oversee their development.
Closing her eyes momentarily, her thought returned to those halcyon days when everything was perfect. It had been the Wood parents' fervent desire that their sons be raised as girls and had actively encouraged Charlotte's efforts to that end. Mr. Wood had even gone so far as to have both boys surgically castrated long before Charlotte had appeared on the scene.