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“So, let me get this straight.  The two of you bought the children a meal.  Then you took them to your house, bathed them, dressed them, set them up in their own bedrooms, and now you’re preparing your two halls as classrooms for them to learn in.  And the two of you are going to be their teachers.”

“That about sums it up, Eomma.  Except, of course, for the night hours.  When I have to find some suitable chaperones for twenty-four kids.”

“Which is where I come in.  At least, tonight,” she grinned.  “I cannot wait to meet all these children.  But, darling, my heart breaks for them all!  To lose their parents in such a horrid way.  And to have found themselves alone – and without even their basic needs met! – it’s such a travesty!”

He shook his head.  “No wonder she so reminds me of you.”

“Ni Na?” she asked in surprise.

“Who else, Eomma?  She’s your spitting image in all but the shape of her face.”

She smiled.  “I consider that a great compliment, son.  But truly, the girl looks nothing like me.”

“Maybe not.  But her heart is exactly the same as yours.  Her determination.  And her exuberance too.  Although, you are a bit more…vocal than she is.”  He grinned.

Playfully, she slapped his shoulder.  “Beom Sook!  Are you trying to say that I’m chatty?”

“Who?  Me?”  He glanced around as though he could blame that description on someone else.  But seeing as they were walking down a deserted public road, he found no one else to pin it on.

“If the shoe fits…” she murmured with a grin.

He chuckled.

“So, Ni Na has offered two of her servants to chaperone some nights?” she queried, seeking clarification.

“Yes, but I’m not sure that they’ve agreed to such a setup yet.”

“I think, darling, if you are truly in a bind that Cha So Young and I could help you out a couple nights a week.  You know that I have nothing particular going on.  And I do love to stay active.  I daresay that caring for two dozen children would help me in that endeavor.”

He chortled.  “Are you sure that Cha So Young would agree to such a scheme?”

“She has been not only my lady’s maid but also my good friend for over twenty-five years.  She’s up to anything that I’m up to.”

“Well, that is truly splendid!  If you could cover two nights a week, and Lady Kim’s servants three, then perhaps Ni Na’s Dan O and her husband could take the other two nights each week.”  He was feeling a bit lighter now.

“It’s already quite a burden, isn’t it?” she murmured sympathetically.

“It was a burden from the outset, Eomma.  But how was I to deny Ni Na?”

“Your heart is already set on her, eh?”  She beamed at him.

“It’s not that,” he denied her assertion boldly.  “She was going to take them all home with her if I didn’t intervene.”

“Move them into her own house?” she gasped.

“Indeed.”

She shook her head.  “That girl needs a husband.  Someone to keep her safe.  And watch out for her best interests.  Clearly, she has more heart than sense.  Any of these children could be a true criminal already.  What if one of them had hurt her?”

“My sentiments exactly.  Which is why – until I get to know each of them better – I will be sleeping over at the orphan house with them all.  And with any chaperones who volunteer.  Including you, Eomma.”  He cleared his throat.  “I’m also going to be posting guards in that wing of the house.  To help keep an eye on all our…charges.”

She beamed at him proudly.  “You have always been a man of impeccable sense, Beom Sook.  Even when you were a tiny boy.”

He snickered.  “I was a man when I was a boy?”

She nodded her head earnestly.  “You were.  I would swear that you were thirty years old when you were born.  An old soul.”

“Well, perhaps Ni Na is trying to get me to finally live out my childhood then,” he snorted, thinking of the two dozen children waiting for him back at his house.

“I do hope that this will become the adventure of your lifetime, darling,” she murmured.

One that would draw him and the lovely Ni Na closer together if Lady Lee had anything to say about it.

––

“Auntie Dan O, what do you think?” Ni Na asked her friend.  “Would you and Chung be willing to spend a night here with the children?  As a test case?  Just to see how it goes?  And if you like them well enough, to watch over them again?”

“Knowing you,” that fine woman quirked one dark eyebrow, “if we don’t, you will insist that you must stay here to keep an eye on them.”

“Well, of course, if I cannot find any suitable houseparents, then I will have to move in here.”

“It’s not seemly, milady.  You’re not married to the owner of this house.  You’ll set many tongues to wagging if you move in here.  Especially with another two dozen children.”

“You say that as though I’m one of them.”

“Well, you’re not that much older than them.  Though Lord Lee is.”  She glanced around at the grand hall they were standing in.  The room that would soon be a classroom.  “I cannot believe that man volunteered his house for this harebrained scheme,” she breathed in wonder.

“Hey!  This is not a harebrained scheme!” ejaculated Ni Na.

“Yes, it is.  But Lord love you, milady, you always did have a heart as wide as the sky.  And I daresay that you’ll put all your appa’s money to good use when you inherit it.  Saving the world, as it were.”

Ni Na beamed at her.  “You have always seen me in the very best light, auntie.  But truly, I am not doing for these children any more than any other good soul would do for them.”

“Aren’t you now?  Housing them?  Feeding them?  Clothing them?  Educating them?  I can’t think of anyone else – save Kim Jung Sook – who would even think of such a scheme.  Let alone contemplating and then executing it.”

“Really, auntie, I have nothing better to do with my time.  And what was I going to spend all my earnings on?  I have need of nothing.  But these poor souls have need of much and no one else to look out for them.”  She grinned suddenly.  “And I get so excited every time I contemplate finding apprenticeships for the boys and places of service for the girls!”

“Do you now, milady?  You’ve always been an odd duck now, haven’t you?” Dan O shook her head.  “Most young ladies your age are either nursing their first baby or their second…or trying to catch some man’s eye.  But not you.  You’re bent on making the world a better place for some commonfolk.  God bless you, milady.”

Ni Na sighed.  “I have utterly failed in the department of catching a man’s eye, auntie.  So I might as well set myself to the worthwhile task of helping these children to find their way in the world.”

“What’s this?” Dan O queried.  “You haven’t caught a man’s eye, haven’t you?”  She glanced around the magnificent house one more time.  “And what exactly is this then?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The grand lord gave you a whole house.  To use as you like.  If you haven’t caught his eye, then I don’t know what you’ve done.”

Frowning, Ni Na shook her head.  “It isn’t like that.  He simply has a heart for these children.  Same as I.”

“He has a heart for you, more like,” the good woman murmured. 

“No,” whispered Ni Na, clearly stricken.  “It truly isn’t like that.”

Seeing her charge clearly troubled, Dan O wrinkled her brow as she gazed in concern at her darling Ni Na.  “What do you mean, child?”

Ni Na heaved a deep sigh.  “Oh, auntie!  Beom Sook has already lost his heart to another young lady.  He will never truly be mine.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I am.  I have seen her.”

“Then why didn’t he marry her?”

“Because she did not reciprocate his feelings.  The foolish girl.”  She shook her head in disbelief.  “She married another.”

“Ah.”  Dan O’s face broke into a wide grin.  “Then you have nothing to worry about, my dear.  The man will certainly come around.  Seems to me,” she cast another sweeping glance around that huge hall, “that he already has.”

But Ni Na just shook her head.  However, this time she was wise enough to keep her comments to herself.  She had learned long ago that it was a very difficult task indeed to beat her dear Auntie Dan O in an argument.