"Why, I'd do exactly the same as I did with the nanny who let you out of her sight when we lost you. She'd be heavily reprimanded, and then let go from her position," Hope stated, plain and simple. "I'll not lose you again."

She squeezed his hand gingerly, pulling herself upright and leading him from his room in the direction of hers. "You're home now, Percy," she began, "and being home means maintaining a certain standard of dress and decorum. Certainly, when the circumstance calls for it, you are welcome to run around barefoot. Unfortunately, this isn't one of those circumstances." She smiled down at him. "You wouldn't want me seen in public like this, would you?"

Her free hand gestured to her own state of undress with her free hand, before using that same hand to tug open the door to her bedroom. "Today, I think, we ought to go to the tailor's and see about getting you some more comfortable shirts. And then, perhaps, a shoemaker's. It's possible the shoes we have for you don't fit correctly."

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