The charm of having the children back from the holidays had worn off rather quickly. She was thrown into the thick of it immediately; some of her pupils had gotten their first monthly blood over the holidays, and so had to adjust to dealing with it at school. This involved Louisa teaching them where to find the supplies, where they might get a reprieve should they need it, and alerting the school nurse to who she might be seeing and for what reasons, in addition to writing letters to worried parents fretting after the constitution of their children. The pile of letters on Louisa’s desk seemed to be never ending. She had the luxury of not needing to grade any papers, but her quill certainly saw a great deal more parchment than she ever would have anticipated when she took this job.

It was for that reason that Louisa sought refuge in the library. It was certainly after curfew which gave her room to breathe a little and do some reading of her own. She had a few different books stacked up in front of her, blocking the view of the aisle. So she didn’t see who it was until they’d cleared their throat to announce their presence. “Ah!” Snapping the book shut, Louisa shot up in her chair. “Beg pardon, I was miles away.” She explained with a soft laugh before her eyes followed theirs to the stack of books in front of her. “Did…you need one of these yourself?”