Jack was back at house 444. Lord Herrington quickly opened the door as soon as Jack rang the bell.
"Come in! Come in!" He pulled Jack's arm and rushed him inside, hurriedly closing the door as soon as Jack was inside the house. "Did you see anything strange on your way over? Did it seem like anyone was following you?" Lord Herrington asked urgently as he peeked through the curtains and scanned the street outside." Jack looked confused and answered, shaking his head and saying
"No, I don't think so.."
"Ok good, good. Let's go to my study to talk." He herded Jack into the familiar dark green room and had him quickly take a seat in one of the plush velvet chairs. Lord Herrington sat at his desk across from Jack and narrowed his eyes.
"So you spoke with Darby, I believe?"
"Only for a moment– wait, how did you know?" Jack said in surprise. Lord Herrington pointed toward Jack's face and hand and said "Your nose is swollen and you have a bandage on your hand…"
"??My nose? How would that?--" Jack asked in confusion. Lord Herrington shook his head,
"I knew it, she is really too much! I am increasing your pay and I apologize."
"B-but I haven't even done anything yet!" Jack sputtered out "It would feel wrong to take that when I haven't even started working yet!"
"Oh you started, as soon as we shook hands you started. Please! It is part of my apology, there is no excuse for her!" Lord Herrington insisted.
"Well that seems a bit harsh, it was just an accident." Jack said, not feeling comfortable with Miss Darby being blamed for the little mishap. Lord Herrington sighed and said
"It was no accident, you will come to understand…Now everything has been worked out at the Institute, they will be expecting you. You have been hired as an assistant to help out with whatever little things need to be done. They are all preparing for the big expedition, but you shouldn't have to worry about anything too serious as far as work goes. The truly delicate tasks will be left up to the trained professionals. You will just help out with small tasks and paperwork, similar to what a secretary might do." Jack nodded, "I can do that" he said, "That all sounds fairly simple."
"Well yes, anything the Institute will ask you to do will be the easy part…It's Darby you will have to look out for…"
"Don't worry sir!" Jack said confidently "I will look after her as best I can!" Lord Herrington walked across the room to Jack and rested his hand on Jack's shoulder and said solemnly
"You look after yourself too, Mr. Clemins." Jack was a little taken aback, but by now he was starting to get used to Lord Herrington's weirdness. Jack said hesitantly
"Oh. Okay…" Jack got up to leave. Feeling a little uncomfortable, he said "Well, I better go. If tomorrow is my first day, I want to make sure I am well rested.." Lord Herrington nodded and showed Jack out. Lord Herrington stood there waving goodbye to Jack even as he walked all the way to the end of the street. Jack shook his head, wondering 'How did such a strange man end up with such a lovely daughter..' In the future Jack would ask himself that exact same question but with the roles reversed.
The next morning was bright and beautiful. Jack felt happy for the first time in a long time and grateful for this new and wonderful opportunity to provide for himself. If he could make this work, he would have a small fortune to live off of from just this alone. He felt giddy at the idea of always having enough money and being financially stable. He could get enough saved up so that he would never have to worry about rent or food again. And best of all, he would never have to worry about having to return to his parents' home ever again. Jack woke up early and quickly got dressed and ready for his first day at the Institute. He ate his breakfast as fast as he could and started out towards the Museum. As he was walking he felt first day jitters creeping up on him and gave himself a little pep talk to help feel ready for his new day. 'No need to feel nervous, you can be an assistant or secretary, you have done similar work to this before, this will be easy for you, you can do this Jack!' He was really looking forward to this job, he could not believe his good luck, that this type of job basically fell into his lap! He had never been this lucky before, but maybe that was finally all changing for him. He was looking forward to seeing Miss Herrington again. Seeing such a lovely face every day was a beautiful bonus of this job. 'Money and beauty' He thought, shaking his head. "Some people have it all.' Jack arrived at the large steps leading up to the museum, 'This will be a good way to get some daily exercise' Jack thought as he began the hike to the top. He was feeling the most optimistic he ever had in his entire life. 'Money can do that to you.' he thought to himself and chuckled. When he reached the front doors he took a quick breath and pushed them open. The interior of the building was huge. Great windows in the main room streamed in copious amounts of sunshine onto glistening hardwood floors. 'Not bad, not bad at all!' Thought Jack, 'This will be quite nice' He made his way over to the main desk, there was a kindly looking woman with auburn hair sitting there and asked her for help. "Excuse me ma'am, my name is Jack Clemins and I am supposed to start work here today, do you know where I need to go?" The woman looked up at him and said "Oh yes, Mr. Clemins, Director Mortimer told me you'd be starting today. I have some forms you need to fill out and then you will be able to begin. It will be so nice having an assistant around here, that will take some of the work off of me. Right now I feel like I am everyone's assistant." She smiled with a tired look on her face. "I'm Ms. Kenny by the way, nice to meet you." "Nice to meet you too, Ms. Kenny." Jack nodded and took the forms she was handing over to him. "Let me know if you have any questions." Ms. Kenny said warmly as Jack took a nearby by seat to begin filling out papers. He finished the forms fairly quickly and handed them to Ms. Kenny. She took them and said "Well, that is all I needed. Now, if you go down that hallway there you will find Director Mortimer's office, he is expecting you. Jack found the office very easily and Director Mortimer greeted him warmly and told him he was happy for the extra help when the Museum was so busy preparing for the expedition. He gave Jack a quick tour around, pointing to doors and explaining where they went. He seemed like a very busy man because he quickly took him back to the lobby and told Ms. Kenny to start assigning him with any work and then left. Ms. Kenny was listing all the work that needed done before the expedition, when they heard the main entrance doors as someone entered. Jack turned and saw that it was Miss Herrington. She was wearing a dark pink suit set with a white shirt that tied with a bow right beneath her long thin neck. She looked even lovelier than last time he had seen her. Her light blonde hair curled gently around her petite face, framing it beautifully, and as her hair caught the sun shinning through large windows it seemed as if she had a halo around her head. Jack's heart started pounding wildly in his chest. He couldn't believe that his main job was to watch this enchanting young woman. He couldn't imagine his life getting any more fortunate.
"Oh Miss Herrington!" He called as he approached her happily. "It looks like we will be working together after all!"
Despite all the sunshine streaming in through the windows when he approached her, her face became dark, she looked coldly up at Jack and said frostily,
"How do you know my name?"
Jack's heart stopped. A chill ran down his spine and his breath caught in his throat. That's right. They never introduced themselves that time in the cafe…How was he going to cover this and make it seem believable? His heart pounded in his chest as he wracked his brain for what to say next. Suddenly Miss Herrington spoke, pulling Jack from his anxious racing mind.
"Oh! Ms. Kenny must have told you? Am I right?" She smiled cheerfully at him and a wave of relief washed over him. The air was warm again and the sun was shinning.
"O-oh y-yes, I think it was her that m-might have mentioned it.." Jack stuttered out in relief. He sighed inwardly, thanking his lucky stars and feeling deliverance, and thought 'Thank goodness, there was a reasonable explanation and that passed so easily.' Darby smiled pleasantly up at him and said,
"Well welcome aboard mister….?" Darby stretched out her hand to shake hands and paused as she waited politely for his response. "Jack Clemins, thank you!" Jack said eagerly, more than happy to move on from the awkward situation as quickly as possible. He took the hand she offered and as they shook Jack couldn't help but inwardly note how small and warm her hand felt in his.
"Mr. Jack Clemins.." Darby said thoughtfully with a little smile on her pink lips,
"That sounds like a good name for a bookkeeper.."