Letitia gave her a conciliatory smile. “I see. I am sorry, Iris, I didn’t understand.”
Iris looked partially mollified, though Ezra could tell that they could not push her much further on this issue. Clearly, the child didn’t understand that ‘Lightholder’ was a family name.
Still, though. It wasn’t a dead end. It was real, workable information.
“Was there anyone else in your family?” Letitia asked, sliding half of her remaining dessert onto Iris’ plate to distract the girl from the question—or perhaps just out of straightforward bribery. Ezra didn’t pretend to have nearly as much knowledge in child-wrangling as Letty.
Also, bribery worked.
Iris shoveled a large bite of trifle into her mouth before shaking her head.
“I had a papa,” she said, showing no sign of the emotion that she experienced when speaking about her mother. “But he was no good, Mama said. He went away.”
Went away. Not died.
Ezra could not imagine the kind of man who could abandon this sweet girl… except for all the ways that hecouldimagine it, if only because he knew the ways of the world.
“My father went away, too,” Letitia said quietly, reaching out to touch Iris’ shoulder lightly. “It isn’t because of you.”
“I know,” Iris said. “He was no good. That’s what Mama said.”
Ezra’s head was practically reeling with information—about Iris, predominantly, but about Letitia, too.
And about how bloody common no-good men were. That part wasn’t so much a revelation as a reminder.
“It’s not bad, though,” Iris said brightly. She could really bounce between emotions in a way only children could. “Because now I have you and Uncle Ezra and Sarah and Hermes.”
Letitia’s smile didn’t vanish, but it did go very still and grew very brittle.
“Do you remember what I told you?” she asked carefully. “That you are going to have a new governess soon?”
Just like that, Iris’ good humor disappeared again.
“Oh, right,” she said sullenly. “I remember.”
“But,” Ezra interjected, “you will always, always have me. And Hermes. And Sarah is staying, too, did you know that?”
Iris glanced at Letitia, seeking reassurance. “But you and Sarah came together,” she said. “You have been friends for a long, long, long time—Sarah said!”
“That’s true,” Letitia said. “And we will still be friends. Always. And I will come visit you, too, sweetheart—just like I promised. I will just live at my own house for now.”
“I think you should stay,” Iris said stubbornly.
Ezra could not help but think that the child was onto something.
“I know,” Letty said soothingly. “But this is the best thing.”
Iris looked at Ezra with a frown, and he nodded in support of the governess… even if, in truth, it was her charge who had the right of things.
CHAPTER 17
After Letitia got Iris settled down—a protracted process, after the excitement and emotional turmoil of supper—she found herself wandering, seeking something to distract herself from her own thoughts. She eventually settled in the front parlor, where she watched the streetlamps gleam on puddles and listened to the laughter of well-heeled young people as they headed out for a night of entertainment.
Letitia had long since given up wondering what it might be like to have the wealth and privilege of theton. She had thought about it as a girl, of course. She had wondered what life might have been like if her high-born mother had kept her, despite the circumstances of her birth. Or even if her father had kept her, instead of shipping her off.
But she wasn’t jealous of gentlewomen anymore. She could only imagine that living under their constant scrutiny was very uncomfortable. Hell, Letty had already found it hard enough to be watched so closely as Clio’s companion.
So, no. She didn’t wish she were one of the Society toffs outside, though she wouldn’t have minded having abitmore money to her name.
