One evening, after the last guest had left, she’d found the courage to challenge him. She’d said he might go ahead and carry out his threats to tell the world her secret. She claimed that if it came down to it, she would be believed above some unknown person just arrived from America. He could not prove she was not Lady Carradine.
All he’d said was, “Nancy, do not be daft. I’ve already dug a hole six feet deep in the basement in case of any unpleasantness.”
She’d pretended to laugh it off, but once the house had gone quiet and she could hear his snores down the corridor, she’d crept down to the basement. The kitchen took up one half of it, but beyond a door was a near empty storeroom with an unfinished dirt floor. She’d unlatched the hook and pressed the door open. On the other side of some stacked boxes was a hole the size of a grave.
Whatever was to be the end of this ghastly situation, she would not wait to find herself buried in the basement.
She had searched her mind, high and low, for a way to rid herself of Mr. Shine. She had even got so far as to consider poisoning the man and burying him in his own recently-dug grave, but recoiled as she imagined herself swinging from the gallows.
She could not stay in her current situation, it was untenable. She never knew what he’d do next. Might he not poisonher, claim she’d returned to America, and forge documents leaving the establishment to himself?Shemight fear swinging from the gallows, but she doubted Mr. Shine would be put off by the idea. All her waking hours felt dangerous just now, she was always on edge. It could not continue for much longer.
The only real idea she’d come upon was to steal away with the bank and leave the house and her business behind. With what she had learned about managing a gambling establishment, might she not start over somewhere? Might she not try New Orleans? She understood the city to be a wild and unregulated sort of place—precisely where she might slip in as Nancy while Lady Carradine would never be heard from again.
Watching Mr. Shine just now with his dirty hands all over her tables, she decided to do just that. The bank was healthy, Mr. Shine believed her to be in his power, and she thought she had an excellent chance to board a ship. When she had first considered the idea, she had consulted Lloyd’s List. She might board the Marie Louise to Charleston if she could reach Portsmouth in time. There was no use in waiting. Her difficulties with Mr. Shine would only continue to worsen until one of them was dead.
She must leave tonight.
*
Lily had feltin great need of a walk in the afternoon, before their evening engagement at Mrs. Millican’s and the hoped-for visit to Lady Carradine’s club afterward. In the country, she had been used to long meanderings over the estate, either on foot or on horseback. Now she felt her legs had almost grown weaker from so much sitting and being carried here and there in a carriage.
Mrs. Hemming, never liking to walk when she might sit, had sent Pips and a footman to accompany her niece. While there was not much to see and admire on Cork Street, Berkeley Square was not too far a walk and had the benefit of providing welcome shade from the maples that adorned its park.
They had reached the square as Lily suppressed a smile over Pips’ huffs and puffs and quiet mutterings. She thought the lady’s maid could do with a bit more exercise than she’d been in the habit of taking.
She slowed her gait to allow Pips to catch her breath. She might have slowed herself in any case. The park was lovely and the shade from the trees welcome. At such a spot, there was no cause to hurry oneself. As she passed number thirty-eight, a young urchin flew down the steps and collided into her. Fast behind him was a starched and irate butler wielding a long wood paddle.
The boy clutched her skirts and said, “Don’t ya let him kill me, miss.”
Lily looked up sharply at the butler, who had paused himself on the steps. He said sternly, “Unhand that lady this instant, you low devil!”
Lily then looked back down at the boy, whose face was now upturned to her own. He still clutched at her skirts, and she would rather he did not as his hands were exceedingly dirty. In truth, his whole person was exceedingly dirty. In his favor, though, was his youth. This was no hardened lad, he still had the rounded cheeks of babyhood and could not be more than six or seven.
She unclenched his hands from her skirts and said, “Now, nobody is going to harm you.”
The boy looked dubious over this idea, especially since the butler still had the club in his hand. And then especially dubious because Pips scolded him in harsh whispers over the marks on Lily’s dress.
Lily said to the butler, “Do lower that weapon, sir. Now goodness, what is happening here?”
Pips leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Let us get on, now. This is none of our affair.”
Lily inwardly sighed. It was an attitude that rankled. If one who could did not stand up for one who could not, was not the human race doomed? Her father, despite his straightened circumstances, had always done what he could for those in even worse circumstances. Her mother had not shied away from letting herself into the slovenliest hovel to tend a sick child. Here was a very young boy in some distress. Was Lily Farnsworth to pretend it was none of her concern? She rather thought not.
“Humanity is always our affair, Pips,” Lily said sternly. She glanced at her aunt’s footman to see if he would dare counter the sentiment. He smiled at her and she thought he understood her sentiments exactly.
“Now sir, do lower that bat,” Lily directed the butler, “and tell me what all the fuss is about.”
The butler had the good grace to lower his club, though he did not put it down. He said, “The fuss, as you inquire into it my good lady, is thatthisyoung ruffian is forever hanging about onthesesteps. It is not the first time I have chased him off. Further, when he is not lounging about he is begging for money. In front of this very residence!”
Lily looked to the boy. “Is that true, young man?” she asked.
The boy shuffled his feet. “I only sit on these steps ’cause they got the best shade from the trees. It gets hot, don’t you know.”
“And begging for money?” Lily asked. “Is that true as well?”
“Not a lot of money, miss. I only need a tuppence a day. I ain’t what’s called greedy and I don’t steal it, mind.”
“Get your tuppence in your own neighborhood!” the butler cried.
