Page 78 of The Duke’s Hidden Duchess

There was no bitterness in the words. That made them harder to hear.

“She had done nothing,” Selina continued. “Whatever else was said at the trial, that much never altered. She lost her husband and whatever security his income provided. My family fell very publicly. There were newspapers and lawyers and people willing to discuss what would become of the Earl of Merrow’s daughter. Mrs Loxley had the smaller name. She disappeared from the story almost at once.”

“And you found her.”

“Mr Dunmore did.”

“Why?”

Selina looked at Nathaniel as though the answer ought to have been obvious. “Because I could not stop thinking about her.”

Something in his face changed.

“When I sold the jewels, there was more money than I had possessed in years. Not a fortune. Much less than they were worth. But enough that, for one afternoon, I could choose what happened to some of it.” She touched the edge of the account. “So I chose her.”

Petherick remained very still over the papers.

“You have never met her?” Nathaniel asked.

“No.”

“But she knows the money came from you.”

“Mr Dunmore was instructed not to conceal my name from her if she asked. She asked after the second payment.”

“And continued to accept it.”

“Yes.”

Nathaniel looked down at the account.

“Why did you never tell me?”

“I did not want it turned into evidence of my character.” Her mouth tightened. “The moment one tells people that one has been secretly giving money to a widow, the secrecy becomes rather theatrical.”

Petherick looked studiously at the opposite wall.

Selina noticed and almost smiled.

“I did not do it because I am unusually good,” she continued. “I did it because whenever I thought of my father’s death, I remembered that another household had been destroyed before ours. I had no means of repairing it. Money was the only useful thing I could send.”

“You sent it while going hungry yourself,” Nathaniel said.

“Not always.”

“Often enough.”

Selina did not answer.

Nathaniel was quiet for a moment.

“And during all those years,” he said, “who was looking after you?”

Her eyes lifted to his.

The question was not accusatory. That made it worse.

“No one.”