Page 10 of Return to Wildsyde

“Few are,” Lyall retorted bitterly.

“No, but she’s a pretty child. Well-spoken, too, despite her upbringing. I think she must have had some kind of education, no matter how haphazard. The few belongings they have are pitiful, however, and that dress she is wearing has certainly seen better days. Did you know they’d been living in rented rooms on Tottenham Court Road? I get the impression they were living hand to mouth, though she did not say so. She shared a room with her brother that looked out onto a brick wall.”

“Ah, she’s given ye the sob story already, has she, aye?”

“No,” his mother retorted, narrowing her eyes at him. “Do you think me a fool to be taken in with such ease? No, this was just the truth. You should have seen her face when I showed her to her room, and she realised it was for her alone. She looked like she might cry.”

“Aye, I don’t doubt we’re giving her a taste of the life she wishes to become accustomed to.”

“Lyall, please. I cannot stand to hear you sound so cynical. It’s not like you.”

“It is now,” he returned harshly. “I dinnae give a tinker’s cuss for the lives they lived. I’ll do my duty by them like I did by Lilith, but I will nae give them an inch of my life, nor my friendship, nor anything else. They are strangers living under my roof until I can figure a way to get them out without landing them in the streets. That’s all.”

“I think your life will be a good deal more pleasant if you allowed them some part in it, no matter how small.”

“Damned if I will,” Lyall retorted, and that was the end of the subject.

Chapter 4

The environs of Portman Square were disturbed last night by a fight that broke out in the early hours of the morning. Mr LH, the hon’ble Mr AA and the hon’ble Mr LW were all fined by the local Justice for breach of the peace.

The aforementioned gents are all members of the notorious Sons of Hades, the gentlemen’s club outside of which the event occurred. Though onlookers agreed they did not incite the scuffle, which quickly turned nasty, they indeed finished it. When the constables arrived upon the scene, those that provoked the incident were nowhere to be found. This reporter can verify that the gentlemen went along quietly and with very good grace.

Neighbours of the club were not so pleased as they assert that events such as these are becoming more commonplace in recent months.

―Excerpt of a newspaper article in The London Morning Post.

13th May 1845, Wildsyde Castle, The Highlands of Scotland.

Luella did her best to look presentable, no easy task when her best dress was horribly faded and rather too tight across the bust. She had tried tightening her corset, but the strings of that item were worn too, and she feared putting too much strain on them. Still, she brushed her dark hair until it shone and pinned it up in a neat coil at the back of her neck. Jack had to be nagged into a clean shirt and nagged harder to at least wash his face and hands, but finally they were ready.

“Are you going to eat that?” Jack asked, casting a longing look at the tea tray.

Luella shook her head and Jack helped himself to the last piece of shortbread, devouring it in one bite.

The tea that had been sent up to them had been welcome indeed. It had been a long time since tea tasted of anything but dishwater or looked like it either, and they had drunk every drop. There had been warm biscuits made of oats, too, as well as fresh bread, with cheese, or butter and jam. The plate of shortbread had been a treat that made them both sigh with pleasure. Compared to how they had eaten in recent months, it had been a feast and had gone a long way to bolstering their spirits. With the prospect of meeting Lilith’s widowed husband before them, however, those spirits were already flagging.

“Wipe the sugar from your mouth,” Luella said, sighing as Jack did so using his sleeve. “Well, we shall have to do.”

Jack grunted. “If he don’t like it—”

“If he doesn’t like it,” Luella corrected. “We shall be in the basket. So, mind your manners, do you hear me?”

“Yes, Luella,” he replied grimly.

“Good lad. Now, don’t look so glum. Everything will be all right, I promise. We’ll make it work somehow.”

Jack returned a sceptical look but there was a knock at the door that made them both jump. Time to go.

Jack opened the door to see the countess had come for them.

“Are you ready?”

“As we ever will be,” Luella said, trying for humour.

“Come along, then,” Lady Morven said, smiling at them.

Jack gestured for her to go through ahead of him.