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Dorcas gave a lopsided smile. “If you’s bin livin’ the ‘igh life in the theater an’ ‘bout town with yer gennulman wot were ’ere wiv yer, yer’d know that the married ones are worse than all the rest.”
“Yes, I do.” Kitty sighed, adding suddenly, “But Lord Silverton who was here just now and tried to persuade you, earlier also, to come away, is not my gentleman. He’s my friend.”
“Don’t tell me a gennulman like that don’t want more than bein’ jest friends wiv a lady like yerself, Miss.” Dorcas sent her a skeptical look. “They’s all the same, wantin’ only ter pleasure ‘emselves, treatin’ us like nuffink. I’ll wager ‘e’s the same as all the rest, so beware, m’lady. ‘E’s only pretendin’ ter ‘elp yer so’s ‘e can get ‘is way wiv yer in the end. Now that’s all I have ter say on the subject. Yer got ter jest leave me be fer I’ve made me bed, an’ I thank yer fer wantin’ to ‘elp but—”
“You’re wrong!” Kitty gripped Dorcas’s wrist. “Not all men are bad, like you’ve experienced. Lord Silverton has looked after me with care and kindness since my ...”
Dorcas’s eyes widened expectantly, and Kitty swallowed and plunged on, trying a new tack. “Another very handsome gentleman, Lord Nash, has set me up very nicely in a little house and given me lots of presents.” She extended her arm, and the ruby and diamond bracelet she always wore twinkled in the light of the candle on the dresser.
“Yer ‘ave two...protectors, miss?”
“Well, only Lord Nash is my...official protector,” Kitty explained, trying not to feel shame at putting it in these terms. “So, of course, I’m no better than you when it comes to sinning. Lord Nash and I are very much in love, and I’m quite determined he shall make me an offer of marriage before the year is out. We had a bit of a falling-out, so Lord Silverton put me up at his house, but he didn’t try to take advantage of me,” she added quickly to forestall the question it was obvious Dorcas was about to ask.
“But ‘e’s in love wiv yer, nevatheless.”
“I don’t know about that. But Dorcas, what about you? You say no man here has ever treated you with respect? Then you must come with me. You must let me help you escape.”
Dorcas shrugged. “I s’pose they’re not all bad, considerin’ it’s me life now an’ no, I ain’t goin’ ter leave cos’ I can’t endure the shame, knowin’ I’ll ’ave ter pretend foreva afterwards I’m somfink I ain’t when I’m in the real world.” She raised her head, and appeared to concentrate on a water-stained strip of brown and gold wallpaper near the ceiling. “There were one gennulman wot treated me wiv respect. It were after I first come ’ere. Mr. Prism were his name, an ‘e were a clerk in the gov’ment an’ ‘is father were payin’ for ‘is first time as it were ‘is comin’ o’ age. ‘E were ever so shamed by ‘is father’s coarseness, an’ so we jest talked.”
“Just talked? See, Dorcas.”
Dorcas smiled her first smile, and her voice was dreamy. “We lied on the bed, side by side, an jest talked. ‘E asked me ‘bout me work, an’ I told ‘im ‘ow I ‘ated it, but that I were ruined so ‘ad ter stay ‘ere foreva. ‘E was a very nice gennulman. ‘Is father made ‘is money doin’ things ter coins ter make more money. Don’t quite know ‘ow that worked, but Mr. Prism were very snide ‘bout ‘is Papa wot weren’t respectable but wanted ‘im ter be respectable, yet also wanted ‘im ter do wicked things like send ‘im ter places like Maggie Montgomery’s.” Suddenly, she seemed to realize where she was and who she was talking to. Clasping both of Kitty’s hands in hers, she smiled sadly. “Thank yer, miss, fer takin’ the trouble. Yer ‘ave a good ’eart. I saw it when I first met yer at Mrs. Mobbs’s. There’s few wot ‘ave good ‘earts ’ere. The girls get ‘ard an’ are mean a’cause o’ the competition an’ knowin’ they’s only got a few good years wiv their looks an’ all.”
“Oh Dorcas, you mean you have no friends here? But I’m your friend. Please come with me. I’ll look after you.”
“Truth is, I can’t leave me friend, Sally, til I know she’s goin’ ter be o’right. She’s seven months gone an’ Mrs. Montgomery ‘as been eva so fierce, tryin’ first ter get rid o’ the babe, but it would jest grow an’ now Sally can’t work anymore so Mrs. Montgomery said it was off ter the workhouse fer ‘er an’ the babe. That’s when Mrs. Mobbs came ter the rescue wiv a plan ter save Sally an’ the babe.”
“Mrs. Mobbs! Why, did she offer to rescue you, Dorcas? She must know you were tricked and hate it here.”
Dorcas shook her head. “She were very regretful an’ said she ‘ad no idea, but that a contract signed were bindin’ fer life. But she said she liked ter ‘elp where she could, an’ she was goin’ ter ‘elp Sally by takin’ ‘er to Wiltshire where she’d be looked afta an’ a nice family ‘ad bin found fer the babe so Sally could come back an’ continue workin’ fer Mrs. Montgomery an’ it would be like the babe ‘ad neva ’appened.” She shrugged. “So I s’pose Mrs. Mobbs ‘as goodness in ‘er ’eart, though I wish she’d a known ‘bout Maggie Montgomery’s plans afore she let me take a position wiv ’er. Now, we’ve talked much too much an’ me next customer will be waitin’. Yer go an’ enjoy yer life, miss, an’ forget all ‘bout me. I’m dead ter the world.”
Kitty tried to persuade her once more, but finally she had no choice but to leave the way she’d come; her heart as full of woe as Dorcas’s. Fortunately, there was no difficulty in slipping out of the house, dressed as a servant, and when she saw Lord Silverton waiting for her around the corner, she hurried over.
“She won’t come, my Lord, and I must hurry back to Nash, but you have been ever so kind.” She brushed his cheek with her fingertips and smiled, a warm inner glow suddenly permeating her.
Silverton found a hackney for her, and not long afterward Kitty returned to her little house where she found Nash waiting for her, reading the paper in an armchair in the breakfast parlor while he helped himself to grapes.
“Why such a sad face, my sweet?” he asked, but Kitty couldn’t give him the truth. No, she felt she had to continue her playacting because that was the way to please Nash, who didn’t like Friday-faced damsels cluttering up the place, as he’d told her when she’d been sad once before.
So she brightened up, changed into a night-rail of the sheerest lawn, which satisfied him no end, and did what a good mistress did to please her protector.
Then, in the morning she went to the theater, rehearsed for the show that evening, and felt that she’d not stopped acting for a full forty-eight hours.
Chapter Fifteen
Debenham glanced up from his newspaper and raked his enquiring gaze over Araminta’s traveling attire. “And where do you suppose you’re going?” The breakfast sideboard had been reset since Araminta had broken her fast three hours earlier.
“Home.” Araminta raised her chin and prepared to do battle. This was one fight she could not afford to lose. With chilly recrimination, she added, “You’ve been nowhere to be found for two days and two nights, Debenham. I thought you’d had your throat sliced by footpads.”
“Would you have shed tears, my dear?”
Araminta did not smile. “Of course. And will you shed tears if I am gone for but a week to see my mama, who can counsel me on how to be as good a mother as she is? Surely you’d not deny me a mother’s care in my advanced state? After all, you cannot bear the sight of me, much less to touch me.”
Debenham’s lip curled, but he did not deny it. “And how do you propose getting there?”
“Why, I’ll take the carriage and send it back. That was my intention since the carriage was to be at my disposal under the terms of our arrangement. You can come and fetch me. You know how Mama adores you.”
Debenham laughed. “Oh, my dear. I did not think you possessed wit and irony as well as beauty.”
