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To her surprise, the hulk nodded and stepped back.
Immediately, Dorcas beamed. “Oh miss, I bin thinkin’ o’ yer such a lot, I ’ave, but didn’t know whetha I should say nuffink an’ didn’t know ‘ow to get a message to yer.”
“You want to come back with me?” Kitty dropped her voice and gripped Dorcas’s arm with pleasure. “We can make a plan. Lord Silverton will help me, I know it!”
“It’s ‘bout Lord Silverton I wanted ter talk ter yer ‘bout, miss.” Dorcas glanced nervously toward her minder, but since he was ogling several pretty servants entering the shop, she clearly decided to take a chance. “I ‘eard summat ‘bout ‘im an’ Lord Debenham that got me right worrit, knowin’ yer ‘ad a fondness fer the gennulman, an all, since ‘e ‘elped yer, and since yer clearly like ’im.”
“Lord Nash is the most important man in my life, but Lord Silverton is a good friend,” Kitty said firmly, feeling a sense of great disquiet. Was this the moment she’d learn the full extent of his crimes? She wasn’t sure she wanted to have it confirmed that he was as wicked as Lord Debenham—just more charming. Yes, the less she knew about his proclivities, the better, she decided.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t tell me, Dorcas,” she said, smiling. “I think I like him too well to know the depths of which he’s capable, being such a friend of villainous Viscount Debenham.”
Dorcas’s eyes widened. “Oh miss, then all the more reason fer me ter say summat an’ I surely shoulda before only, like I said, I didn’t know ‘ow to get a message to yer. We don’t get a moment ter ourselves, nor paper nor nuffink.” She took a deep breath. “Which is why me friend, Daisy, goes through the gennulman’s pockets, mostly so she can find scraps o’ paper or summat she can write notes on the gennulmen she really likes, an ter ‘er family. That’s ‘ow she come across the note ‘bout Lord Silverton. Isn’t that true, Sally?”
It was only then that Kitty noticed the slump-shouldered girl who stood slightly behind Dorcas. She’d assumed she was a customer, but as Kitty peered more closely into the gloom, she saw that girl was definitely under the protection of the great hulk whom Dorcas had indicated earlier.
When Sally didn’t respond, Dorcas exhaled on a loud and sympathetic sigh. “Poor Sally ain’t bin the same since ‘er baby got taken off her. Mrs. Montgomery thought a bit of fresh air might do ‘er a mite o’ good, and I ‘ope it does, fer if Sally don’t pull ‘erself together, she’ll be on ‘er own an’ sellin’ ‘erself in the ’Aymarket.” She reached for the girl’s hand and pulled her into their conversational circle, saying kindly, “Yer used to be the prettiest ‘o all ‘o us, eh, Sally? An’ yer will be again, when yer done wiv yer grievin’.”
“I’m so sorry to hear of the loss of your child,” Kitty said, gently addressing the girl.
“Loss?” The girl repeated the word as if in a daze, and when she raised her chin to stare at Kitty with a pair of intense violet eyes, Kitty realized that beneath the lank hair and lusterless skin, she really was a beauty. “I didn’t lose the baby.” Sally gritted her teeth, balled her fists and hissed, “It were stolen.”
Dorcas smiled sadly and patted Sally’s hand. “I know yer wanted ter keep it, Sally, but girls like us aren’t s’posed to get inta trouble like that, which is why we’re ’ere.” She indicated the apothecary’s with a sweep of her hand. “An’ when we do get inta trouble, we’re forced ter get rid o’ it.”
She put her head close to Kitty’s and whispered, “Mrs. Montgomery tried all sorts ter kill Sally’s babe afore it be born, but it were a real determined ’un.” She turned to Sally and said in a bolstering voice, “An’ now yer babe’s got a ‘ome with a right grand family. Imagine it, Sally! Youse gived birth to a babe wot’s goin’ to want fer nothin’. ‘E’ll live in a fine ‘ouse an’ maybe ‘ave a ‘orse an’ he’ll neva go ‘ungry like he woulda if yer’d a kept ’im. Such good fortune don’t usually ‘appen ter the bastard child born from ‘un o’ the likes o’ us an’ a Spanish sailor.”
Daisy looked unimpressed. “Coulda’ bin Lord Heckleston’s, too. Both o’ ‘em were customers the same night me womb quickened. If it were Lord Heckleston’s, then the babe shoulda ‘ad all that by rights.”
Kitty bit her lip. “Oh, poor Sally, it’s true! Bastards are rarely recognized by their noble parents. My father is a nobleman, and I grew up in shame and ignominy. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. If your babe has gone to a good home you should be overjoyed. Truly.”
She had to try and revive the girl’s spirits, for Dorcas spoke the truth when she made it clear Sally could not have kept the baby out of poverty. “But, tell me what you were about to say regarding Lord Silverton.” She was anxious now, afraid of what she might hear, but realizing she needed to hear it. Besides, it might help extirpate the residual fondness she had for him, which she sometimes found quite disconcerting.
“Well, miss, I’m ‘opin’ I’m rememberin’ right, but the note Daisy told me ‘bout was ter Lord Debenham from a gennulman who signed ‘iself Mr. Cosmo Lamont an’—”
“Mr. Lamont?” Kitty started. “He painted my portrait. Go on, Dorcas.”
“Well, ‘e said summat along the lines o’ a traitor in their midst an’ Lord Debenham must keep an eye out on Lord Silverton fer as ‘e’d ‘eard a rumor or two ‘bout ‘im. That’s all, miss.”
Kitty frowned and repeated, “Mr. Lamont was telling Lord Debenham not to trust Lord Silverton because Lord Silverton was a traitor? Is that right, Dorcas?”
“Summat like that.” Dorcas shrugged. “Anyways, I reckoned yer might want ter know, since I guessed yer were fond o’ Lord Silverton an’ I don’t think anyone wants ter be on the wrong side o’ Lord Debenham.” She shuddered. “I don’t know ‘ow Daisy can stand it, bein’ ‘is favorite, an all. Mind, but that she earns a bit extra fer the secrets wot she tells ‘im 'bout the other secrets wot uvver gennelmen tell her.”
“Goodness! Daisy trades secrets to Lord Debenham?” Kitty’s mouth dropped open. She could just imagine the damage that could cause. “When did Daisy tell you about the note?”
Dorcas frowned. “Were a couple o’ weeks ago, maybe. Silverton an’ Debenham both came ter Maggie’s—”
Kitty gasped, unprepared for the disappointment she felt that her charming Lord Silverton visited Maggie’s, but Dorcas added quickly, “Oh no, miss, ‘e neva comes ter visit the girls. It’s ‘cause ‘e’s thick as thieves with Debenham, an’ Debenham is a regular. Lord Silverton drank absinthe with me mistress; that’s all. But that were the night Daisy found the note in Lord Debenham’s coat.” She shrugged. “I jest thought yer should know.”
Kitty was about to respond with gratitude when the girls’ minder stepped forward, impatient now to be gone, and Dorcas forced a smile that was twinged with sadness. “So nice ter catch up wiv the gossip, Miss Hazlett. I do ‘ope we meet again.”
***
For the rest of the way home, Kitty was consumed by the fear that Silverton might be in danger and that she had possibly, inadvertently, had a hand in the terrible business.
What could she do? Could she warn him? She had nothing substantial other than Dorcas’s claims about the letter, but at least she could tell him about that so he would be on his guard.
In front of her small townhouse, she stopped and gazed at it in the moonlight. It seemed incredible that it was hers. Well, as much as it ever could be since she had no security beyond the attraction she held for Nash.
She shook her head, as if that might dispel Lord Silverton’s warning that Lord Nash would never offer Kitty what she truly wanted, and that he could offer her more.
