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“If I tell Arthur to let go of you, will you run away?” Amelia asked softly as she stared at the boy’s dark-brown depths.
He seemed so much older than his years although she wasn’t able to guess his age. In any case, she knew that he didn’t belong in the streets. He belonged home wherever that was. What he said next surprised her, and it completely shattered her.
“Here,” he offered her his dirty little hand. “You can hold me.”
She gasped silently. He did not remove his gaze from hers. Amelia could sense her heart racing inside her chest. She felt so much tenderness for this little creature that it threatened to completely overpower her. Softly, she took him by the hand. At that same moment, Arthur released his grip.
Amelia had no doubt that he might escape, that he might simply yank his hand out of hers and run away, never to be seen again. They would never be able to find him if he did that. Amelia knew it, but something assured her that he would stay there with his hand in hers.
“Can I ask you that question now?” Amelia wondered.
Oliver nodded. A few curls fell over his forehead, reaching all the way down to his eyebrows. He had dirt stains on his face, and one of his teeth was so black it was almost rotten. Amelia’s heart clenched at the sight of this poor boy who obviously had no one to look after him.
“My friend Elsie says that she saw you in our home,” Amelia asked as nicely as she could. “Was that you?”
He hesitated. She immediately knew what his answer would be.
“It is all right if it was you,” she quickly added. “I simply wish to know why you were there, nothing else.”
“Are you going to be angry with me?” he suddenly asked, looking down at his feet. Only then did she notice that he had only one shoe. His other foot was bare and much dirtier than his face.
“No,” Amelia shook her head. “I won’t be angry if what you tell me is the truth. No one should be angry when someone tells the truth.”
He lifted his gaze back up. That seemed to pacify him.
“A man paid me a guinea,” Oliver started sounding guilty and apologetic. “He told me that I should go to the house of the Monster of Mosebridge, and…”
“And what?” Amelia urged gently. She knew that if she was too pushy, he might refuse to tell them the rest.
“I waited until everyone was asleep. He dared me to light the curtains in the music room,” Oliver admitted. His voice immediately revealed how regretful he was about what he had done.
He suddenly yanked his hand from Amelia’s, and she thought he would run away from them, but instead, he fell into her arms. Tears rolled down his face and onto her neck. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around him, pulling his trembling little body closer to herself.
She looked up. Both Arthur and Elsie were watching them, patiently waiting for Oliver to calm down, so they could ask him about the man. When Oliver finally pulled away from Amelia, his cheeks were reddened, and his eyes were swollen.
“I felt sorry the moment I did it,” he admitted. “But… it was too late.”
“No one got hurt,” Arthur surprised everyone when he interrupted the conversation.
Amelia believed that it would be too difficult for him to talk about the fire, but his words assured her that he didn’t hold it against little Oliver. He was merely a tool in the hands of someone else, someone much more dangerous.
“That still doesn’t mean that what you did was all right,” Arthur explained almost as gently as Amelia herself. This side of him completely took her by surprise, and she could immediately imagine what a wonderful father he would be one day.
“I know…” Oliver looked down at his feet again.
“You can help set things right by telling us who this man was,” Arthur urged.
Oliver glanced at him. His eyes squinted as if he was trying really hard to remember. “I don’t know his name,” he said finally.
“What does he look like?” Arthur inquired.
Oliver shrugged. “Like a gentleman.”
Arthur frowned. “That isn’t very helpful. Maybe he had some distinctive features? A scar, like mine?”
Amelia thought that Oliver wouldn’t dare look where Arthur urged him to, but Oliver boldly did so. Instantly, he shook his head. Then, he seemed to remember. “When he got closer to me, I saw his handkerchief in his chest pocket. It had letters J and M.”
“J and M?” Arthur repeated.
