Chapter Eighteen
Julia pulled on her second glove.
“I do not understand—”
“I know,” she said curtly. “And that’s precisely why I have to go.”
“But, but, but…” her brother said helplessly. “I don’t understand!”
Julia tried her best to keep her ire within. That’s where she had to keep the anger, to remind her why she was storming out of the house, pelisse pulled roughly around her shoulders, no thought given to the undoubtedly freezing wind outside.
Because of what her brother had just said.
Well, let slip.
“But I didn’t mean it like that,” Donald said, coming round to stand before the front door in a clear attempt to prevent her from leaving. “I just meant—”
“Donald Dryden, you—you said something to him, didn’t you?” Julia could not help the tone of accusation in her voice.
It was, after all, well merited. What had he just said to her over the breakfast table, cool as you like?
“I don’t think we’ll be bothered by that boxer anymore—and you can thank me for it later.”
Donald’s face was twisted in embarrassment. “Just a short conversation, a brief few lines, you understand, to make him see—”
“Make him see?” Julia repeated.
She could not recall being so angry, so utterly overwhelmed. Of course Lawrence had not felt able to confide in her, if he had been warned off by her absolute fool of a brother!
Evidently there was some danger involved—she should never have thought Lawrence could hurt someone without cause!—and thanks to her brother, she would now never know.
Because he was trying to protect her, wasn’t he?
Not Donald, who stood there attempting to twist his tongue around an excuse that would be believable, thought Julia darkly. No, Lawrence. He had tried to protect her from something undoubtedly criminal.
And what had she done?
“Mr. Madgwick, please consider this engagement to be at an end.”
Julia closed her eyes for a moment as though that would prevent the memory of how she had spoken to him.
Her eyes snapped open. It was no use. She had spoken unfairly to Lawrence. A few minutes was not enough time to consider, was it, if there was truly something important at stake. Particularly if her fool of a brother had demanded Lawrence leave her alone…
“—wanted to protect my sister, and I know you are older, and I am sure you will say you have no need of protection—”
And what did she really know about him? About his past, Julia corrected hastily in the privacy of her own mind. She felt certain she knew the Lawrence of now, of 1810, but what did she know of his past? What pains had brought him to London? What, perhaps had he been running from?
“—and really, all I asked of him was what any brother would—”
Julia bit her lip. It had all happened so quickly, that was the trouble. Perhaps if she’d had time to think…in that alley, dark and damp, everything had felt dangerous. She had demanded an explanation, but perhaps it was not her right to demand.
“—once you think about it, I am sure you will appreciate just why I—”
“—ruined any chance of my happiness?” Julia interjected, eyebrow raised.
Her shoulders slumped as Donald gaped.
He had probably meant well, in his way. Julia knew brothers felt this sort of thing awfully, particularly when there was no father in the picture. Maybe if she had been in his place, she would have done something similar. Whatever it was.
“Let me get this straight,” Julia said, raising a warning finger at her younger brother. Donald gazed at it nervously. “You do not like Lawrence, so you warned him off—”
“It’s not that I don’t like him,” said Donald wretchedly. “It was just…well. He’s not our sort, is he?”
Julia tried to keep calm. After all, it was the sort of thing she might have said a year ago. Before she met Lawrence. Before she discovered there was more in common between someone of her breeding and someone of his birth than she could ever have predicted.
“You said a few days ago that you were a common man, a working-class man, a man who earns his bread with his hands, did you not?”
“He is not our sort, no,” Julia said stiffly. She saw Donald relax and barreled on regardless. “He is infinitely better.”
Her brother’s mouth fell open. “Julia!”
“He doesn’t judge a person’s merit based on what they look like or how they speak or whether they know the right fork to use!” Though now she came to think about it, he was rather well versed in the delicate art of cutlery… “Lawrence looks at a person for who they are, underneath all that!”
“I bet he does,” came the unfortunate remark from her brother.
Julia glared, though her treacherous cheeks flushed at the same time. She was not about to admit to such things to her brother, of all people!
“You have potentially ruined my happiness, Donald,” she said quietly, hand dropping to her side. “I know you meant well, but you really mustn’t meddle in the affairs of others.”
“Affairs?”
Ah. Julia probably shouldn’t have used that particular word to describe…
Her brother’s face now looked stricken. “Do you mean to tell me I’ve now got to go back and beg him to take you, fight the man to force him to marry—”
“You will do no such thing,” Julia said firmly, cheeks still blazing. The very thought! “Just let me go to him, Donald. Get out of my way and pray you haven’t ended a respectable marriage for me.”
“Respectable marriage?”
Julia groaned. Oh, it was getting worse and worse!
Their mother swept into the hall. “Did I hear you have made a respectable—”
“Can’t wait, very important engagement to attend to,” Julia said breezily, shoving her brother none too gently to the side and pulling open the door.
She had to get out, escape the house before her mother—
“And what engagement is that?” Mrs. Dryden called after her.
Julia grinned mischievously as the spring wind caught at her hair. “My own!”
She had slammed the door and raced down the street before she could be called back.
Her brother had tried to warn off Lawrence. That much was clear. That had to be the explanation for his wooden conversation in the alley.
If Lawrence had been told to stay away from me, Julia thought wildly, he had no choice but to stay silent. Donald must have exacted some sort of promise!
The thought made her heart sing. It accounted for everything, and best of all, meant Lawrence still cared for her. They loved each other, didn’t they? They wanted to be together.
And they still could be.
The streets of London were busy. Julia pushed past people, her pace slowing with every step as it became more and more difficult to advance. It was going to take her forever to get to Endell Street like this! Unless…
Julia glanced to her left and saw the dark opening to an alleyway.
Despite not knowing the route of this one in particular, it went off to the left. Even if it did not take her all the way to Endell Street, it had to get her closer than she was now. It was a risk, particularly after what had happened the last time she had traversed down an alley.
“Careful there, pianoforte coming through!”
Throwing up her hands, Julia acted on instinct. She slipped into the alleyway.
It was far colder here, but most importantly, it was almost empty. Julia hurried along, pulling her pelisse closer as she continued. The alley extended longer than she had expected, twisting and turning, until finally—
“Hullo, miss.”
Julia came to a sudden halt. It was that or barrel directly into the broad chest of a leering man at least a head taller than her who had suddenly stepped out into her path.
Her breath caught in a throat for a moment, such was the surprise. How did a man stand so still and so dark in the shadows like that.
“H-Hello,” she said breathlessly. “L-Let me pass, please.”
She had not intended it to be a request. That, Julia swiftly saw, was her first mistake.
Her second mistake was not attempting to push past him. Instead she hesitated, and that gave his two friends time to step out of their own shadows.
One behind her. One to the side.
Julia swallowed. Another person would surely be coming down this alleyway any moment, she tried to tell herself, heart pounding painfully in her chest. It was all a misunderstanding anyway. She undoubtedly looked like an acquaintance of theirs, and as soon as that mistake was cleared up…
She glanced at the man to her side, saw the way he looked at her, eyes gleaming with a hunger that she had no interest in satisfying. Something painful twisted in her stomach.
“What is a young lady like yourself doing in a place like this?” leered the first man.
Julia turned back to him and wished immediately she had not. He already seemed to be taller, broader. More unpleasant.
“I am going to see my—my friend,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm. “He’s a boxer, very tall, you probably know him, Lawrence—”
“A boxer, eh?” The man’s voice behind her was quite unlike the first. Softer, quieter. More dangerous. “I suppose he’s taught you a thing or two, eh?”
The lecherous laughter crowded Julia’s mind, but it brought to mind…
“Right, then you’ll need to raise your hands up like—no, not like that…”
Horrendous as the men were, they were right. Lawrence had taught her something—not much, and if she had any other choice, she would not even consider attempting it.
But what choice did she have?
“Now, you stand like this. See? Feet like this? More apart.”
Slowly, Julia shifted her feet so that she was standing in a better position, her mind desperately attempting to recall every piece of advice Lawrence had given her.
Oh, if he could see her now!
Panic rose in Julia’s chest as the men started to laugh.
“Look at her, trying to act all brave,” one said.
Julia flushed but knew she could wait no longer. It appeared no one else was going to walk down this alley—a clever decision on their part, she could not help but think wretchedly, if they knew who was within it.
That meant she had to act, now. Before something terrible happened.
If it had not happened already.