Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Gilbert White’s leering smile showed black, rotting teeth. He lunged, making Hattie and Mrs. Drake cry out and step back. But I stood my ground. How dare he think he could intimidate us?
“You will excuse us,” I said. “We need to pass.”
“You had better watch yourself, missy.” He pointed his finger a few inches from my face. “If you want me to stay out of your way, you can give me my kin or pay up.”
“Get out of our way.” I concentrated on not looking the least bit afraid. He couldn’t see my heart beating hard and fast, after all.
I took Hattie’s arm and steered her around the man, but he sidestepped to block us.
“Your money or my kin,” he said. “I’ll take a hundred and fifty quid, and you’ll never see me again.”
“I will not bribe you to leave me alone, but I will tell the constable. He will arrest you for harassing ladies on the street.” I gave him the meanest glare I could conjure.
“You give me that money.” He snarled like an animal and lunged at me again.
I stepped away, and he stumbled. His foot slipped off the raised sidewalk and he fell face-first on the road.
Hattie screamed, and Mrs. Drake cried, “Run, girls!”
I was pleased with how fast Mrs. Drake was able to move when so motivated.
She held onto Hattie’s arm, and I kept to the rear and glanced back to watch Mr. White lift himself out of the muck of the street.
He scowled and yelled in our direction. I couldn’t make out his words, and he did not follow us.
After changing clothes and freshening our hair after our walk, we had just got settled in the parlor when our first caller was announced—Lord Markeley.
Millicent’s gaze went to the doorway while mine went to her. Dear God, please don’t let Lord Markeley ruin my friendship with Millicent.
Lord Markeley looked directly at me, bowed with a flourish, and came and sat to my right.
He made small talk and said charming things to Mrs. Drake, Hattie, and Millicent.
But his words were so similar to each of them, complimenting them on their dress and their smiles, that they sounded rather meaningless.
Then he turned to me and said in a more intimate tone, “You are looking particularly beautiful today, Miss Robbins. I would that this were a ball and that I was dancing every dance with you.”
Because of his low tone, I wasn’t sure if the others heard what he said, but in my desperation, I laughed. “What pretty words you have for us all today, Lord Markeley,” I said brightly.
“Yes, and it hasn’t been a very pretty day so far,” Mrs. Drake said, a peevish note in her voice.
“What do you mean?” Lord Markeley turned toward Mrs. Drake. It was all the encouragement she needed.
“As they say, no good deed goes unpunished, and Miss Robbins’s ‘good deed’ of taking in those two street urchins continues to cause no end of trouble for us all.
This morning we were taking a nice walk in the park with Mr. Merritt and Lord Brookhaven—although Lord Brookhaven left us when we reached the park.
And unfortunately Mr. Merritt left us too, before we got to our street, which is more Miss Robbins’s fault than any failing of Mr. Merritt’s, but we shall say no more on that subject. ”
I was fairly certain that Mrs. Drake would, on the contrary, say much more on that subject, but hopefully she would spare Lord Markeley.
“And then that horrid man who interrupted our dinner party the other night jumped out at us, blocking our way. And he told Miss Robbins that if she gave him a hundred and fifty pounds sterling she’d never see him again, so I hope Miss Robbins won’t be so stubborn as to hold out.
Personally, I think she should give him back the children, but it isn’t for me to say, so I don’t say a thing, one way or another. ”
So help me, if I didn’t find someone to replace Mrs. Drake, I’d die trying.
“Miss Robbins, is this true?” Lord Markeley turned back to me. “Were you accosted again this morning?”
“I’m afraid so, but he was not able to lay a hand on me, so all is well.”
“No, all is not well,” Mrs. Drake said. “That filthy man will be after us again, I dare say, the next time we try to walk down the street, unless the constable arrests him and puts him in prison where he belongs.”
“Perhaps you should give him the money,” Lord Markeley said. “It is not so very much, and your safety is certainly worth that, and much more.”
“Perhaps, but I object on principle. It would be as if I were buying the children for a hundred and fifty pounds. Besides, if I give him money, he will only return for more. No, he shall get nothing from me.”
“What is to prevent him from coming here again and disturbing our peace as he did the night of your lovely dinner party?” Mrs. Drake exclaimed.
“He cannot do that again, for Lord Brookhaven has his men watching the house. They will not allow it.”
“Lord Brookhaven has sent men, has he?” Lord Markeley said.
“They are large men, not the kind to back down or be taken advantage of.”
“Oh.” Lord Markeley nodded but looked away as he mumbled, “That is good.”
After ten minutes, I thought Lord Markeley would go, but instead he stayed half an hour longer and seemed reluctant to leave even then. Oh dear. I dreaded what it meant.
Indeed, Lord Markeley called the next two days, then asked if I would accompany him to an afternoon theatrical at Covent Garden. “And Mrs. Drake may come along, of course.”
It would be unseemly if she didn’t, but I didn’t wish to go with him. I cast about desperately in my mind for an excuse. “I really shouldn’t leave my guests,” I said, speaking whatever came to mind. “They have come to London to visit me and for me to show them . . . places.”
For a moment, I thought Lord Markeley would invite them to come too, but he opened his mouth and then closed it. “I understand,” he said. But his face was quite downcast. “May we take a walk, then?”
“Of course.” I didn’t have the heart to say no when I could see I’d disappointed him so much about going to Covent Garden.
We ladies gathered our walking things—gloves, bonnets, and shawls—and Lord Markeley escorted us down the street, but the opposite way from the park, which meant we would avoid walking past Lord Brookhaven’s house.
We walked slowly. Lord Markeley had placed himself between me and Millicent, and Millicent asked him about his horse and his estate in Wiltshire.
“Ah yes, I left Marauder at Benton Downs. He had a bit of a problem with his leg, but my stable master knows everything about horses. He’ll have him running about in no time at all. I’m surprised you remembered my horse.” He gave Millicent the slightest smile, but it made her face light up.
“Oh, I remember.”
An uncomfortable look crossed Lord Markeley’s face, and he started to look away from her.
“Millicent brought her favorite horse back with her from Shropshire, and she went for a ride just yesterday,” I said quickly. “I’m no rider at all, myself, so the servant had to go with her, but Millicent is a keen rider and great horsewoman.”
“Is that so?” Lord Markeley smiled and nodded at Millicent but immediately turned back to me. “And why, pray tell, are you no rider, Miss Robbins? If it’s lack of opportunity, I can bring over one of my horses for you and teach you until you are as comfortable on a horse as you could wish to be.”
It was not the response I’d been hoping for. He was supposed to talk to Millicent, to realize he had more in common with her than with me, and to offer to go riding with her.
“I have no real interest in riding. Horses frighten me, and as long as I can walk and ride in a carriage, I see no need to learn to ride.”
He laughed. “Ah, Miss Robbins. If only all ladies were as open and honest as you are.” And then he winked at me.
Dear Lord, how I hated a winking man.
“Oh, look,” Hattie cried. “Someone is giving away kittens.”
We made our way to a woman on the sidewalk with a basket. Inside was a mother cat and four kittens. She immediately started telling us she was “looking for a good home for the lot of ’em. My mistress won’t allow me to keep them, but the mama cat is as good at catching mice as any cat I’ve seen.”
There weren’t any mice at my townhouse, I didn’t think, but I wouldn’t have minded having a friendly cat who would sit with me when I was knitting or reading in the evenings.
The idea of a soft, purring cat was quite appealing, but as Hattie, Millicent, and Mrs. Drake began exclaiming over the kittens and petting them and picking them up, Lord Markeley drew me back with a hand on my arm.
“Miss Robbins,” he said in a whisper, “do tell me now if I have any chance at winning your heart. I would do anything to make you love me the way I love you.”
“I am sorry, but I . . . No. Forgive me. I do not love you.”
Of course I didn’t love him. He drank too much, and he hadn’t thought me nearly good enough until I’d inherited fifty thousand pounds. But even more importantly, Millicent obviously liked him, and he must realize that.
But when his face fell and he looked genuinely crushed, I did feel a pang of guilt stab my chest. I didn’t wish to give anyone pain. Still, I was glad to be able to tell him the truth and get it over with.
Millicent turned just then and looked from Lord Markeley to me. Her jaw hardened, as if she were clenching her teeth, and she turned away again.
Soon we said goodbye to the cats and their owner and started home.
The walk back seemed to take a long time, even though we walked much faster on the return. Millicent stared straight ahead, her lips pursed.
All the while Lord Markeley looked slightly sheepish one minute, slightly angry the next. Thankfully, he took his leave of us at the front door and was gone.
Calling hours were nearly over. I glanced at Millicent but said nothing.
I was working on a piece of embroidery with wildflowers that reminded me of the grounds around Lowndesbury House.
It usually lifted my spirits to work on it, with its blue and violet and pink and yellow threads, but today .
. . I kept thinking of Lord Markeley’s facial expressions, and of Millicent’s, and how obvious it had been that the viscount had asked me to marry him and I had rejected him.
I wondered if it were possible to advertise that I was no longer able to receive marriage proposals, as I had decided to give the fifty thousand pounds to the poor. Wouldn’t Mrs. Drake have an apoplectic fit at that? I was tempted to announce it to the whole room.
I was becoming a rather perverse person. Had the fifty thousand pounds turned me into someone I never wished to be?
At first, I’d enjoyed all the attention.
I could do anything I wanted, and it was thrilling to have the freedom and independence to rent my own house, to bring my friends to visit me, and to go shopping and buy new things.
But along with what I’d gained, I’d also lost things, such as my relationships with Mr. Merritt and Lord Markeley.
Now that I’d rejected their marriage proposals, I knew things between us would never be the same.
And nothing felt the same between Lord Brookhaven and me, either.
I missed our conversations, our easy banter, and the way he seemed to understand me.
And even though he didn’t seem to want to marry me, I just wanted to be near him, to hear his thoughts and opinions . . . and to see his dear face.
I was near tears. I kept my head down, thankful to have my embroidery in my lap so no one would see my face.
How happy I’d been to inherit such a fortune! I must surely be the most fortunate girl in all of England. Or so I’d thought. I could marry whomever I pleased. I remembered thinking that if Lord Brookhaven was in love with me, now he could marry me.
But was that true? I might have a fortune, but I was still an orphan with no family name of importance, and he was still an earl.
The fact that he’d made very little effort to spend time with me, and that he’d stood aside and allowed his friends to ask me to marry them, made it seem as though he couldn’t love me, or else he would have asked me already.
A tear dripped from my eye to the fabric. I took a deep breath and quietly released it, breathing in and out and telling myself, I’ll give away the money.
Well, I wouldn’t give it all away. I needed something to live on.
But there were so many children, like Sarah and Joshua, who lived on the streets and struggled to fend for themselves in a harsh world.
I could help them if I just applied a fraction of my fortune toward .
. . an orphanage, maybe. A place with kind caregivers like Gretchen who would nurture and care for them in a loving way.
After all, didn’t Scripture say that taking care of orphans and widows in their distress was the very definition of Christianity?
I was lost in my thoughts when the servant announced a visitor. “Lady Derringer.”
I quickly swiped at my face with my hand, lest there be remnants of my tears, and set my embroidery aside.
“I just wanted to call on you, my dear,” she said, looking at me, “for I will be leaving London and returning to the country again soon.”
“I am sorry to hear it,” I said.
“Why thank you, my dear. I shall miss all of you ladies.” She glanced around the room, but her eyes settled on me again. “Might you come over tomorrow and have a private chat with me? My nephew will be away, and I have something I wish to tell you.”
“Of course.” I was surprised, especially since she made it clear she only wished for me to come.
“Is eleven o’clock all right?”
“Yes.”