Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Lady Derringer met me in the hallway the next morning at eleven. She led me into a small sitting room on the ground floor and said, “Thank you for coming. Lord Brookhaven will be returning soon. I wanted to see you and ask . . . how are you?”
“I am very well, thank you.”
“Has that horrid man Gilbert White bothered you any more after he accosted you on the street?”
“No, thankfully. We haven’t seen him.”
“That is good.” She sighed, giving me a compassionate look. “It cannot be very easy coming into so much money and having no close relatives to help you navigate the difficulties of society and the fortune-hunting men, if you will forgive me for saying that.”
I smiled, relieved that she was talking about something I actually wanted to talk about. “You are right. It hasn’t been easy.”
“That is why I asked you here, to offer my help. I have been remiss, and I realize that now and ask for your forgiveness. If there is anything you need, if you need to ask my advice—oh, I know, no one wants to be told what to do or how to think—but if you do feel the need to ask, I am very happy to help if I can.”
“I have thought a few times that I’d like to ask your advice, but I didn’t want to impose on your time.”
“No, my dear! Do not think you are imposing on me. I am your friend, I hope, and I want you to feel you can trust me to be discreet, to keep what you tell me in confidence, and to give you the best advice I can.”
I assured her I trusted her discretion and her sincerity. “It has been difficult, as I feel I am losing so many friends. Mr. Merritt and Lord Markeley have both asked to marry me.”
“And you refused them?”
“I did. But I am afraid my friendship with them is now at an end, and it makes me sad. There was also Mr. Welton. I felt as if he only wanted my fortune, ultimately. But I want to marry for love.”
“And you shall.” She clasped my wrist and smiled, leaning close.
“But in the meantime, I think what will make me happy is to do something good and meaningful with the fortune. That is, I think I should like to open an orphanage for children who have nowhere to go, who need shelter and food and someone to care for them.”
“What a wonderful thought.” Lady Derringer’s lips parted, and she stared at me, wide-eyed.
“Why should I live in luxury when there are innocent children starving on the streets of London? Joshua and Sarah are such precious children. I can’t bear to think that there are others like them who are cold and hungry and in danger from evil men who want to use them.”
“Of course.” Lady Derringer had a faraway look in her eyes.
“I believe I may know some ladies who would want to help you in this endeavor, who are more compassionate than most.” She raised her brows.
“You should speak to Lord Brookhaven about this as well. I believe he would want to help. I imagine he would have some excellent ideas about such a scheme. He has a good head for organization and the structure of such things. Yes, I think this will work out very well.”
She smiled at me as if she were very happy from some secret that I knew nothing about.
We sipped our tea and discussed various aspects of my plan, which was in its infancy but about which I had not been able to stop thinking since the day before.
“I spoke with Sarah and Joshua about their life on the streets. They wish to assist me in finding the children who need our help. They know of some, of course.”
“Yes, I would think so.”
“I will have to hire some men to help me keep the children safe, for as I have discovered, there are those who will not appreciate me taking their young workers whom they’ve been using to steal.
Did you know they even use children to wade into the Thames and pick up whatever they can find from the bottom, as there are quite a few valuables and coins that can be found that way?
But the children often are cut or otherwise injured by broken glass and metal, for there are all manner of discarded things in the mud at the bottom. ”
Too late, I realized this was not the kind of conversation ladies would normally engage in, but Lady Derringer put down her teacup and said, “How dreadful for those poor children! Yes, it is a cruel, harsh world for orphans in London. We must do what we can, and you are so good, Miss Robbins, for most young ladies who had just inherited a fortune would never trouble themselves about such a thing.”
“I think it is mostly because I am an orphan myself, and I realize how fortunate I was to grow up in a good school rather than on the street. And that is why I wish for this orphanage to be a school, a place where they can learn and be happy, where they never have to know desperation. They can learn skills and knowledge and have a productive, happy life.”
“It will be costly,” Lady Derringer said, “but it is not impossible.”
“Anything is possible, if God so wills it.” It was something I’d heard an elderly lady in Milford say, and it had stuck with me.
“Yes, indeed. Faith and Providence are what we need for this venture.”
We discussed it a bit more, then Lady Derringer said, “I shall send you a list of names of wealthy ladies I believe might wish to be involved, and when I am back in town, I shall introduce you to them. But I’ll also give the list to William, in case he might be able to introduce you to some of them. ”
“That would be lovely, thank you.”
I walked home with a lightness of heart and step. Perhaps this fortune was not only for my benefit, but also for the benefit of others.
The next morning, a visitor was announced just after nine thirty. Regular calling hours were from ten to six, so I wondered who would call at such an unfashionable hour.
The housekeeper looked ill at ease. “It is your solicitor, Mr. Sullivan, but he has a woman with him.”
“Did they say what this is about?”
“Mr. Sullivan only said it was a matter of business that was quite pressing.”
“Very well. Show them into the sitting room.”
Mr. Sullivan stood when I walked into the room, and the young woman stood as well. Her eyes darted around, and her brown hair was held down with a frayed straw hat. She smelled of woodsmoke, her skin had the hue of someone who labored outdoors, and her mouth had a defiant tilt.
“Thank you for seeing us, Miss Robbins,” Mr. Sullivan said.
“Please sit down.” I nodded to the young woman.
“Miss Robbins, this is Mrs. Abigail Robbins Newman. She is the natural born daughter of your uncle, Mr. John Robert Robbins of Yorkshire, and it seems as though the fortune you inherited . . .” Mr. Sullivan paused to take out his handkerchief and wipe his face before continuing.
“It seems Mrs. Newman is the rightful heir, and she is here to declare that the fortune is rightfully hers.”
My mind seemed to go blank.
“I have looked into it, I assure you,” Mr. Sullivan was saying.
My mind seemed too sluggish to form any rational thoughts. It all seemed a bit strange. Even Mr. Sullivan’s manner was strange.
“I would not have troubled you with this otherwise. This young woman is the legitimate daughter of your uncle. It is true, she was estranged from her father, but it was her own doing and not his. We had been searching for her, but she led him to believe that she had died. Now, due to the circumstances, Mrs. Newman will not require you to pay back what you have already spent of the fifty thousand pounds, but you must release what is left of it immediately. I am very sorry, Miss Robbins, but a judge will be more sympathetic to a daughter than a niece, and I am quite sure that if you try to take this to court, you will not only lose the fortune, but you will be forced to pay back every penny that you have already spent.”
I should have known this was all too good to be true. I should have known.
What had I done, accepting a fortune that wasn’t rightfully mine?
“I have children,” the woman said. “My husband broke his leg and can’t work.”
Mr. Sullivan said, “Her father didn’t approve of the marriage. That was the reason for the estrangement and why she allowed her father to think she was dead. But her claim to the fortune is legitimate. She is the daughter, and you are only the niece. I hope you understand, Miss Robbins.”
“I’ve got children to feed,” the woman insisted.
Was this young woman my cousin, my own uncle’s daughter?
I at once wanted to know her and wanted to believe she had a bit more civility than she seemed at this moment to possess.
The expression on her face was a combination of resentment and defiance.
With her rosy cheeks and nose, she also had the appearance of someone who’d had too much to drink already this morning.
But I might be wrong about that, and I didn’t want to falsely accuse her.
“I want to do the right thing,” I said, still feeling a bit numb.
“Yes, of course, Miss Robbins, and it is the right thing to do to hand over the money to its rightful owner. You understand. You will be all right. You can go back to the school where you taught, or Lord Brookhaven might give you your old position as governess.”
I felt sick. “I-I will need some time.”
“Some time? Why, we can go to the bank right now. The sooner the better, for Mrs. Newman’s sake and the sake of her young children. You don’t want to keep a fortune that is not rightfully yours, Miss Robbins.”
“I need a day or two. I will need to notify my staff and . . . and my guests, and we must remove our possessions . . .”
“If you must. But I shall return tomorrow morning to accompany you and Mrs. Newman to the bank to make the transfer. I pray you will not force Mrs. Newman to wait longer than that. And in the meantime, the less said about the matter, the better. You do not wish to look as if you are trying to keep a fortune that is not lawfully yours.”
Mr. Sullivan stood up, and Mrs. Newman stood with him.
“It was very good to meet you, Mrs. Newman.” I held out my hand to her. She placed hers limply in mine. “I hope that, as relatives, we might become friends as well.”
The woman’s smirk faltered. She stared back at me as though bewildered.
“Thank you for understanding and being civil in this matter,” Mr. Sullivan was saying, hustling Mrs. Newman toward the door. “I will call again tomorrow.”
I let the servant lead them out.
I sank down on the sofa. What was to become of all my plans now? And most importantly, what was to become of Sarah and Joshua?
I had to tell my servants as soon as possible so that they could try to make arrangements for another position.
I hated that I could not even give them a few months’ wages to help, since it might take them a while to find a new position.
And I must tell Millicent and Hattie so they could make travel arrangements.
The worst part was, a decision had to be made about Joshua and Sarah.
I couldn’t just send them back onto the streets for the likes of that Gilbert White to prey upon.
But I also didn’t think Mrs. Southey would allow me to bring them to her school.
With my salary, I couldn’t afford to pay for their room and board, and I didn’t think Mrs. Southey was charity-minded enough to take on the expense herself.
Besides, Joshua would be out of place in a school for young ladies.
Lady Derringer kept coming to mind. She’d seemed so full of wisdom yesterday, so interested in helping me with the orphanage.
Before I might change my mind, I put on my shawl and walked out the door, praying silently that Lady Derringer would still be at Lord Brookhaven’s.