“Yes, of course. If she isn’t too busy.”
“She is busy, but she will be hurt if you avoid her because of that,” he said. He looked as if he was going to say something more, but then he changed his mind, instead leading her in silence to Aphrodite’s little office.
Francesca was shocked.
Aphrodite looked ill. Her face had always been pale, but now it was white, with touches of hectic red on her cheekbones, and her eyes looked so bright as to be feverish. But she lit up with smiles when she saw her daughter.
“Petit chaton, but what a lovely surprise! No one told me you had come.”
“I was admiring Rosie’s puppy.”
“She is a sweetheart,” the courtesan said. “Did she tell you what she is calling him?”
“Jem, after Dobson.”
“She says they are alike.” Aphrodite laughed. “He pretends to be insulted, but he is really quite touched. He would have made a good father.”
Her words seemed to surprise her as much as Francesca, and she was silent for a moment, fiddling with the large diamond ring on one of her fingers.
“Madame…” Feeling awkward, as if she was intruding on something very private, Francesca sat down in the straight-backed chair in front of the desk. “As dear as Rosie is, I wish now I had not brought her to you.”
Aphrodite’s fingers grew still, and Francesca noticed that as usual they were ink-stained. The lines on her face seemed more pronounced. “Why do you say this? She is happy, is she not? Has she said otherwise?”
She’d said the wrong thing again. What was it about her mother that always seemed to bring out such gaucheness in her? “No, I did not mean…it is not that I think she is unhappy.”
“Oh? What is it then?”
“It has been explained to me, Madame, that by bringing her to you I have put you in danger. I am very sorry.”
Aphrodite relaxed, and her voice gentled. “I knew what I was doing when I agreed to your request, Francesca. Yes, these are dangerous people. Evil people. But I refuse to be intimidated by them. If no one stood up to evil, who would be left? Tell me, who told you that you had placed me in danger?”
“Mr. Thorne.” She tried not to show any emotion as she said it, but Aphrodite was an expert in reading such signs.
“I see,” she said, a little smile quirking her lips. “Mr. Thorne seems to be everywhere lately, does he not?”
“I’ve asked him to protect us, Madame.”
Aphrodite’s eyes widened. “Have you? That is very interesting. What did he say?”
“He said he would do it for nothing, but I insisted I would pay him.”
“He said he would work for nothing? How odd. Why do you think he would say that, petit chaton?”
“Because he does not like debts, and I saved his life in Yorkshire. On the—the moors, in a st-storm.” To her horror her voice wobbled.
Aphrodite’s gaze sharpened.
“I’m sorry, Madame. I’m all right now. Pay no attention to me.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. Have you allowed yourself to fall in love with Mr. Thorne? I do not think it is a very good idea to love a man who leads such a dangerous life. If you must fall in love, Francesca, then do it with someone who will live to be an old man.”
Francesca gave a shaky laugh, and then couldn’t seem to stop. Horrified, she covered her mouth with her hand. The respectable Miss Greentree was coming apart. “Madame, I am so sorry,” she began again.
“Psht! Why are you sorry? You are hurting, and no doubt you have had to pretend there is nothing wrong, so as not to worry dear Amy and her horrid brother. Am I right? But you are here now. You can say anything you wish to me. Tell me your secrets, petit chaton. I am listening, and I will help you if I can.”
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispered. She bowed her head and squeezed her eyes shut, wishing the floor would open up.
She heard Aphrodite stand up and come around the desk, and then her arm came around Francesca’s shoulders and squeezed tightly. “You will talk to me, petit chaton, and then we will decide what to do together.”