Lady Unveiled (Daughters of Sin 5)

“You’re not looking at all sympathetic, like you ought, Jane,” she sniffed, “but truly, I don’t know what I’d do without you. You won’t leave me, will you? I know I’m perfectly horrid to you sometimes, but you will promise you’ll stay, regardless—won’t you?”

“Well, no’ regardless, m’lady, fer that would give yer quite some license,” Jane acknowledged with a brief, wry grin. “But I ain’t goin’ nowhere in a ’urry. Not while Jem’s still got a place wiv ‘is Lordship.”

“Yes, I did have to pull some strings about that considering Debenham was all for having Jem deported for stealing that letter, so you owe me a promise you’ll stay.”

“Well, it weren’t proved beyond doubt that it were ’im, were it, since it were neva found in ‘is possession ‘n yer tried ter take it from ’im.”

“No! You took it, Jane, and you gave it to Hetty.” Araminta suddenly remembered how aggrieved she was on this score. “You should have been deported, Jane, and maybe I’d have seen that you were, if I hadn’t intervened because I needed you more. Oh, but what am I going to do?”

“About anuvver bairn? Well, reckon there ain’t nuffink yer can do. It’ll be like last time, only easier. Second babes are always easier ‘n yer first; well, it did come mighty quick so I reckon yer one of the lucky ones.”

“Well, at least Debenham’s more likely to leave me alone for a while.” Araminta seized on this hopeful

ly while a raft of ideas crowded her mind. She could go to the country, and she and Teddy could…

“Wot is it, m’lady?” Jane asked as Araminta let forth another wail, for she’d just thought of how soon her body would become bloated and hideous. Teddy would be disgusted. She had to act quickly and entrance him before that happened. Besides, he might be able to help her. Ralph Tunley had said the letter he had was insufficient to convict Debenham of anything, and that was some small relief. Maybe Araminta might find in Teddy an ally who would keep an ear out for whispers. Whispers that might implicate her husband in anything more underhand than his misdemeanors all those years ago now regarding the Castlereagh affair, and the nonsense over his supposedly radical leanings. Debenham didn’t have the energy to involve himself in political affairs. All he wanted was to gamble— and have enough money to get him out of financial difficulties.

“I want you to send this note around to Lord Ludbridge, Jane,” Araminta said decisively, feeling a lot better as she scribbled a hasty missive which she handed to her maid.

“And then I want you to lay out my new gold net evening gown. I’m going to the theater tonight.”

“To see that Wildflower play?”

“No, to see Miss La Bijou.”

The late-afternoon sun slanted through the plane trees in the small park opposite the Beecham household, as Kitty said vehemently, “So you see, Lissa, I can help you, if you’ll only let me.”

Lissa couldn’t get over the hope and enthusiasm on her sister’s face. Back home, Kitty had always been the wayward, frivolous younger sister whom Lissa had brushed off as simply not pulling her weight.

Even just a couple of weeks ago, she’d bemoaned to Ralph about Kitty’s latest appalling transgression. First actress, then mistress to not just one gentleman of the ton, but two!

Now Kitty was here in the garden opposite Lord Beecham’s townhouse, wearing a fashionable and becoming gown of Pomona green, telling Lissa how she should go about ensuring justice was done so that Ralph would get the promotion he so desired, which would enable him to marry Lissa. It was beyond anything!

The afternoon sun that filtered from the thick band of low cloud was making Kitty’s ringlets look like spun gold, and her skin look golden with health.

Lissa dropped her head, though she didn’t stop walking, and looked at her scuffed half-boots. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she muttered. “Do you think if there’d been any way to have helped Ralph do what he had to do, I wouldn’t have been leading the charge?” It hurt her to the quick that Kitty insinuated Lissa had just sat idly by, drilling Miss Lucinda in deportment and mending Lady Julia’s torn undergarments.

Kitty’s mouth dropped open. She looked about to sally forth, but Lissa went on, “You’ve done exactly what you wanted, Kitty, but how has that benefited anyone? All right, I’ll speak plainly, though you won’t like to hear it. Have you given a thought to Mama since you ran away from home and dragged our name through the mud?”

Lissa turned her head away from the hurt look on her sister’s face. She thought she’d seen a tear glisten, but Kitty was the most accomplished of actresses.

“What good name?” Kitty asked. “That’s why I ran away. I had no name. Except “bastard.” So what did I have to lose? As to not having contact with Mama, I send money home to her every fortnight, and I know I’m more generous than Papa. I bought her that shawl she’d so coveted, but which Papa said was too expensive. I have thought of Mama! What have you sent home to Mama?”

Lissa didn’t like the combative tone. Even less did she like the direct question, for the truth was that her wages were so pitiful Lissa hadn’t been in a position to send anything home.

Lissa strove for the high ground. “Look at the clothes you’re wearing!”

“What about them? They are in the first stare. There’s nothing tawdry or showy about them. Araminta or Hetty would wear just the same if they had such good taste. You’re jealous, Lissa. You weren’t beyond borrowing clothes from Araminta whom you profess to despise. I’ll wager you felt mighty grand attending a ball and looking like you were venturing forth for your grand debut. I know you pretend you don’t care, but you do! And now that I’m able to enjoy freedom and nice clothes you’re jealous.”

Lissa clenched her teeth. “I’m not jealous if it meant I had to…do the things you’ve lowered yourself to do to get them.”

Kitty gasped. “Are you casting aspersions on my reputation? Do you think I’d give myself to a man I did not love? I’ve done nothing that our Mama hasn’t done. She’s lived in sin for twenty years, and what joy has it brought her? What joy has it brought any of us?” She looked on the verge of angry tears. “I simply came to see you because I thought you’d want to help Ralph do what he’s been charged to do—uncover the nefarious dealings in which Lord Debenham is involved, and by so doing, uncover the other villains in his circle who are causing such unhappiness.”

Stirred into action, Lissa stopped in her tracks and swung around. “A year ago, I was lauded for the role I played in this very conspiracy. My drawings brought the Foreign Office hot on the heels of Lord Debenham.”

Kitty frowned. “I knew nothing of this. How did you meet Araminta?”

“She recognized me, and when she needed someone to accompany her to a coffee house to purloin an important letter his Lordship’s valet had supposedly hidden away, she sent a message around. Well, the letter was proved a fake, and besides, it wasn’t sufficient evidence on its own. Nevertheless, I was commended by a high-ranking figure in Parliament, a diplomat who placed me in my current governessing position with the express idea of keeping an eye out for anything I could pass on. I shouldn’t be telling you this because I compromise everything, and because you can’t keep a secret, Kitty, but I will not have you saying I’ve done nothing. Lord, the inaction is torture. Barely seeing Ralph is torture. Having to pander to Lady Julia and Miss Lucinda is pure torture. Don’t you preach to me about what’s right!”