City of Darkness and Light by Rhys Bowen

duty, so if you don’t mind, I’ll bid you both farewell and head for my bed.”
    I took her hand. “Thank you so much. You’ve been very kind.”
    “Not at all. Glad to help,” she said gruffly as if trying to hold back any display of emotion. “Good luck to you, Molly, my dear.” She went down the steps, waved, then got back into the cab, leaving me in the front hall with the lieutenant’s sister.
    “This is so good of you, Mrs.…” I began, realizing that I still didn’t know her name.
    She laughed. “I am Dorothy, but I’m usually known as Dodo. And when my brother telephoned me with your terrible news I told my husband that you had to come to us without delay.”
    “I hope he didn’t object,” I said warily.
    “My husband adores me, Mrs. Sullivan. And do let me call you by your first name—I try to dispense with too much formality under my own roof, although my husband, whose upbringing in lofty circles was rather more formal than mine, sometimes frowns upon the liberties I take.”
    I smiled at her. “You may certainly call me Molly,” I said. “I have a group of friends who abhor formality so the use of first names isn’t at all strange to me.”
    “Splendid.” She beamed at me. “But don’t let’s stand here a second longer. We should get the little one settled in his nursery and then we can have a cup of coffee in peace.” She patted Liam’s cheek. “What an adorable child. I know he’s going to be great friends with my little Cuddles.”
    “My husband said you had a baby. Boy or girl?”
    “A little boy. Almost a year old now. Officially he’s named Alfred Homer Walton Phillips after his father, but who can call a baby those awful names? So he’s Cuddles to me, although Alfred disapproves of baby talk. Come upstairs and I’ll introduce you.”
    She led me up a broad stair, to a luxuriously appointed landing and then up a second, less grand stair, chatting all the way, and then opened a door at the front of the house. “Here we are, Nanny,” she called. “Here’s your new charge.”
    A plump elderly nurse appeared from a back room.
    “Nanny used to look after Alfred when he was a baby,” Dodo said. “And now she’s come out of retirement to take care of little Cuddles. Alfred wouldn’t hear of another nursemaid raising his son.”
    “Master Alfred is currently taking his morning nap,” Nanny said, putting a warning finger to her lips that we were talking too loudly. “And it looks to me as if this young man is ready for sleep as well.”
    She took Liam from me and he didn’t protest, looking back at me wide-eyed.
    “I will come up to nurse him about noon,” I said.
    “Good heavens,” Dodo exclaimed. “He is not on a bottle? Don’t you find that terribly inconvenient?”
    I felt them both staring at me as if I was some creature straight from the jungle, and blushed. “I don’t think I keep to your kind of social schedule,” I said. I turned back to the nursemaid. “I’m sorry about the state of his clothing. We were both left with nothing after the fire. So if he could possibly borrow some items from little Alfred, until I can shop for new ones, I’d much appreciate it.”
    “Madam apprised me of what happened. I’ve already looked some things out for him,” Nanny said. “Don’t you worry. All taken care of.”
    Dodo took my arm. “And my poor, poor darling. You’ve obviously lost all your clothes too. Never, mind. You and I will have lots of fun going through my wardrobe.”
    “Oh, no, really,” I said, now feeling overwhelmed with embarrassment and emotion. “I couldn’t possibly borrow your clothes. How and when could I return them to you?”
    She laughed gaily. “But I want to give them to you, silly. I’m tired of so many of my dresses, and one can’t be seen in public in them more than a couple of times or people start to talk, don’t they? Besides Alfred loves to show me off in new dresses. He’s such an angel. He caters to my every