The Adultress by Philippa Carr

She was a girl who listened, who spied and whose curiosity was so intense that it brought her from her bed at night to take a look at the new arrival who had brought such consternation to her mother.
    I did not pursue that line of conversation. The child’s salacious giggle had in a way answered it and certainly I did not want to discuss this dubious relationship with her.
    She said: “I’ll go now. Good night. You ought to have been asleep.”
    “It would certainly have suited your convenience. Tell me, did you intend to examine my baggage?”
    “I only wanted to have a quick look.”
    “Now you’re here you will go at my pleasure. You will now answer a few questions for me. How long have you been here?”
    “It’s about two years.”
    “You are happy here?”
    “It’s lovely. Different from …”
    “From where you were before. Where were you?”
    “In London.”
    “You and your mother. Where is your father?”
    She shrugged her shoulders.
    “Never had one … proper. … There were uncles. … They never stayed long, though.”
    I felt disgusted. The child was building up a picture of what I had suspected.
    Jessie was a loose woman who had somehow managed to dupe Lord Eversleigh. How had she done it? I couldn’t imagine any of the ancestors I remembered being taken in by such a woman. They would not have had her under their roofs for an hour.
    “How did you get here?”
    She was puzzled. I guessed she really did not know. All she could say was that they had lived near Covent Garden and her mother had had lodgers. … “People from the theater,” she said. “My mama went on the stage once.”
    She looked a little wistful and I said: “You enjoyed that life then … better than this.”
    She hesitated. “There’s good things to eat here … and mama’s better … and Lordy couldn’t do without us.”
    “Does he say so?”
    “He’s always telling mama so. She’s always asking him.”
    “Where is your bedroom?”
    She pointed vaguely upward.
    “And your mother?”
    “With Lordy, of course.”
    I felt sick with horror. It was just as I had suspected. I wondered with apprehension what the next day would bring.
    “I’m getting cold,” she said.
    I was too and I felt I had discovered a great deal from Evalina.
    “You’d better go back to your room up there now,” I said.
    She moved toward the door with alacrity.
    “If I am going to stay here for a short while I want a key to my door.”
    “I’ll bring it back.”
    “So you have it.”
    She smiled, nodded, hunching her shoulders. She looked mischievous and childish.
    “Do you mean to say you took it so that you could creep in and look round my room when you wanted to?”
    She cast down her eyes, still smiling.
    “Is it in your room now?”
    She nodded.
    “Then go up and bring it down to me at once.”
    She hesitated. “If I do you won’t say anything about this.
    I hesitated. There was a look of cupidity in her face. She was remarkably like her mother.
    “All right,” I said. “It’s a bargain. Give me the key and your visit shall be a secret between us. Though I advise you not to do such a thing again.”
    She nodded and slipped away. In a short time she was back with the key.
    She was smiling slyly at me.
    Still wondering what revelations would come in the next days I locked the door and, feeling secure, went back to my bed, where after a while I slept deeply until morning.
    I was awakened by the arrival of one of the maids bringing me hot water. The sun was streaming into the room showing me a shabbiness which I had not noticed in the darkness.
    “Good morning,” I said. “What is your name?”
    “Moll,” answered the girl. “Mistress Jessie says to come down when you’re ready.”
    “Thank you,” I said, and, giving me a curious look, she went out.
    I got out of bed immediately while thoughts of last night came back to me. Today I should discover the true state of affairs and I was very much looking forward to seeing