return jewelry, I'm sure."
Lydia began to calculate. "They were valuable, then?"
"I can't say precisely," said Tamsin. "There was a ruby necklace with a bracelet and earrings to match. Also a pretty amethyst set, rather old, in a silver filigree setting. And three rings. They were not paste, but I can't say what they're worth.
Loretta Chase - The Last Hellion
I never had them appraised. The money value didn't matter to me."
"If they're not paste, there's a good chance they'll be fenced," Lydia said. "I have informants connected with the trade." She rang the bell and, when Millie appeared a moment later, asked for writing materials.
"We shall make a detailed list," Lydia told her guest when the maid was gone.
"Can you draw them?"
Tamsin nodded.
"Good. That will improve our chances of tracking them down. Not that we can count on getting them back," Lydia warned. "You mustn't get your hopes up."
"I should not fuss about them at all," the girl said unsteadily. "But it's so horrid that I tried to save them from Mama's lot of pious thieves only to lose them to a lot of impious ones. If she found out, she'd say it was a judgment on me—but I shan't have to listen to that, or any of her galling sermons, ever again." She colored, and her lower lip trembled. "That is to say, you won't feel duty-bound to tell them where I am, will you? I left a note saying I'd run away with a lover.
They think I'm upon the sea at present, en route to America. I was obliged to devise something desperately immoral and irrevocable, you see, to forestall pursuit."
"If you can't honor thy father and thy mother, that is your affair," said Lydia.
"And their misfortune. It has nothing to do with me. If you want to make sure they don't get word of where you really are, though, I recommend you change your name to something less distinctive."
That wouldn't protect her from London's evils, however. She looked younger than she was and all too vulnerable.
After the briefest of pauses, Lydia went on, "It occurs to me that your present predicament is to my advantage. I'd been planning to hire a companion." She Loretta Chase - The Last Hellion
hadn't, but that hardly signified. "If you would be so good as to stay on with me, you'll spare me the bother of looking for one. The terms are room, board, and—"
The girl began to weep. "Please forgive me," she said, wiping her eyes futilely.
"I don't mean to be v-vaporish, but you are so g-good."
Lydia rose and went to her, and stuffed a handkerchief into her hands. "Never mind," she said. "You've had an upsetting time of it. Another girl would have fallen into hysterics. You're entitled to bawl a little. It'll make you feel better."
"I can't believe you're not in the least overset," Tamsin said after wiping her eyes and nose. "You were the one who had to contend with everybody, yet you never turned a hair. I don't know how you did it. I've never seen a duke before—not that I could see him very well. Still, I shouldn't have known what to say to someone so grand, even if I had guessed what to make of him. But everything was a blur to me, and I could not tell whether he was truly joking or truly cross."
"I doubt he could tell, either," Lydia said, ignoring the hot prickling along her spine. "The man's a cretin. He belongs in Exeter 'Change with the rest of the menagerie."
The writing materials arrived then, and Lydia had no trouble turning her guest's mind away from Lord Ainswood.
Lydia's own mind was not so accommodating.
Hours later, alone in her bedroom, she still couldn't shake off the memory of the brief kiss, or altogether stifle the old yearnings it stirred.
She sat at her dressing table, holding Sarah's locket.
During the grim days in the Marshalsea prison, Lydia had entertained her sister with stories about Prince Charming, who'd one day arrive on a white charger. At the time, Lydia had been young and romantic enough to believe that one day a prince truly would come and she would live with
Lydia began to calculate. "They were valuable, then?"
"I can't say precisely," said Tamsin. "There was a ruby necklace with a bracelet and earrings to match. Also a pretty amethyst set, rather old, in a silver filigree setting. And three rings. They were not paste, but I can't say what they're worth.
Loretta Chase - The Last Hellion
I never had them appraised. The money value didn't matter to me."
"If they're not paste, there's a good chance they'll be fenced," Lydia said. "I have informants connected with the trade." She rang the bell and, when Millie appeared a moment later, asked for writing materials.
"We shall make a detailed list," Lydia told her guest when the maid was gone.
"Can you draw them?"
Tamsin nodded.
"Good. That will improve our chances of tracking them down. Not that we can count on getting them back," Lydia warned. "You mustn't get your hopes up."
"I should not fuss about them at all," the girl said unsteadily. "But it's so horrid that I tried to save them from Mama's lot of pious thieves only to lose them to a lot of impious ones. If she found out, she'd say it was a judgment on me—but I shan't have to listen to that, or any of her galling sermons, ever again." She colored, and her lower lip trembled. "That is to say, you won't feel duty-bound to tell them where I am, will you? I left a note saying I'd run away with a lover.
They think I'm upon the sea at present, en route to America. I was obliged to devise something desperately immoral and irrevocable, you see, to forestall pursuit."
"If you can't honor thy father and thy mother, that is your affair," said Lydia.
"And their misfortune. It has nothing to do with me. If you want to make sure they don't get word of where you really are, though, I recommend you change your name to something less distinctive."
That wouldn't protect her from London's evils, however. She looked younger than she was and all too vulnerable.
After the briefest of pauses, Lydia went on, "It occurs to me that your present predicament is to my advantage. I'd been planning to hire a companion." She Loretta Chase - The Last Hellion
hadn't, but that hardly signified. "If you would be so good as to stay on with me, you'll spare me the bother of looking for one. The terms are room, board, and—"
The girl began to weep. "Please forgive me," she said, wiping her eyes futilely.
"I don't mean to be v-vaporish, but you are so g-good."
Lydia rose and went to her, and stuffed a handkerchief into her hands. "Never mind," she said. "You've had an upsetting time of it. Another girl would have fallen into hysterics. You're entitled to bawl a little. It'll make you feel better."
"I can't believe you're not in the least overset," Tamsin said after wiping her eyes and nose. "You were the one who had to contend with everybody, yet you never turned a hair. I don't know how you did it. I've never seen a duke before—not that I could see him very well. Still, I shouldn't have known what to say to someone so grand, even if I had guessed what to make of him. But everything was a blur to me, and I could not tell whether he was truly joking or truly cross."
"I doubt he could tell, either," Lydia said, ignoring the hot prickling along her spine. "The man's a cretin. He belongs in Exeter 'Change with the rest of the menagerie."
The writing materials arrived then, and Lydia had no trouble turning her guest's mind away from Lord Ainswood.
Lydia's own mind was not so accommodating.
Hours later, alone in her bedroom, she still couldn't shake off the memory of the brief kiss, or altogether stifle the old yearnings it stirred.
She sat at her dressing table, holding Sarah's locket.
During the grim days in the Marshalsea prison, Lydia had entertained her sister with stories about Prince Charming, who'd one day arrive on a white charger. At the time, Lydia had been young and romantic enough to believe that one day a prince truly would come and she would live with
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