As Neville walked on, he caught a snip of the conversation continuing between his wife and his friend.
“Was the woman in the stables—”
“Don’t ask a question you don’t truly wish me to answer,” Asquith replied.
“Don’tbreak her heart, too. That’s the least you can do to make up for your insult to Lenora.”
“And what of my heart, Mil?” Asquith snorted again. “No—don’t answer. This doesn’t concern you. And I never promised Lenora…”
Asquith lowered his voice to a lever Neville could no longer hear. He’d have to ask Millie to explain aboutthe woman in the stables. Clearly, he’d missed something.
Meanwhile, he headed up the stairs and through the open doors of the house. Just inside the hall, he saw a familiar face.
“Enchantée, Mrs. Cartwright,” he said. “Or should I call youCath?”
Mrs. Cartwright gripped her stomach with one arm, propping up her other so that she could nibble on the nails of her ungloved hands.
“You asked to see me?” Neville prompted.
She nodded. “I—I need you to know I was not part of your abduction.”
“Weren’t you?”
She shook her head.
“Willard said your job was to lure me to the theater.”
“That is what he asked me to do. But you must believe I had no idea what Willard had planned.”
She looked wide-eyed. Frightened. Of consequences? Or because she, too, had been harmed?
“You weren’t part of my abduction, but what of Temperence?”
Mrs. Cartwright looked away.
“How long have you known Willard?” he asked.
“I was fifteen when he took me off the street. He lost interest in me long ago.” Her eyes glistened. “But he wouldn’t let me go. I was useful, you see. Someone the girls would trust.” She met Neville’s gaze. “I’m not a monster. He held my daughter—hisdaughter—over my head.”
Amazing how much pain, how much damage one man’s arrogance could cause. “You’ll have to stand trial.”
“I know.” She chewed on her lip. “The ladies that abetted in the Morris abduction were sentenced to death.”
“A hundred years ago. You’re more likely to serve a prison sentence.”
She nodded.
“I will see to it that your daughter has a place to stay.”
Mrs. Cartwright wiped her cheeks. “Thank you, but no. Mr. Dixon has promised to take her to London and to my friends. I don’t want her to haveanythingto do with the aristocracy.”
Her bitterness did not surprise him.
“I just wanted you to know, to understand,” she finished.
“I do,” he said.
And he believed he did. A few months ago, he would not have believed her. He would have been all judgment and condemnation. He still felt strongly that justice needed be served, but his heart had softened.