Page 64 of Speculations in Sin

Mr. Grimes relinquished it, then straightened up and sent me a wide smile. “Enjoy your tea, ma’am, miss.” He caught the tearoom’s door as two ladies left the shop and held it open for us. “Don’t forget—look for me when you’re finished.”

“Thank you, Mr. Grimes,” I said again.

He touched his forehead in a salute, then stood back so we could enter.

The inhabitants of the shop were blatantly relieved when Mr. Grimes did not follow us in. The waitress, who was a cold personage, sniffed as we took our place at our usual table. Of course I’d keep that sort of company, I was certain she was thinking.

We settled in and ordered a hot pot of tea and plenty of scones. They arrived soon, accompanied by jam and clotted cream, a feast.

“Aunt Joanna has been crying much of the time,” Grace informed me as we dug into the scones. “She pretends not to, but I hear her in her bedchamber at night. We’re all worried about Uncle Sam, but I think Aunt Joanna believes she’ll never see him again.”

“It is her greatest fear,” I agreed. “Such a thing is difficult to banish. You and I know that they’ll never convict Sam, but she has difficulty believing it.”

I spoke with confidence, and Grace nodded, but I read sadness in her eyes.

“I wish I could help,” Grace said. “I don’t like it when Aunt Joanna cries. It’s like seeingyoucry, Mum.”

A thing I had made certain she did not observe very often.

“You can help Joanna by being very, very good and notupsetting her further,” I said. “I know you never would on purpose, but be extra diligent. Perhaps you can also keep the others from troubling her as well.”

“I do try. Mark is a bit of a pest—he doesn’t like being youngest boy. They pay a bit more attention to Matthew because they want him to go to university and rise in the world. But even Mark has stopped complaining now. He knows his mum is most distraught.”

“I spoke to Sam today,” I told her. “He so wants to come home.”

“Is he all right?” Grace asked instantly. “Do they let him eat?”

I nodded reassuringly. “He has some meals, but I am going to fill a basket and take it to him. I cannot let you come with me.” I cut off her request as she drew breath to ask it. “Newgate is no place for a girl. It is no place for me either, but I will risk it to make certain Sam has some decent food.”

Grace glanced at her scone slathered with cream and jam, a large crevice in the shape of her front teeth bitten into it. “I feel ashamed to eat this,” she said morosely.

“You starving yourself will not help Sam,” I stated. “He’d want to know you were enjoying your tea and scones instead of eating dry crusts of bread in his honor. He would be the first to tell you this. Besides, I’ll take him plenty of cakes, don’t you worry.”

“I’m glad,” Grace said in relief. She nibbled more, but slowly, as though determined to be mindful of Sam’s suffering, which was good of her.

“Sam said he was late to work on Monday because you children were trying him,” I said after a time. “He told me you had nothing to do with any of it, but he might have been sparing my feelings.” I sent her a mother’s stern gaze.

Grace flushed. “He did become quite cross at us—cross forUncle, I mean. He never shouts, only becomes rather red in the face and makes spluttering noises. Mark and Mabel were bellowing for their breakfast. We’d been reading about the revolutions in Paris for our schoolwork, and Mark and Mabel were pretending to storm the barricades. They were rather loud. Uncle had to run out and buy eggs himself because cook had run out of them and had forgotten to get more.”

I would never let such a thing happen in any house I worked in. The Millburns’ cook, while a somewhat talented and a kindly woman, was not always the most efficient of persons.

“And did he come back with the eggs?” Sam had said so, but if Grace and her family could be independent witnesses, it might help his case.

“Oh yes. Carrying a basket like a maid going to market. We all laughed at him, including Aunt Joanna, which seemed to cheer him up. He didn’t want to wait for breakfast to be cooked, but Aunt Joanna made him sit down and eat it. She said he’d worked so hard for the bank for so many years they could do without him for half an hour. She’s been angry at them since they started saying he was embezzling.”

I tried to be surprised Grace knew all about that, but I could not be. The house was small, Grace was inquisitive, and she was not dull-witted.

“I am angry at them too. They are treating Sam shamefully.” I returned to her tale. “He ate breakfast and rushed off to work?”

“He did.” Grace’s eyes filled, and she set down the final bite of scone. “That was the last we saw of him.”

“Well, it won’t be forever,” I said. “Uncle Daniel and I will prove him innocent. You will see.”

“I believe you, Mum.” Grace sighed and took a fortifying sip of tea. “You are very clever, and so is Uncle Daniel, andUncle Daniel has many friends in the police. But it is difficult to wait and worry, isn’t it?”

I gave her an understanding nod. “You have the right of it, Grace.”

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