Page 36 of Barely a Woman
“We wait over there to see who else arrives.” He pointed to an empty courtyard featuring a small bench and a commanding view of the house. After they occupied opposite ends of the old bench, Steadman settled into a silent sulk. Morgan, on the other hand, remained perched and attentive, spinning scenarios of what she would do if ruffians approached them. However, perhaps a quarter of an hour passed with no one else even passing by on the street. She glanced at Steadman, who was making a comprehensive survey of the patch of grass between his boots. He was hunched over with elbows on knees, swaying slightly. The punishing gulf that had interrupted their friendship abruptly overcame her.
“Steadman.” She kept her voice low.
His head bobbed up. “Yes?”
“You mentioned a sister.”
“I did.”
“Might you tell me of her? While we wait?”
His head rocked back and forth on his shoulders before he resumed his slouch. “Three years younger.”
His willingness to divulge family information, no matter how laconically, prodded her hope. “Have you seen her? In the past several years, I mean?”
He grunted. “From a distance.”
Morgan’s determination drove her to pry further. “What is she called?”
“Evelyn.” A hint of wistfulness accompanied the name. “She was always strong. She might break you in half for daring to speak to her.”
The assessment startled Morgan. “Because she is proud?”
“No. Because she can.”
“I see.” She let the silence drift until it dusted them like late-Spring snow. “You seem as ifyou’dlike to breakmein half.”
He slowly lifted from his slouch. “Perhaps.”
“Why?” Her response came louder and with more injury than she had intended.
“Why? Why you ask?” He shifted to face her. “Beyond the danger in which you placed my reputation, you cheated me.”
“Cheated you? How could I…”
“You cheated me, conned me, and swindled me no less than would a charlatan. You pilfered my regard, stole my trust, and plundered my friendship. You took from me everything I value more than money, and under false pretenses. You took everything from me for no other reason than to conceal a ruse, to cover a trail of deceit, with complete disregard for the value of what I offered.”
His accusation burned a scorching trail through her soul. However, she felt no shame because he was greatly mistaken.She stood from the bench in agitation, fighting to keep her voice down. “Is that what you think, almighty Sir Steadman? That our friendship was just a poison game of cards? A great con meant to make a fool of you? That I have no regard for what you entrusted to me?”
Her muted tirade took him aback, literally. He leaned away until the bench’s armrest stopped his progress. “I… well…”
“You could not be more mistaken on that matter. Your kindness and companionship these past days have been the most precious gifts I have received in, in, in… ever. They have proven the only comforting prospects in this entire sordid affair.”
She turned away briefly before wheeling on him again.
“I gave up everything for a job to feed my family. I surrendered my womanhood. I gave up my hair, for God’s sake. My best quality by far.” Tears stung her eyes. “If you recall, I tried to avoid this assignment. You had the power to decline, but you did not. So, I am here, placed in an impossible situation, further from sanity and gentility than I could ever have imagined. The unfairness of it all! It makes me want to crawl into a hole and let the world forget I was ever here.”
Spent of grievance, Morgan plopped onto the bench and let her face fall into her hands. The bench vibrated as Steadman shifted in place. The brief, light brush of his hand across her shoulder brought her head up. He was facing her straight on.
“I am sorry for what has happened to you, Morgan.” The sadness and empathy behind his words proved a cooling salve to her jagged wound. “That life has forced you into such desperate straits brings me great sorrow. And you are right. The world is unfair. It tramples good people underfoot while bearing about the wicked on its shoulders. That is why I fight for thedowntrodden and punish the oppressors. That is why I once robbed coaches and now seek to bring even lords to justice. And despite what you think, I am glad you are here.”
She wanted to believe him—that she mattered even a little. However, she now knew intimately the gulf between genders in nearly all things. “The world may trample good people, but it holds special hostility for women.”
He nodded. “Tell me, then.”
She rubbed her forehead vacantly. “Surely, you are aware of the second-class status afforded my sex in this supposedly enlightened society?”
“I am.”
