Page 31 of Beneath the Devil's Mask
“Nay, ma’am. I am already afeard I have done too much. I should never have agreed to any of this. If the master caught me, I’d be turned out for sure and whipped besides. I ought to be getting that child straight back to her bed.”
“Oh, no! Please.” Anne clutched at Norrie with desperation. Having seen her, touched her, Anne knew she could not give up her child so easily. She thought of the weapon lying on the pavement by her knee.
Anne had only to raise it, level it at Louisa, and order the girl to unlock the gate. She could grab Norrie up in her arms and flee with her into the night.
But where could she flee that would take her far enough, fast enough from Lucien’s certain and vindictive pursuit? Nowhere. She was not prepared to vanish with her daughter this night.And if she had been, Anne realized that she could not bring herself to threaten poor Louisa with the pistol, terrifying both that simple creature and her own little daughter.
Stifling her mad impulse, Anne hugged Norrie as close as she was able, the bars of the gate an impassable barrier between them. Norrie bore this patiently, then wriggled to be free, protesting, “You are pushing my face against the bar, Mama. I’m getting rusty.”
It took all of Anne’s self-restraint to release her daughter, to content herself with stroking the child’s curls back from her brow. Norrie patted away the last traces of Anne’s tears.
“Don’t cry, Mama.” Norrie had always handed out her commands not with the regal hauteur of a queen, but with the gentle dignity of a princess accustomed to having her slightest wish granted.
“I won’t. Not anymore,” Anne said. “It is only that I missed you so.”
“I missed you, too. Have you come to take me home?”
Anne had to swallow deeply before she could answer. “I fear I cannot just yet.”
“But Mama, I have been here in London forever.”
“It has only been three months, Norrie.” Three months ... eternity.
Norrie opened her mouth wide, pointing to a gap where her front tooth should have been. “I even lost a tooth while I’ve been with Uncle Lucien. And I had my birthday.”
The little girl added in aggrieved tones, “Did you forget all about my birthday, Mama?”
“No! Never. I have presents waiting for you. I even made a new gown for your doll. Is that what Uncle Lucien told you—that I forgot?”
With a troubled look in her eyes, Norrie nodded.
Damn him. Anne gritted her teeth. “What else has he told you about me?”
“I am not allowed to talk about you very much. Uncle Lucien said I don’t need a mama anymore. He said that you were tired of taking care of me. But I knew that wasn’t true.”
“Did you?” Anne’s anger at Lucien was dispelled by that sense of wonder Anne had always experienced at her daughter’s perception. Those clear blue eyes of Norrie’s seemed to see things far beyond her years, far beyond the understanding of many adults.
“Uncle Lucien tells dreadful lies sometimes,” Norrie continued with a sad shake of her head. “But I remembered, Mama. You told me you would always be there until I was grown up enough to take care of myself. And you never break your promises.”
The child’s solemn faith in her almost shattered what remained of Anne’s self-possession. The urge to bury her face against the folds of Norrie’s nightgown and burst into uncontrollable weeping was hard to resist. But as she had managed to do so often for her daughter’s sake, Anne reached inside of herself and found the strength to remain calm.
“I am glad you remembered what Mama said, Norrie. I do always try to keep my promises.” Anne lowered her voice so that the hovering Louisa could not possibly hear. “And I promise you will be with me very soon.”
“Why can’t I come now? Why won’t Uncle Lucien let me be with you?”
Because he is a cruel, cold-hearted bastard.
Anne choked back the words, knowing she could never possibly say such a thing to her small daughter. For the moment, Norrie had to continue to abide under Lucien’s roof. It would help nothing to teach the child to fear and despise her uncle.
Groping for a better answer to her daughter’s question, Anne said, “Well, you must think of our time apart as kind of like a game of pretense. Do you remember how we used to playact the stories in your myth book?”
Norrie favored her with that chatting gap-toothed smile. “Yes, that was when we named my doll Lady Persifee.”
“Only this time, you have the part of Persephone, carried off by the dark lord Hades to his fantastic underground kingdom.”
“Uncle Lucien is supposed to be Hades? His hair is too yellow.”
“We are only playing pretend, Norrie.” The blanket had started to slip off Norrie’s shoulders and Anne tugged it more firmly around her. This damp night air was no good for the child. And behind Norrie, Louisa had begun to pace.
