Page 21 of Dark Tidings on the Thames
Kara thought it over. “Beth definitely still asks after him, although she tries to be nonchalant about it.”
Niall sighed. “Ah well. They will find their way to each other, if they are meant to.” He nudged his wife and shot her an affectionate grin. “We did a fair bit of dancing about, at the beginning—and here we are.”
He was delighted when she hopped over to his bench and snuggled in under his arm. “Yes,” she said with a sigh of satisfaction. “Here we are.”
Niall was relieved when they found the girl, Lily, at the first spot on Beth’s list. She was tucked into a corner between the steps of St. George’s at Hanover Square and the railing that lined the street. She looked to be doing a brisk business, selling bunches of lush peonies and some late poppies. They waited while several gentlemen made their selections and moved on, then he hung back a little as Kara approached the girl.
“Hello, Lily,” Kara said gently. “We met yesterday, outside of the Waif’s Wardrobe, if you recall?”
“Aye.” Lily’s wary blue eyes watched him over Kara’s shoulder.
At the same time, Niall was running an evaluating gaze over her. She was a pretty girl and on the cusp of young womanhood—but he thought she was deliberately trying to hide that fact. She needed a wash, and she wore a loose smock with frilled trimmings and a short tweed coat, and had fashioned her blonde hair into long braids.
It was the thought of why she was making such a deliberate effort to look younger that chilled him. She obviously understood the danger to young women alone on London’s streets. They could be preyed upon by unscrupulous men or kidnapped by enterprising bawds. Young women were prized by some men who feared the diseases thatran rampant among London’s prostitutes. Those men looked for inexperienced or “clean” girls to dally with—and most of them did not care whether the young woman was willing or not.
It was no wonder Lily wished to look like a child for as long as she could. There were plenty of dangers stalking little girls in London, but not so many as lurked for young and nubile women.
“I was hoping to ask you more about what you said yesterday,” Kara was saying to the flower seller. “You said you heard that it was not Mr. Yardley who killed Miss Foulger?”
Lily nodded, still watching Niall over Kara’s shoulder.
Kara noticed. “Oh, please. Allow me to introduce my husband. Niall, this is Lily. Lily, my husband, the Duke of Sedwick. I promise, we just wish to speak with you. Neither of us means you any harm.”
But the girl’s eyes had widened. “Sedwick? Then ye’re the pair what cleared that music hall singer’s name? Found the man that killed her patron and had her set free?”
“Oh. Ah, yes,” Kara said.
“And ye’re the ones what took young Pip in? Off the streets and right into your own house?”
“Harold,” Kara said firmly. “He is my ward now. But yes.”
Lily visibly relaxed. “Well, then. I suppose there can be no harm in telling ye what I heard.”
“I’m sorry about the loss of your friend, Lily,” Niall said.
The girl’s eyes turned down. “Thank ye. She was a nice lady. She was making me a smock special. She said she would include a warm jacket with it, fer when I have to wait outside in the nights.”
“Wait outside?” asked Kara, glancing around at the busy street in front of the church. “Do you mean you sell your flowers at night, too?”
Lily shook her head and glanced away. “No. I’m not ready to turn to the nights. Not yet. But my sister, she works nights.” She looked up quickly to be sure that they understood what she was saying. “Sometimes she has to bring her customers to our rooms, then I get sent outside. I don’t mind so much. I got a spot where I tuck in under some stairs. But I don’t like the cold. After being out in the weather all day, I like to hole up inside and keep warm in the evenings.”
Kara swallowed. So many things in that short recitation stole her breath.
Niall took a seat on the stairs a bit away from the girl. It was like him to want to put the girl at ease. He gave her a kind look. “What did you hear, Lily? About the night Glynn Foulger was killed?” he asked in an encouraging tone. “And from whom?”
“Well, it come from Soot. We call him that because he was one of the city’s best skilled chimney sweeps, back when he was smaller. He’s grown too big for it now, but he still has soot in all his creases, aye?”
Kara nodded gamely.
“Soot saw something?” asked Niall.
“So he says. He was tucked up for the night in a doorway on the other side of Bedford Street, down further toward Henrietta. He says he heard a commotion and saw a man leavin’ the Waif’s Wardrobe in the night. The man was in a hurry. Soot thought he looked spooked, even. The bloke looked over his shoulder and stumbled on the stairs as he left the Wardrobe.”
“Did Soot know the man?” asked Kara.
“No. He couldn’t see him well enough in the dark. But he knew it weren’t Yardley, because the man was tall—too tall and thin to be the cobbler.”
“Did Soot say anything about what time it was when he saw the man?”
