She loweredthe letter to her lap and stared at the crackling fire.
Was it worth the risk? The sole reason she was in London was because Nora and her brother hoped the money she earned as a companion would change their fate. To be able to survive without fretting over every ha’penny.
Her grandparents had built their country home with their own sweat and blood. They loved their farm and never wished to leave it. Not that there was anywhere else to go. Their land was all they had.
With enough money to purchase a crucial quantity of sheep, the farm could finally become self-sufficient. Milk, cheese, wool. A maid for the cottage, a young farmhand or two for the sheep. Carter could finally have a life outside of the farm.
Noracould finally have a life.
And her grandparents would never have to lift an arthritic finger again. They could spend the rest of their lives in much-deserved peace. They could behappy.
She rubbed her face with her hands.
To caricature or not to caricature, that was the question. One potential outcome was anonymity and financial security. The other potential outcome was total ruination and a return to abject poverty. But was it already too late to walk away?
The price of refusal held nebulous returns.
In the best-case scenario, Nora would somehow remain gainfully employed, never once be asked to read aloud to her mistress or commit any other failures that would prove her unworthy of a role as companion, and she would return home ten weeks from now with eighty pounds in her pocket. A respectable amount that would at least cover the purchase of more sheep.
In the worst-case scenario, Nora’s shortcomings as a proper companion would be quickly discovered, her post summarily withdrawn, and herself returned to her family just as destitute as she began.
Neither path held any guarantees. There was no way to see into the future.
Her stomach churned.
Was this how Society gentlemen felt when they wagered the deeds to their unentailed properties on the turn of a card?
She’d sketchedtonlife as a lark. Not to poke fun at anyone or anything specific, but because it was easier than trying to write a letter. She could dash off a far more eloquent sketch in half the time it would take her to scratch out a single, painstaking, illegible, misspelled sentence.
And she loved to draw. She always had. It had never hurt anything. Even this time.
Once she had gotten over her initial horror atLord of Pleasurereplacing the Earl of Wainwright’s actual name, the baroness’s gossipy friends had quickly pointed out that the infamy only added to his rakish allure, rather than harm his reputation in any way.
It made sense, Nora supposed. She hadn’t been mocking him, but the vapid ninnies who swooned at his very name.
So what if Nora drew vignettes of real people? Did not more celebrated caricaturists do the very same thing? Indeed, was that not thejob?
There was no consequential difference between Nora’s anonymous sketches and the infamous drawings of men like Gillray and Cruikshank.
Except for the part about her hopes, dreams, reputation, and future being dashed to bits if her secret ever got out.
She turned over her brother’s letter to hide the dancing, damning words from view.
A tiny drawing greeted her on the other side.
Three circles with sticks for bodies joined stick-hands on the left. A speech balloon emanating from all three smiling mouths read,We love you!
Nora straightened her spine. She couldn’t afford to turn down any opportunity to provide for her family.
If a pair of drawings could garner more money than she could earn in a week, was there really any choice but to say yes and draw as many as she could while she was still here?
She’d already been feeling guilty about not being present to do her share of the chores. This was how she could help. Working as both companion and secret caricaturist would essentially be holding two jobs instead of one, and could earn her far more in the same amount of time.
More importantly, she owed it to her grandparents. Not only had they taken her in when there was nowhere else to go, they were Nora’s only family.Carter’sonly family.
She couldn’t bear the thought of a loved one suffering all over again. Nora was determined to do everything in her power to keep her family safe and fed for as long as possible.
Even if it meant assuming a hidden identity as the most infamous caricaturist in London.
