Jane sighed and rubbed her temples. “I won’t try to lecture you. You and your mother will have to sort out what’s next. But seeing as you caused a scandal at my club, I think it’s only fair that you help make amends for the extra work this has caused us.”
“I can help at your club?” Hannah perked up instantly. This was even better than she’d dreamed!
“Not when the guests are there. It’s for the best if you aren’t seen out and about for now, but we can always find work for you in the mornings before we open. Besides which, Eli and I are going to betaking most of the evening responsibilities over from Della for the next few days while she recovers from the shock, so you can also help your mother mind Gloria while we’re out.”
That wasn’t so bad. Even if Hannah’s niece was too young to do more than cry and soil herself, she was still more amusing than an evening being pushed toward an unwanted match. She was also quite adorable.
“I’ll take excellent care of her,” Hannah said warmly. Maybe if she was agreeable enough, they would forgive her sooner. “But speaking of the club, would you be able to tell me what happened to my winnings? Mama dragged me away so fast I didn’t have time to collect them. They were at Mr. Corbyn’s table.”
A furrow appeared between Jane’s eyebrows. “Della brought the money over, but I don’t see how I can give it to you after this. You had no business placing such a high wager. We have a policy that family can’t place bets, or people will suspect cheating when you win.”
“But it’s mine! You can’t just take it. That’s stealing.”
“I’m not planning to keep it,” Jane protested. “I’ll give it to your mother. The two of you can discuss what to do with it.”
How unfair!Hannah could endure everyone’s condemnation, but she couldn’t abide thievery. “I’m not a child!”
“I’m sorry, but you can’t put me in the middle like this. We’re all worried about you, Hannah. What were you planning to do with that kind of money, anyway?”
I’ll pay Mr. Corbyn, that’s what I’ll do.
“I was only going to add it to my pin money.” Lying was getting easier every time she did it. Hannah might have stopped to worry about that, if she didn’t have more pressing concerns.
“No one needs sixty pounds of pin money.”
Jane’s expression said she would never relent, but Hannah had to get her hands on those funds. After she’d cost Mr. Corbyn hisemployment and caused Eli to go after him, the only proper thing to do was to pay him what she’d promised. Otherwise she would be no better than a thief herself.
Mama still hadn’t emerged from her bedroom after her night of sobbing, which meant that Jane couldn’t have turned over her winnings yet. If she didn’t want to carry such a large sum on her person, it might still be somewhere in this room!
If only she would leave for a minute. Hannah sent a fervent prayer up to heaven. Couldn’t she have one little bit of divine assistance in her efforts to destroy her reputation and spite her mother?
At that moment, Gloria began to wail, the sound as beautiful and welcome as birdsong.
Thank you.
“Oh dear. She’s woken up again.” Jane jumped to her feet without a second thought for Hannah. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Of course.”
What luck!
The moment she was gone, Hannah began rummaging through every hiding place she could find. It didn’t take her five minutes to fall upon the little envelope tucked inside a drawer in the nearest end table. She opened it quickly to confirm it was all there. Sixty pounds. Thingswereturning in her favor.
Though her heart was hammering at the threat of discovery, Hannah didn’t feel too bad about taking the funds. It was her own money, after all. Now all she needed to do was devise how she would get it to Mr. Corbyn.
* * *
“How could you take advantage of my sister?” Williams looked ready to punch Silas. It must be a stroke of good luck that he hadn’t doneso yet. He’d woken him bright and early from a poor night’s sleep on a lumpy mattress by pounding on the front door of the boardinghouse where Silas had been staying. “I trusted you. I thought we were friends.”
We were, until your sister set my life ablaze.
Williams was a good man, and they’d gotten along well when they’d served on theLibertastogether, before that ship had wrecked and Silas was reassigned to theEcho. This was poor thanks for everything Williams had done to help him when he’d heard about Silas’s discharge from the navy.
“I’m sorry,” Silas said, meaning it.
“Sorry isn’t going to un-destroy my sister’s reputation.”
No. It wouldn’t.
