A creak on the floorboard alerted the men that they had a spectator. It was Thomas, the welp who belonged to the woman renting the second floor. He was in the habit of slipping downstairs to visit old Mr. Kurtz and his son, the other renters who split the first floor with Silas. Though he’d only taken the room five days ago, Silas had already seen the boy skulking about a half-dozen times.
“Go back up to your mother,” he scolded. “We’re having a private conversation.”
Thomas obeyed swiftly. He must have been frightened by the shouting, for he normally wasn’t this obedient.
“You’ve got an illegitimate son here in town?” Williams exclaimed. “Just how many ladies do you have on your strings?”
“He’s not mine. He belongs to the woman upstairs. His father died a few years back, I understand.”
At least that was what the renter, Mrs. Taylor, had told him. Silas wasn’t sure if the story was true or just a way to hide her indiscretions, for he heard a string of visitors going up and down the stairs most evenings. But it was none of his business how she paid the rent.
This seemed to mollify Williams somewhat, or else the sight of the little boy had simply reminded him that his shouting would attract attention he didn’t want. He kept a more civil tone when he spoke again. “Why would you do it? After I recommended you to Miss Danby and gave you work. How could you hurt an innocent girl that way?”
Silas didn’t want to insult Williams’s sister, but this accusation was too much to endure. He’d never hurt a woman in his life.
“Shekissedme,” he said coldly. “I didn’t pursue her.”
“Hannah wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“Believe me or don’t.” Silas shrugged, with an indifference he didn’t quite feel. “But I’m telling the truth.”
Williams wrestled with this for a moment, his conflict written on his face. Finally, he retorted, “Even if she did kiss you—which I’m not saying is true—she’s only a girl. You should have known better than to let her do such a thing. It was your responsibility to behave like a gentleman.”
“But I’m not a gentleman, am I?” Silas couldn’t keep the bitterness from his tone. “Anyway, she looked old enough to make up her own mind. How old is she?”
“One-and-twenty,” Williams replied grudgingly. “But only just. And she’s had a sheltered life. She’s the baby of the family.”
“Sounds to me like she wanted a bit of freedom. Maybe you shouldn’t have tried so hard to keep her under glass.”
Silas knew he wasn’t helping matters, but he’d never been able to tolerate a dressing-down where it wasn’t warranted. Everything he’d said was true. The chit had only kissed him because she felt trapped, not because he’d seduced her. Someone like him could never be a match for a gently bred lady.
“Don’t presume to criticize my family.” There was a warning note in his friend’s voice. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Silas tipped his head in acknowledgment. “As I’ve said, I regret what happened and I didn’t go looking for any of it. Tell me how I can make amends.”
He would have accepted any punishment Williams doled out, if it would set things right. Even though he didn’t believe for a minute that the man’s sister was an innocent maiden, he still wished he hadn’t been the instrument of her downfall.
But Williams wasn’t charitable enough to grant him any sort of atonement. “There’s nothing you can do. You’ve ruined her and she’ll never be able to marry now.”
At least Miss Williams would be happy with that outcome.
“Then why have you come here? To call me out?” One didn’t pull a member of the working classes into a duel, but Williams might have judged it worth the breach to get his revenge. Silas wasn’t sure what he would do in that case. He could hardly shoot his own friend.
“No.” The swift reply let Silas breathe again. “I don’t want to fight you, though you probably deserve it.”
“What then?”
“To give you a piece of my mind, I suppose.” Williams looked more than a little frustrated by the question, the dark lines of his brow coming together in a frown. “I could hardly let this pass without saying something. I’ve never had someone compromise my sister, all right? I don’t quite know what I’m supposed to do about it.”
“Right. Sorry.”
They both stood there uneasily for a few seconds, before Williams seemed to decide he’d run out of insults and said awkwardly, “Well, that’s that then. Don’t ever go near Hannah again. Or I’ll… Well, just don’t do it, understood?”
His total inability to be menacing would have been comical, if only Silas could find the humor in the situation.
He was about to lose one of the only friends he had left. Not many people had stood by him after his discharge.
“You have my word.”
