What details, I was tempted to inquire, could be handled of an evening and not left to the morning?
No doubt, one of those details that needed ‘attending’ was James Warren, her fiancé, who just happened to also be my publisher. But who was I to remind her of proper pre-wedding behavior, when Brodie and I…
As I was saying, Lily now looked at me with a most serious expression, quite the opposite of her excitement through the evening.
I invited her into the library. I did hope this was not one of those serious conversations that girls who are rapidly becoming young women are curious about. With the memory of my own curiosities at very near her age, I was not prepared for those conversations quite yet.
Still, I reminded myself that Lily had far different experiences than I had by the age she was at now. Being raised in a brothel could give one a particular view of things.
“I’ve been meanin’ to ask ye somethin’, and I wanted to speak with ye before ye left this evenin’.”
She sat on the chair at the end of the desk.
“It’s about Miss Lenore’s wedding.”
I could have sworn I heard a sigh of relief from ‘someone’ in the room.
“What would you like to know?”
“I heard from one of the house maids that it’s most usual for people to give gifts to the bride and groom at the wedding.”
I continued to listen.
“I have money from my work at The Church before I came to London. I want to buy a gift for Miss Lenore and Mister Warren. Problem is I don’t know what might be right, or where I might purchase somethin’.”
Dear girl, I thought. She had come from nothing, living on the streets as a small child, taken in by the madam at a converted church in Edinburgh, where she worked as a maid with the usual prospect of working in a brothel when she was old enough.
Only the fact that The Church had burned down had changed that prospect, after which I invited her to come to London.
Still, when she arrived, she had only the dress she wore and another one that was already too small, along with those few coins that she had earned from theladies,doing their laundry and helping with other maid services.
I knew what those few coins meant to her, and yet she sat before me quite serious about purchasing a wedding gift. It was unlikely those few coins would be enough for the usual sort of gift.
“I see,” I replied, and I did.
The girl was proud and spirited. Not the sort to be coddled or lied to. Still, I saw the look on her face and in her eyes. This was obviously something that was very important to her. And something that Brodie had reminded me of even as he agreed to bringing her from Edinburgh.
“I know ye and I know yer not the sort to take on something without thought. But ye need to understand that her life has notbeen easy. It will be up to ye and meself to help her find her way in this new life, much like havin’ a child.
“And for all her boldness and spirit, there’s a fear underneath it all that she might be thrown away again. Be certain that this is for her and not for yerself.”
I was certain then, and now. I suppose it might have come from my own early experience, that feeling that my sister and I had been thrown away. Whatever it was, I wanted Lily to have an opportunity for a different life than the one she’d been handed.
I gathered my thoughts. There seemed to be only one thing to do under the circumstances.
“Then we should go shopping for a gift.”
“Where?”
She had been to the dressmakers and the shoemakers with my great-aunt; however, those things were necessities, and quite boring truth be told.
“We shall go to Harrods,” I told her. I then described the department store that offered everything from exotic food to perfume, jewelry, furniture, and included a lady’s salon.
“The ladies at The Church wore a lot of perfume when they were entertainin’.”
I could only imagine.
“We will go after Mr. Brodie and I have completed the inquiry case,” I told her then. That was most important now, and I was hopeful that we might be able to conclude it. She understood.
