“You are quite welcome, child,” she said. “But tell me, what are you doing racing through Hyde Park alone?”
“Nurse is here somewheres,” Pandy told her. “She didn’t wanna chase Cat, so I runned here without her. Let the mongrel go, she said. Good riddance to it.”
Lottie patted the girl’s back reassuringly, thinking that there were now two people she’d like to give a sound verbal drubbing to—the awful boy who had thrown a stone at poor Cat and Pandy’s nurse as well. How dare the woman be so unfeeling? Couldn’t she see how much the dog meant to the girl?
Cat had calmed down sufficiently from her race now—her tongue was lolling, and she was panting, sitting calmly on the gravel and watching Lottie with big brown eyes.
“That wasn’t very nice of Nurse at all,” Lottie said grimly. “I am glad that I was walking today.”
“I am too, Missus Lady.” Pandy released her and leapt to her feet, patting the top of Cat’s head with a chubby, gloved hand. “There’s a good lass, Cat. You need to apol-gize to Missus Lady Grenspell for knockin’ her to the ground.”
Just as Lottie was wondering how the dog mightapol-gize, an older woman dressed in a plain dove-gray walking gown rounded the bend.
“Miss Pandora,” the woman scolded. “What manner of trouble have you found yourself in now?”
“Missus Lady Grenspell saved Cat,” Pandy told the nursemaid excitedly.
“Forgive me, my lady,” the nursemaid said. “The child is dreadfully ill-mannered. Her upbringing is coarse, I’m afraid. The mother was a common trollop who abandoned her.”
Lottie was appalled that the nursemaid would speak so ill of Pandy and her mother before her. “Madam, it does not behoove you to speak so plainly of such matters,” she informed her icily, wondering if the duke knew that his nursemaid was carrying tales to anyone who listened.
But the nursemaid had already turned her attention to Pandy, wagging a scolding finger at the girl as she scowled. “You are going to be punished for this, you rotten little imp. Nothing good comes of children born into sin. It’s what my mother always told me, and you’re proof of it.”
“Please not the rod,” Pandy pleaded.
Heaving herself to her feet, Lottie brushed off her gloves, finding them shredded, her hands bleeding and raw from the impact on the sharp gravel. But that scarcely mattered. What did matter was that the nursemaid before her, to whom the Duke of Brandon had entrusted his daughter’s care, had nearly lost her in Hyde Park and then had insulted her repeatedly. Worse, it would seem she had struck the poor child in the past and intended to do so again.
“You’ve earned it, miss,” the nursemaid snapped. “Running about the park like a wild creature, insisting upon bringing that flea-bitten mongrel…”
“Cat’s my dog, not no mongrel,” Pandy declared, tears glistening anew in her eyes. “I love her, and she loves me.”
By now, they had created quite a scene, and Lottie had heard and seen more than enough. “Of course she is your dog, my dear,” she told the girl, before pinning the nursemaid with a pointed glare. “I’m a friend of the duke’s, madam, and I do not think he will care to hear the report of what has happened here today.”
The nursemaid paled. “The girl will be punished for what she’s done, my lady. I assure you. There’s no need to speak with His Grace.”
“Judging from what I’ve heard, there is every need,” she said coolly. “Indeed, I think it best if Miss Pandora and Cat accompany me back to the duke’s town house in my carriage.”
“I can’t leave her in another’s charge,” the nursemaid protested.
“Yes, because you have taken such excellent care of her yourself,” she said, unable to keep the acid from her voice.
Not only had the woman been unkind and cruel to Pandy, but she had also clearly been striking the poor girl. If the Duke of Brandon didn’t sack his daughter’s nursemaid after learning of what had happened and what she’d said to Pandy, Lottie would personally box his ears.
Twice over.
Pandy threw her arms about Lottie’s skirts, clinging to her as best she could, given the voluminous nature of her promenade gown. Cat barked and then resumed panting, apparently still worn out from her adventures.
Lottie drew a protective arm around the child. “Pandy, would you and Cat like to come in my carriage with me?”
“Oh yes, Missus Lady Grenspell,” the girl declared. “Me and Cat wants t’go with you.”
Lottie glared at the nursemaid, daring her to defy her.
“As you wish, my lady,” the nursemaid relented, twin patches of color on her cheeks.
“Very good.” She took Pandy’s hand in hers, wincing when the child gripped her cut palm with excited pressure. “Come along, my dear. I’ll see you and Cat home.”
“Duke!”
