At that moment, as they caught their breath after the scuffle, there was a look in his eyes as he gazed at Winnie that almost made her blush. How long was it since a man had displayed such obvious admiration? But then, she wore one of her new gowns and a particularly flattering bonnet, and she was aware that she looked unusually well. She should dress this way more often if it brought such pleasing effects.
“Madam, are you harmed?” he cried.
“No, not in the least. I must thank you for your timely intervention, sir. I should have been hard pressed without your aid.”
“As you still carry your reticule, I must suppose that the thieves were unsuccessful.”
“Indeed, although even if they had managed to steal it, they would have acquired nothing more than a handkerchief and the few coins I keep to reward the crossing sweepers.”
“Yet even that is worth stealing, to such as they.”
“Poor things,” she said. “They are only children, after all, yet they were so thin and undernourished. If they hadaskedme for charity, I should certainly have given them something, but I do not like to be robbed.”
“No, indeed! An alarming experience. But you are not here alone, I trust, madam?”
“I am awaiting my uncle, and I see him approaching now.”
Uncle Edmund hailed her as soon as he was near enough. “Winnie! What has happened? I saw a disturbance… are you injured?”
“Not at all. I was set upon by street urchins, but with the aid of this kind gentleman, they were driven off.”
He said all that was proper to the stranger, the two men bowed to each other and he then began to steer Winnie towards the street.
“Are you going far?” the stranger said in anxious tones. “I should be very happy to accompany you to your destination.”
“You are most kind,” Uncle Edmund said, “but my carriage is only in Cornhill.”
The gentleman looked relieved. “Then I shall accompany you to your carriage, for the streets are excessively busy just now. I have never known such a crush.”
“We would not for the world put you to so much trouble, sir, when you have done so much for my niece already. It is but a short distance.”
He looked pleasingly disappointed, but to Winnie’s delight, he said, “Perhaps I may be permitted to call upon the lady tomorrow, to assure myself that she has taken no harm?”
Uncle Edmund assented, they exchanged cards with a bow, and then Winnie was swept into the street and, at a smart pace, towards their waiting carriage. Her uncle said nothing of the stranger on the drive home, merely questioning Winnie closely on precisely what had happened.
With a sigh, he said, “Sofia will ring the most almighty peal over me for putting you in such a position, and she would be quite right to do so. It was unconscionable of me to leave you alone there like that, but I did not think you would be safe in the crowd, with so much pushing and shoving going on. I had no idea the Post Office became so riotous near to the closing hour. It is usually Percival who goes, and no one pushes him about! But who could have imagined that taking letters to the Post Office could be such an exciting business, eh? Now you have something more than scenery to put in that journal of yours.”
17: An Admirer
The event was the talk of the household that evening. Winnie was obliged to describe every last detail of the encounter with the urchins over and over again. Everyone was shocked, everyone had an idea of how it could have been avoided if only they had been present and everyone agreed that it was entirely Uncle Edmund’s fault.
He accepted this with good grace, but after a while, he said mischievously, “Winnie has an admirer.” As Winnie blushed and disclaimed, he went on, “The person she modestly described as‘a stranger who came to my assistance’is in fact a very personable young man who has asked if he may call upon her tomorrow, to assure himself that she has taken no harm.”
This caused even more of a sensation, together with calls for a full description of the gentleman, and the rest of the evening passed in lively speculation on the matter. Winnie said little, apart from insisting that no one should make anything more of it than the kindness of a stranger, for she was persuaded that he would very likely not come at all. Even so, sleep was a long timein coming, and when she rose the next morning, she took care to wear one of her new gowns, and not the one she had worn the day before.
She was busy in the library with Uncle Alfred, Uncle Edmund and Walter, when a rat-a-tat-tat on the front door caused them all to jump.
“Your admirer, no doubt,” Walter whispered, eyes twinkling.
“It could be anyone,” she said, but her heart beat a little faster anyway. Her mysterious admirer — surely it must be him!
The door creaked open, there was a murmur of male voices in the hall, and then steps proceeding up the stairs to the drawing room. A few minutes later, Percival entered the room.
“A gentleman has called to see Miss Strong,” he said, with a hint of a smile. “He is in the drawing room with the mistress.”
Walter burst out laughing. “Well, well, well,” he said. “Shall we go and view your Sir Galahad, Mouse?”
They all trooped up the stairs to the drawing room, and there he was, in a different coat and waistcoat, but every bit as fashionable. He leapt to his feet as she arrived, and bounded across the room, a posy of flowers in his hands.
