“Do I make you so nervous?” Alexander asked in a gentle voice.
“So nervous? What makes you think you make me nervous at all?” Violet said, congratulating herself on the control she was able to exert over her voice.
“I may not be an expert on etiquette, but I have sufficient experience of watching people to see your apprehension. You are holding the arms of that chair quite tight and your whole body seems rigid. I am not here to harm you and I can assure you that whatever reputation you have been made aware of is exaggerated.”
Violet forced herself to breathe normally and released her hold on the chair arms, shifting her feet and then crossing her legs. She felt the tension in her shoulders and pressed them against the back of the high chair, then turned to look at Alexander directly. She smiled. This close, she could see the slight flush that had arisen in his cheeks.
That could be the result of his foolish climbing of our wall. Or because I have the same effect on him as he does on me. Good Lord, what rot! I doubt there will ever be a man whom I have that effect on.
“Let us discuss first why I should not scream this place down and bring my Uncle and every other man in the house to my aid,” Violet said.
“I have,” Alexander replied, picking up the book.
Violet made to stop him but stopped, letting her hand fall.
Best to let him think there is no great significance to that volume. Then he will put it down all the quicker. Lord, please do not let him read the chapter I have just finished.
“You can help me discover who my father is?”
“I can. I am aware that you will not have access to the resources you would need to undertake a task of that magnitude.Ido. I am a wealthy man with a solicitor on retainer and access to records that an ordinary person would not.”
“And who has told you that I have any interest in discovering who my father is?” Violet asked.
Alexander arched an eyebrow. “My tutors taught me an expression. Quid pro Quo.”
“Yes, I am familiar with it. I was taught Latin as a child.”
“Then you were lucky. All I learned as a child is trust no-one, do not become distracted when twenty feet up inside a chimney, and stay away from the Billy Boys.”
Violet found herself intrigued despite herself.
“How would a Duke’s son come to experience such things. And what is a Billy Boy?”
Alexander smiled bitterly. “They are an unpleasant gang from the west of Glasgow. Who dislike Catholics or boys from a Catholic orphanage. And as to the rest…”
He sighed and ran a hand through his long, unruly hair. “I do not speak of this publicly. It is a chapter of my life that I would rather forget. But, I am forced to relive it by the cause I have taken on. That is the cause of saving any other boy or girl from experiencing a similar horror. Or even having their life curtailed as a result. The life expectancy of the poor is short enough.”
“You wish me to trust you. But I am told that you frequent low drinking establishments and gamble. You trespass on a lady while she is alone. And at night. I need something from you…Alexander. A token to know that I can indeed put my trust in you.”
Though your deep, dark eyes may be enough to persuade me. They are hypnotic. You are magnetic.
“My father sent me away. To a distant relative in Glasgow. A Mr. John Knox. I lived with him at his house in the Merchant City, in the middle of Glasgow itself. He began my education but died before I had been in his care for more than a year. I went to an orphanage, having no-one to care for me and no way of contacting my father. Nor anyone who cared to take me on. I was abandoned. The priests who ran the orphanage used thechildren in their care as a workforce. They were paid by local businesses to supply cheap labor. I became a chimney sweep.”
Violet sat with her hand over her open mouth, eyes wide with horror.
“How old were you?” She gasped.
“Five or six. I believe,” Alexander replied.
Tears filled Violet’s eyes. She knew that life was hard for the poor and that children born into poverty had an extremely hard row to plow. But, to hear it first hand in this way by one who had lived it took her aback. Impulsively, she reached for his hand, clasping it in both of hers.
“I see how things are. You mentioned a bill going through Parliament.”
“There is. But I am not taken seriously. Because I lapse into Scots vernacular. Because I do not follow the rules of society or the etiquette. I do not know how. Can you help me?”
Violet nodded, still holding his hand, squeezing it. She felt as though she wanted to communicate her compassion, somehow pass it into him.
“I see why you are the way you are. Your language, your accent. If you grew up in such a place, in such circumstances. Yes, you would be very different to the Ton. And they are not known forbeing accepting of outsiders. It must have been very difficult for you.”
