Lord of Scoundrels - Loretta Chase [113]
Even while Jessica was noting these matters, Charity was making further adjustments.
"I know what you're thinking," the woman said, her tones softening. "That I don't look after him proper and a child don't— doesn't— run away unless he's wretched. But it weren't— wasn't— me made him so, but the stuck-up brats at school. They told him what his mama's trade was— as though their own papas and brothers didn't come knocking at my door, and mamas and sisters, too, to get their 'mistakes' fixed. And them precious little prigs made it out like I was nothing but filth. And they called him names, too. Didn't they, lovey?" she said with a pitying glance at Dominick.
"Do you wonder, then, he was vexed and made trouble?" she went on, when the boy didn't respond. "And it's just what they deserve, for picking on a poor tyke and giving him nightmares. But now he don't like his own mama no more, either, and won't stay. And look where the fool child comes, my lady. And won't his pa have my head for it?— as though I done— did— it on purpose. He'll have me taken up, he will, and sent to the workhouse. And he'll cut off the boy's keeping money, and then what's to become of us, I ask you?"
Phelps was gazing at Charity in patent disgust. He opened his mouth to say something, but caught Jessica's warning glance. He relieved his feelings by rolling his eyes heavenward.
"You've spent a good deal of breath telling me nothing I hadn't figured out for myself," Jessica said crisply. "What you have not told me is what you proposed to gain by coming to Athton in the first place, when you understood His Lordship's sentiments, or why, in the second place, you have lingered in the vicinity, when you were aware of Dominick's distress and the means he chose of expressing it. There must be something you want very badly, to take such risks."
Charity's hunted expression instantly vanished. Her countenance hardening, she gave Jessica an insolent head-to-toe survey.
"Well, then, Dain didn't marry no feather-wit, did he?" Charity said with a smile. "Maybe I did have plans, my lady, and maybe the lad spoilt 'em. But maybe there's no harm done, either, and we can fix it, you and me."
* * *
A few minutes later, Dominick having been persuaded to release his death grip on Jessica's hand, the group was slowly making its way back toward the main road. Phelps had drawn the boy a discreet distance ahead of the two women, so that the latter could negotiate in private.
"I'm no feather-wit, either," Charity said, with a furtive glance about her. "I can see easy enough that you want the little devil. But Dain don't want him, else he'd 've come and took— taken— him by now, wouldn't he? And you know you can't just up and steal my boy from me, because I'll make a fuss— and make sure Dain hears it. And there's no one hereabouts'll hide Dominick away and mind him for you, if that's what you're wondering. I know. I tried it. No one'll have him, because they're scared. They're scared of Dain and they're scared of the boy, because he looks like a little goblin and acts like one, too."
"I am not the only one with a problem," Jessica said coldly. "When Dain finds out you've been letting that child run wild in Athton, you'll wish the workhouse were your next residence. What he has in mind is a one-way voyage to New South Wales."
Charity laughed. "Oh, I won't be staying to find out what he has in mind. You should've heard Tom and Jem a while back— and the others. They won't be waiting on His Lordship's wishes. They want me gone, and they'll hunt me all over Dartmoor, they say, and have the dogs helping 'em. And if they don't chase me into a bog, they'll have me tied to a cart and whipped from here to Exeter, they promised. So I decided I'll be on the first London coach tomorrow."
"A wise decision," said Jessica, suppressing a shudder at the prospect of little Dominick roaming the thieves' kitchens of London. "Having encountered me, however, you have