Page 42 of Speculations in Sin

“I am cold, is all.” I moved to the stove and held my hands over it, my fingers tingling with returning circulation. “I suppose you’ve come for nourishment,” I said to Daniel.

“Of all kinds.”

Words like that should make me flush with heat, but I still reeled from the declaration the man outside had given me.Daniel had mentioned the name Bernard Compton, which had worried Jarrett, but then said he’d been very young when he’d been with him.

I knew Daniel had still been a small lad when he’d gone to live with an East End leader called Carter. I refused to believe Daniel had terrorized South London as a tiny tot.

Unless he’d gone back there after Carter’s death…

Mr. Fielding, Daniel’s foster brother, had told me that after Mr. Carter had been killed, Daniel had become quite remorseless. Had done things worse than Mr. Fielding had ever contemplated, he’d said. Mr. Fielding was an accomplished liar, it was true, and I wasn’t certain what to believe.

Daniel had seated himself, thanking Tess, who slid a plate of meat pie in front of him. Elsie gazed at him admiringly around the scullery doorway, and footmen hailed him from the passageway. Mr. Davis, exiting the servants’ hall, raised his brows at Daniel’s presence, then walked on without a word.

I could not interrogate Daniel while so many passed in and out of the kitchen, all happy to greet him, so I rinsed my hands in the sink and continued with my preparations for the next morning.

Daniel regaled his audience with tales of interesting people he’d seen on the streets during his deliveries. He described a woman in Covent Garden market chasing off a would-be thief with a bundle of celery, wielding it like a club, and a dog who defended his master, a thin old man, from toughs who ran off in a fright.

The footmen and Tess and Elsie laughed about the woman and cheered for the dog, encouraging Daniel to tell even more stories.

I listened, wondering which were true things he’d seentoday, and which were ones he’d stored up to cover for where he’d really been.

Daniel managed to shovel in the entire large slice of meat pie as he spoke, and a hunk of almond cake Tess produced for him as well. Daniel at last wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and heaved a contented sigh.

“The best food in London,” he proclaimed. “I am not wrong. The queen of Mayfair is a good name for you.”

“And you are the king of absurdity,” I admonished. “I also notice you turn up here whenever there’s extra food to be had.”

“Always happy to help eat it before it goes bad.” Daniel patted his stomach. “A chap needs to keep up his strength.”

“The excuse of many a glutton,” I said, but I kept my tone light. Daniel was always strong and agile, no matter how much he ate. I did wonder sometimes if he took any food other than the leftovers I fed him.

Daniel continued his banter with those in the kitchen, and I could see he was waiting for them to depart before he spoke to me. They did finally go, two of the footmen mimicking the lady chasing off the thief with celery. I had to relieve one of an actual stalk of celery he’d picked up from my produce box on the dresser.

Elsie finished wiping up her sink, then she and Tess went up together. Their laughter made me soften to Daniel again—he knew how to cheer up even the gloomiest of people.

Mr. Davis was still shut in his butler’s pantry, but Mrs. Redfern had gone to bed, and Daniel and I were quite alone in the kitchen. I’d washed and put away the dishes he’d used, and now I seated myself at my scrubbed-off table. I opened my notebook, ready for us to share our information.

“Again, my apologies to you,” Daniel began. “I’ve been tryingto persuade anyone who will speak to me about it to release Millburn, but none will budge. Monaghan informed me bluntly that I’d used up all my favors in that regard,” he finished glumly.

I knew what he meant. Three years ago, Daniel had promised Mr. Monaghan I knew not what to have me released from Newgate when I’d been put there for a crime I’d not committed. Monaghan had that sort of leverage, but presumably he was tired of using it to liberate Daniel’s friends.

“Well, we shall have to prove indisputably that Sam is innocent,” I said.

Daniel regarded me with an unreadable expression. “I think that is what I admire most about you—your unshakable confidence.”

“Easy to have it when I know I am right,” I said, my pencil poised to write.

Daniel’s face softened with his smile. “There are other things I admire about you equally, but you’ll return the wordnonsenseif I tell you.”

The pencil shook in my hand. “If you are going to go on in this way, we’ll never accomplish anything.”

The smile became a grin. “As always you bring me back to earth. I will have to compliment you profusely another time. And you are quite right. Millburn is in danger—I can’t pretend to you that all is well. His prior villainy is not helping him with the magistrates, no matter that he has been a model of goodness these past twenty years. Those at Daalman’s chose their scapegoat well.”

“We can’t let them succeed,” I stated. The confidence he attributed to me was waning. “I can’t let this happen to Joanna. It is not simply that she and Sam look after Grace. I love Joanna dearly. I cannot let her happy life be taken from her.And she is right—she might lose her children if Sam is convicted.”

“I know.” Daniel moved his hand as though to reach for mine, but he returned it to the tea mug Tess had given him before she’d gone upstairs. “But I will remind you that we have succeeded in saving the queen, and we will succeed in saving a banker’s clerk.”

He was trying to reassure me—which I appreciated—but at the moment, I was less than hopeful.

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