Page 45 of The Lady's Last Mistake
“I heard about Sister Nan’s visit, and what she revealed about Mr. Young.”
Instantly, Cassie flushed with guilt. She hadn’t given anything to do with Mr. Young or Isabel a lick of thought yet that morning. She’d been too self-absorbed with everything having to do with Grant, Renfry, and Emily Stafford.
“I’m worried,” Elyse went on, and indeed, the press of her brow emphasized it.
“As am I.” Cassie felt the same jittery alarm as she had the afternoon before, when Sister Nan had explained how the man had tracked Isabel down. “If he knows our location, what is to stop him from breaking in? We have a few locks. No guard.”
“Or he could make it public,” Elyse added. She began to pace the braided rug, her fingers rubbing her temples. Cassie wished she knew the answer. Wished she could do something to put Elyse at ease. She’d given herself to this place. Her time, her energy, her skill. She was here day and night, while Cassie was able to come and go as she pleased.
She sat on the edge of Elyse’s bed. “It’s been over a week since he approached me in the alley?—”
“Heattackedyou, Cassie, he didn’t approach you.”
“Yes, all right, attacked,” she conceded, though she didn’t like to make it sensational. Playing the matter down helped her to deny how dangerous the situation really had been. “My point is, it’s been days. If he hasn’t tried again, he might not be coming back. Perhaps he began to doubt Sister Nan’s information. Or the woman who obtained it.”
Elyse stopped pacing and then perched on the bed beside her. “I hope you’re right. I would hate to have to shut this place down.”
Cassie knocked into her shoulder. “What’s this? Shut down? That wouldn’t happen. We’d simply find a new location.” She turned to face her friend. “I know I don’t do much around here?—”
“Stop it, that’s not true.”
“—but I can at least manage to keep a roof over everyone’s heads.”
Elyse smiled but looked doubtful. “I’ve seen our ledgers, Cass.”
So had Grant, she thought, again prickling with annoyance. But that put her in mind of Madame Archambeau. With an excited hop that jounced them on the bed, Cassie told Elyse about her meeting with the benefactress the evening before. Elyse leaped to her feet when she heard about the invitation to call on them.
“You want me to go?” she exclaimed.
“It should be you,” Cassie replied. “You’re the one who runs Hope House.”
Elyse eyed her curiously. “We run it together. Why are you discounting yourself?”
Cassie stood up and smoothed the skirt of her gown. “I’m not. I’m just being realistic. I can’t apply for their aid—they know me as Lady Cassandra. I can’t show any knowledge of Hope House without risking them saying something to the wrong person.”
Elyse crossed her arms, nodding. “All right. I’ll go. But goodness, what will I say?”
“We’ll think of something,” Cassie said, “though right now, we should visit Isabel.”
As it wasn’t a Saturday, Grant wouldn’t be there. Hopefully. They left Hope House in Mabel and Sister Agatha’s capable hands and took Cassie’s carriage to Church Street.
On the way, Elyse inquired more about the benefactress, including how Cassie had even come to be introduced to her.
“There is something I should tell you about Doctor Brown,” Cassie said. “His real name is Lord Grant Thornton.”
Elyse jerked back, her eyes popping wide. “The rake you were stuck in a closet with?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you not tell me before?”
“I don’t know really. I suppose I didn’t want you to despise him.”
“Whyever not?”
What to say? That any time someone said something disparaging about Grant, she wanted to defend him? Even though she was constantly complaining about him herself. It made no sense.
“Well, for one, he’s the reason we have the interest of Madame Archambeau,” she said.
