Page 90 of Unraveled By the Duke
“Is this so important to you?” Celia asked.
Aurelia nodded wordlessly.
“Then let us find the picture and be done with it once and for all.”
They knelt, and Aurelia unlocked and then opened the chest. Inside was a neat pile of papers bearing sketches made by anarray of media. Some were made by pencil, some by ink, some by charcoal. Celia began shuffling them.
“I did not use ink when I was out on the streets. Only pencil or charcoal.” She pushed aside a handful of papers. “These were drawn south of the river. That is Vauxhall Gardens, see? These are of St Paul’s, and these are of Regent’s Park. Ah, here it is.”
She reached a picture halfway down the pile, drawn in pencil. It depicted two people embracing. The woman’s face was clearly visible and clearly a depiction of Lavinia. The face of the man was hidden, but another sketch on the next sheet did focus on him. Celia recognized the depiction of Captain Greenwood, who claimed to be the Viscount Darnleigh.
She sat back, holding the picture and looking at Aurelia. “Now that I look at him in the picture, from the vantage point of time and space, he looks familiar to me. And not because I have met the rogue, but because I feel like I have met a member of his family.”
“Ugh! He reminds me of Phillip Grimaire. Handsome on the surface only,” Aurelia scoffed. “Of course, you could have conjured this scene from your imagination,” she said, sounding unconvinced.
“You know I did not. When have I ever drawn or painted anything that was not from real life?”
“Never,” Aurelia mumbled sadly.
“I’m sorry, Aurelia. I know she has been very kind to you, and I know it must be hard to hear this, but she was lying.”
Celia felt vindicated. It did her no good to her relationship with her husband—herso-calledhusband—but at least she would be exonerated with Aurelia and her family. She hoped they would believe this evidence. She hoped Aurelia would believe it.
“She said the most horrible things about you, and I had no proof to gainsay her. Only what my own eyes saw, and that did not look good,” Aurelia sighed. “In fact, your claims seemed unhinged. Particularly after what happened at the Duke of Larcher’s ball.”
She clutched the picture to her breast.
“I could gladly strangle Lavinia Dunnings. I would like to confront her with this.”
“That would not be wise, Aurelia. I would not want to give her the chance to destroy this and claim it never existed. I will keep it.”
For a moment, it seemed that Aurelia would not relinquish the paper. Then, she smiled and let Celia take it. In the chest was a leather envelope into which she slotted the paper to avoid creasing or folding it. She tucked it under her arm.
“I cannot tell you what a relief it is to finally have this confirmed. To have you see the proof!” Celia exhaled loudly.
Aurelia smiled in response, but she seemed hesitant.
Celia frowned as her sister hugged her tightly, as though trying to hide her expression behind the gesture.
“Come, let us go down for tea,” Celia said, “and forget about all of this with some mundane talk of village life.”
“What am I looking at, Violet?” Alexander asked.
“A foundling home. Built by your father,” Violet replied.
He stared at her.
They had traveled to the east end of London and were now sitting in Violet’s carriage, looking out at a tall brick building erected on the edge of marshes. Beyond it was the forest of masts, which was the docks. Children played and danced in a large, fenced yard in front of the building, supervised by several matrons in black.
“My father did not build anything in his life.”
Violet smiled sadly. “He spent his entire fortune building this place. Then, he started borrowing money. I know that you now bear the burden of those debts, but your father felt that he, as a duke, was in a unique position to be able to obtain funds from banks and financiers all across Europe. Something most peoplecannot do. He could raise the funds to build this place, another in Bristol, and a third in Liverpool.”
“Three? And with loans from the Grimaire Bank?” Alexander exclaimed.
“He saw it as his duty to use his wealth to help those who could not help themselves. To use his birthright, too, his title, his position. Hundreds of children are helped this way. Possibly thousands by now.”
Alexander shook his head, reeling from the news. It changed his entire worldview.
