Page 96 of The Good Fortune of Miss Robbins

Since Mrs. Drake had gone, Gretchen and the footman accompanied the children and me on a walk, and we were setting out when we found Lord Brookhaven waiting on the sidewalk outside the door.

“May I walk with you?” He bowed.

“Of course.”

The children greeted him with wide smiles.

So we set out, Sarah and Joshua, Gretchen, the footman, and Lord Brookhaven.

A group of men stood just across the street, one of whom was Henson. It occurred to me that they were probably waiting for Mr. Sullivan to show up and try to collect the fortune from me.

Lord Brookhaven was tall and well-built, with wide shoulders and a thick chest. A lady wasn’t supposed to notice such things, but of course, ladies weren’t blind just because they were ladies.

But I was still angry with him, angry and confused, and my mind kept going back to our last conversation when I’d cried tears of frustration and hurt over how he’d deceived me. And then there were the two letters—unacceptably brief letters—he’d sent. And now he thought he could simply take our morning walk with us?

Gretchen, probably realizing that Lord Brookhaven wished to speak to me, prodded the children along until they were severalyards ahead of us and chattering excitedly about a group of geese that were pecking at the grass.

“I am aggrieved,” Lord Brookhaven began without preface, “that what I intended to be a gift has caused you so much pain.”

“It was the deception more than the actual gift that caused me pain.”

“Yes. Quite right. It was very ill conceived, and I am sorry. I only hope that one day you can forgive me.”

I said nothing. The contrary part of me hoped he sincerely meant the words, that he was very sorry, and that he was worried I might not forgive him.

“I also came to tell you that I had some men investigating Gilbert White. They were able to find evidence and witnesses to some of his thievery. He was apprehended early this morning, and the constable and barrister I spoke to say he will probably be sentenced to fourteen years and transported to Australia. It is the usual sentence for thefts of this kind.”

Fourteen years was a long time, and very often, criminals sentenced to transportation to Australia never returned to England. And in fourteen years, Joshua and Sarah would be adults.

I should probably thank him for caring enough to make sure the man who threatened Joshua and Sarah would no longer be able to harm them—or me, for I was the person he had been threatening.

“And I hired some men who found that Mr. Sullivan has fled the country and gone to France, they believe. He will probably never be caught, unless he returns to Great Britain.”

“And if he is caught and brought to trial,” I said, thinking aloud, “I suppose it will become public knowledge that you gave me fifty thousand pounds of your own money. Perhaps it would be better if he was not caught.” I said this with a touch of bitterness.

“Perhaps.” He sighed. “I am very sorry, Miss Robbins. I realize my actions may possibly expose you to gossip, and you don’t deserve that. I only hope that one day you can forgive me.”

He was so contrite, I felt a pang of guilt for wanting to torment him.

After a few moments of silence, I said, “I do forgive you. And if you and Lady Derringer want to set up an orphanage with what is left of the fifty thousand pounds, then I am glad. I will not keep the money.”

I wanted to ask if they would place Sarah and Joshua in the orphanage, if that was how they intended to make sure they were taken care of, but I knew it was.

“For now, as we are making plans and you are helping us set up the new orphanage, please continue on as you are.”

What else could I do? I wasn’t ready to leave Sarah and Joshua.

We walked along, listening to the children’s chatter, and Joshua said, “Can Samuel and Annabelle come too?”

We doubled back to Lord Brookhaven’s house to collect them. Suspiciously, they were already dressed and ready to go to the park.

They greeted me, with Annabelle embracing me, and we continued on our way.

When the children were all distracted and talking with one another, I asked Lord Brookhaven, “Were you planning to take Samuel and Annabelle to the park?”

“I was hoping you and Joshua and Sarah would ask for them to accompany us, but if you didn’t, I was planning to take them myself.”

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. How I wished he loved me.