Page 113 of Not a Fine Gentleman

Connor nodded. “That’s big of you, Gibbs.” Perhaps even the most stubborn people were capable of change.

The butler inclined his head and returned to his master’s home by the same way he came. Connor patrolled the area in search of his little waif who often saw so many happenings on the streets. Fatigue tugged at him, turning his feet to stone. Perhaps food was in order, but eating held no appeal. His quarry had gotten away.

His little waif appeared like a ghost. She looked at him with the same dull, hopeless eyes.

He crouched down and gave her an encouraging smile. “Come closer, dove.”

The dull despair in her eyes brightened to something closer to hunger, and she edged nearer.

Gently, Connor asked, “Do you know anything about a mob attacking a fine lady last night in front of a theatre? Did someone pay them or threaten them to do it?”

She nodded and said in a soft voice, louder than her usual whisper, “A man came, offered blunt to call ’er names and mill ’er.”

“What did he look like, this man handing out coins to beat a lady?”

“Scars.” She touched her cheeks. “No teeth here.” She showed him her bottom teeth.

Ol’ Dan! That must have been what he meant when he kept repeating ‘the lady, the lady’ before he passed out. His early fate had saved him from languishing in prison before being executed. Orchestrating an attack on Meg was yet another crime on his long list. Perhaps he’d gotten what he deserved.

“My thanks, dove.” Connor handed his little waif a silver penny.

She breathed out a sigh and gave him the nearest thing to a smile as he’d ever seen on her and took it out of his hand. This time, she didn’t dart away.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

She only gave him a shy smile and trotted off, rounding a corner. Poor lamb. If only he could do more for her.

As she disappeared, Connor turned over the information she’d given him. If Dan had paid the mob to attack Meg, it had clearly been under Finch’s orders, which meant Finch was equally guilty. He was a blackguard of the worst sort for ordering the deaths of Lord Hennessy, the killer whose name Connor never learned, Dan, and Martin, as well as at least three attempts on Margaret’s life.

When Connor found Finch, he’d be sure the reprobate faced the full force of the law, and a goodly portion of Connor’s wrath.