Page 16 of A Misguided Devotion

The thought sobered her. It wasn’t true. She would be delighted to have her brother here under any circumstances.

Kitty listened to the conversation Mr Barrington was having with his mother. “And you say her father was not uncle’s son?”

“A noble by-blow. Your uncle raised another man’s bastard as his own. Poor, disillusioned Walter. Believed in his precious Catherine to the end, although she failed to bear him a child of his own.”

Kitty cringed to hear her papa spoken of so harshly. No one could choose their parentage, but she could not help wishing her grandfather had told her the truth—to prepare her for this. Perhaps he had hoped his sister would have forgiven him by now.

“Bah! Don’t you dare take pity on the girl, or I’ll throw her out on the streets. It is, after all, where she belongs.”

Kitty continued to stand, listening to them talk about her as if she were not there.

“Is there a chance you are mistaken about her parentage?”

“No!”

She watched Mr Barrington’s face. The lines around his eyes suggested he did not approve of his mother’s callousness.

“You cannot blame Miss Lacey for your brother’s behaviour.”

“He chose that woman over me, and he would have claimed to be the boy’s father if she had let him. Stuck by her story to the bitter end. And after all this, he had the gall to send the girl to me.”

“Has she nowhere else to go? No relatives who might take her in?”

“None, except her brother, who is fighting in the Peninsula—if he’s even still alive.”

Kitty winced at the harsh reminder of the reality of war, but it was Mr Barrington’s sympathetic look that brought a tear to her eye.

“Do you intend to keep her here?”

Mrs Barrington sneered. “Till her spirit’s broken, and then—”

“Enough. Let me take her off your hands.”

“Oh no. Don’t go feting her to spite me.”

“You have not thought, Mother. If it becomes common knowledge that you have spurned your dead brother’s adopted granddaughter, it will not do you any good.”

“What do I care about others’ opinions?”

“If not for yourself, think of me and Laura. Your behaviour might damage our standing in the community. Besides, my daughter would benefit from a companion.”

He met his mother’s eyes with a hard stare, and at length, Mrs Barrington averted her gaze.

“Very well. Take her. I only kept her on a whim. Do what you like with her. I can’t stand the girl.”

“What say you, Miss Lacey? Will you come and make your home with us, and be a friend to my daughter?”

Kitty hesitated. Mr Barrington seemed honourable, but she had only just met the man. Could she trust him? He had shown her more kindness in half an hour than her mistress ever had, and treated her like a lady and not a servant. But appearances could deceive, and she did not wish to inadvertently put herself in a compromising position.

“Has the cat got your tongue?” his mother asked. “Where is your gratitude for such a generous offer? How dare you dither as if you had bountiful options available to you? If the decision is so hard to make, I will decide for you. Pack your trunk and get out. My son has a use for you, and I refuse to keep such an ungrateful chit in my service.”

Kitty glanced at Mr Barrington, who grimaced in sympathy. It was the assurance she was looking for. Living in his household could not be worse than working as a kitchen maid or serving at an inn, which were probably the only positions she could get without a reference.

“As you wish, madam,” she said, resigning herself to the change. She would take her chances, and with God’s help, she would live to write another chapter in the adventure of life.

Chapter 6

Kitty hurried up the stairs to her room in the attic and glanced around the tiny space that had been her temporary home. No, not home. It had just been a roof over her head. Would she feel more settled in Mr Barrington’s house? Did the man really want a companion for his daughter and nothing more? If so, why hadn’t he employed someone before now, instead of offering a refuge to a poor, friendless woman?