Regency Disguise: No Occupation for a Lady / No Role for a Gentleman. Gail Whitiker

way down to the kitchen. He had complete faith in Mrs Hutchins’s ability to look after the children, but if Molly was coughing up blood, it was just as well the doctor had been sent for. For all Victoria’s claim that she had fallen out of trees, what she was about to see was something she likely didn’t encounter in her everyday life.

      Molly was lying on a narrow cot placed next to the fire. Her face was white and the front of her chemise was spattered with blood. A quick glance showed other towels spotted with blood, which Mrs Hutchins quickly gathered up. Molly’s sister, Margaret, was standing a few feet away, her face stricken.

      To Alistair’s surprise, Victoria went straight to the child’s cot. ‘Oh, you poor little thing,’ she murmured. She bent down, her skirts pooling like a field of green around her. ‘Hello, Molly. My name is Victoria. Can you hear me?’

      Molly’s eyes were half-open and fixed on Victoria’s face. When she nodded, Victoria looked up and smiled at the other child standing close by. ‘Is this your sister?’

      ‘That’s Margaret, miss,’ Mrs Hutchins whispered as she passed by.

      ‘Hello, Margaret.’

      The girl didn’t answer, but Victoria didn’t seem to expect her to. She returned her attention to Molly and gently brushed the hair back from her forehead. Then she took one of the girl’s hands between her own and rubbed it gently. ‘You’ve not been very well, have you, Molly? But the doctor is coming and he’s going to take care of you.’

      Molly nodded and her eyes drifted closed.

      Alistair swallowed hard. He feared they were going to lose Molly—possibly her and Margaret both. The damage done by the mills was something even the finest doctors couldn’t repair, and the knowledge that these little girls’ early deaths could have been prevented made him angrier than he would have believed possible.

      And then, four more children shuffled in, all huddled close together. He knew each of them by name because he had made it his business to, and they knew him. But they didn’t know the lady crouching by Molly’s cot.

      ‘Will she be all right, then?’ the tallest of them asked.

      Alistair nodded. ‘We’ve sent for the doctor, Thomas, and with luck, he’ll be here very soon. Why don’t you take Ruth and Alice upstairs and then gather the rest of the children together? There’s something I want to tell you.’

      ‘Aye, go along with you now, Thomas,’ Mrs Hutchins said. ‘Where’s Robert?’

      ‘Up in t’ schoolroom,’ Peter answered. ‘With David and Beth.’

      ‘All right. Go and find them and tell them Mr Devlin wants to talk to them.’