“And so you leave him alone and disturb my sister with what ain’t her business?” She gave Nan an apologetic look before bending over little Cecilia and speaking with a tone of great forbearance. “Now, you cannot dodge forever, ungrateful girl, and so I have said to you for weeks now.”

She went on like that, asking if Cecilia did not like to eat? And would she like to be on the street? And had not Bea given her time to ease into things, and chosen a pleasant man for the deed so she need not be so afraid?

It seemed to take a very long time for before Nan’s mind could truly comprehend what was happening. It was impossible. She could not believe she was hearing it. She could not believe it was her sister saying it.

“Beatrice.” It was their mother’s scolding voice that came out of Nan, startling them both. It hung in the air while she stared at her sister, bewildered. “She’s a child.”

Bea lifted her brows at that. “Aye, a child that’s been fed every day for months, to say naught of the clothes on her back and the fire that warms her. There’s them that like em young, Nan, though few are decent enough to be let near a young girl.”

“Decent?” Nan struggled to understand the words, to match them up with her sister’s nonchalance. Her hand tightened on the girl’s shoulder. “She’s but a child. And frightened. There’s naught decent in it.”

Bea’s face closed up, that sour look that said she thought Nan was boasting. It confounded Nan even further – how was anything she had said boastful?

“As bad as Aunt Mary, you are, sitting in judgement of me. You know naught of it,” she sneered. She set her hands on her hips and glared a moment before taking a calming breath and returning to a more reasoning tone. She barely contained her impatience as she explained. “Never would I do as other bawds are known to, Nan. No girl can say as I ever let a man force himself on her to steal her virtue, so that she must turn whore. I can name you ten girls now who come to this life that way, and their stories would fair break your heart. I wouldn’t never be as cruel as that. It’s her choice, and she’ll go freely to him without I force her.”

When Nan found herself unable to muster her voice to respond, Rosy spoke. She was just at Nan’s elbow, but it seemed almost as though her words came from a great distance, in a tiny voice.

“That much is true. If another bawd takes Cissy, it’s sure to happen just like that.”

But Nan could only stare at Bea, who so clearly thought she was being reasonable. Did she truly not see?