“I know, I know, but it’s true. You can dress and live as you please. You’re thinking it all sounds very Bohemian and not at all suitable for a slick attorney who makes his money from the Vanderbilts and their ilk, but that doesn’t mean I want to live cheek by jowl with them. Quite the opposite.”

“No more than would I wish to, even if I could afford to, which I can’t,” Margaret said. “How strange that we’ve been living just a few yards apart and yet we’ve never bumped into each other.” She drained the last of her beer. “I like it, but I think I still prefer porter. Tell me, what business did you have at the mission this morning? Surely they can’t afford to hire you to represent them?”

“I wasn’t acting for them. My client is the mother of one of the kids they’ve had adopted.”

“From Five Points? How can she possibly—”

“Because I don’t charge for that kind of work.”

“Oh. No, of course you don’t. I really did get you all wrong, didn’t I?” Margaret frowned down at her empty glass, embarrassed. “I don’t understand, though. The Mission Board have children adopted into good homes, where they will have a far better life than they would have done if they’d remained in Five Points.”

“It’s a bit awkward talking about it, since you work there, but I guess if I maintain client anonymity it would be allowable. I don’t doubt they mean well at the mission, but sometimes there’s another side to the story.”

“So tell me the other.” Realising how defensive she sounded, Margaret uncrossed her arms. “Please.”

“Okay. So there is a woman, let’s call her Jane . . .”

She listened in growing horror as the tale unfolded. Jane had arrived in New York with her parents and two brothers five years ago. They were a hard-working family, and all quickly found respectable jobs. Jane was a seamstress at A. T. Stewart when she met a man Randolph called John, unable to hide the contempt in his voice when he said the name. John was a carpenter. Within a year they were married, and a year after that, John was out of work and had taken to drinking heavily in taverns. Meanwhile, Jane had a baby boy.

“Things were bad,” Randolph continued, staring down at his empty coffee cup, “but they got worse. Turned out that John was already married, and his wife wanted him back.”

“So he left Jane in the lurch?”

“He sure did. Jane’s family were appalled when they found out she wasn’t really married and the child was illegitimate. They wanted her to give the child up, but she refused. She had no money though, so she needed to work, and so. . . .”

“She put the little one into the school.”