“Don’t be daft,” he repeated, laughing. “I love your accent. Come on then—let’s grab this space before someone else does. It’s been a few years since I did this trip. I’d forgotten how busy it gets.”

She sat as comfortably as she could in her new polonaise-style gown of turquoise-and-cream-striped cotton trimmed with a deep ruffle of plain turquoise, for it had to be worn with a bustle. With a frivolous hat of lace and ribbons and cotton gloves, she had thought herself suitably dressed for a holiday outing, but her toilette was almost plain compared to some of the other women in their elaborate gowns with demi-trains and outsize bustles, festooned with layers of ruffles, flounces, frills, and sashes.

Randolph, looking cool and elegant in a cream linen sack coat and trousers, sat down beside her. “We’ll be glad of the breeze during the sail. The city’s been unbearable this last couple of weeks. I was beginning to wish I’d joined my parents on vacation in the Catskills after all. It’s a shame you had to come back early—though a bonus for me.”

“Did you win your lawsuit against the landlord of the Bed House on Mott Street? Though to credit him with the title of landlord is being overly generous. Exploiter of the poor more like,” Margaret said grimly. “Charging those desperate people twenty dollars a month for a hovel because they have no choice, when so-called respectable people can rent a room in a decent tenement just a few blocks north for half that sum.”

“Calm down,” Randolph said, putting his hand on her arm, “I won.”

“Oh, excellent. Though I wonder what will happen to the poor wretches who were the man’s tenants now. Do you think—”

“I think that we should stop talking shop.”

“Sorry. Only I was wondering, Randolph, given that Bina is getting married next month, whether one of the women from the Bed House could replace her.”

“What will Mouse make of that?”

“She’ll be happy to train someone up. I may even take two on, have them both trained, and then they can find work uptown, when they don’t smell of Five Points anymore,” Margaret said sardonically. “Do you know, that was what one of the Astors’ guests actually said to me after my little outburst at dinner.”

Randolph sighed. “I can imagine, sadly.”

“You think that I should have saved my breath to cool my porridge.”

“One of Molly’s sayings?” He patted her arm again. “You know what that crowd are like. I told you last night: they like to support good causes, to donate their bucks and their names to any number of worthy initiatives, but they don’t want to know about Five Points, especially not when they’re on vacation.”