Loretta could see by the set of his shoulders that he was waiting for something, braced for something she might say. But what was there to say? She’d tried begging, and it hadn’t worked. She’d tried tears and sarcasm with an equal lack of success. What in the name of God did Reeve want of her?

All Loretta had to offer was the venom of a woman scorned. “I’ll see you on your knees for this, Reeve McKenna. And rest assured, sweet Maggie will suffer too. You have my word on that!”

Reeve sighed heavily. “No threats, Loretta. I’m not without a measure of power myself, remember.”

Loretta shivered, even though the night was warm. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Elisabeth cowering in a doorway, taking in the scene with an aquamarine stare.

“You’ll continue to look after the child, of course,” Loretta said stiffly, and Reeve turned to face her with something like contempt moving in his features.

“There was never any question about that,” he replied.

With as much dignity as she could muster, Loretta left the room and, after packing most of her clothes and all of her jewelry, she left Reeve’s house.

She was far away in the hired carriage Reeve had summoned for her before she realized that it would have been wiser to kiss Elisabeth and weep a few tears over the parting. Only moments too late, Loretta reflected that Reeve’s greatest weakness was not Maggie whatever-her-name-was, but Elisabeth.

Mr. Kirk’s place was bigger than the mansion housing the Girls’ Friendly Society and considerably more imposing. The lawn looked smooth, as if it had been trimmed with embroidery scissors, and there were flower beds and fountains and fragrant rosebushes pruned to resemble trees.

“Coo!” said Tansy, who had found a place in the next street and was lingering here only to see her friend safely inside the great house. “Think of the parties this gent must ’ave, mind you!”

Maggie swallowed hard and reached out to turn the glistening brass bellknob beside the arched door. Parties were the last thing on her mind this evening; she was thinking of the strange twists and turns fate can take, and just when a person least expects them too. She stood on this doorstep an actress, but the moment she set one foot over the threshold she would become a governess.

Momentarily, the door swung open and a rotund woman dressed in a bombazine dress almost identical to Maggie’s appeared in the opening. Her eyes were very small and very bright and they took in every aspect of the new governess’s appearance in one quick sweep.

Maggie drew a deep breath. “I’m Maggie—Margaret Chamberlin,” she said to break the silence.