Mr. Fielding grinned at me, his good humor restored for now, which was what I had intended. “Don’t preach the parables to me, dear lady—I know them by heart.”

“I am pleased to hear it, Mr. Fielding.”

I reached into my coat pocket and withdrew the photograph Daniel had given me of Nurse Betts and the children in her charge. I held it out to Mr. Fielding. “You keep that. Something to remember her by.”

Mr. Fielding went perfectly still as he took the photograph and gazed down at it. His hand shook once, and he swallowed.

I left the room before he could say anything to me, and when I turned back, his attention was still on the picture. Daniel sat in silent compassion, and I left them alone.

*   *   *

I went upstairs in Mr. Fielding’s house before we departed it, to visit the children. They seemed to be settling in, and the littlest girl, I saw with some relief, had lost her terrified blankness. The older two girls were looking after her.

The three lasses shared a large bedroom, which they looked upon as a great luxury. The two youngest boys shared another room, and the oldest lad had his own, next to Mr. Fielding’s. He was an unhappy young man, snarling at me that this cozy arrangement would not last. Mr. Fielding had no money, the youth said, and Mr. Fielding’s parish would force him to throw them out.

I had other ideas about that.

I attempted to hug the youngest girl, but she went very stiff when I touched her, and I backed away. Perhaps she’d come to trust again, but I could not imagine it would be soon.

Daniel and I took our leave as Mr. Fielding was explaining to the youngest lad why climbing the chimney was a bad idea, and Lewis drove us back toward the City.

“I’m sorry for Mr. Fielding,” I said as we rode. “But I believed what I said, you know. That your brother has a good heart. Deep down.”

“No, the good heart is yours.” Daniel took my hand, his fingers caressing through my gloves. “I’ve always known that.”

While his words and his touch comforted me, I could not let that be the end of it. “He will come around. Perhaps caring for the children will be the making of him. He can repay what Mr. Carter did for you both.”

“Possibly.” Daniel’s tone was cautious, and I had to concede he knew Mr. Fielding far better than I did.

When we arrived at Cheapside, and I prepared to leap down and walk to the Millburns, Daniel asked Lewis to wait, and he accompanied me to the house.