She turned up toward City Hall. A train was leaving and she quickly got on. It wasn’t only that she wanted to sit down, but somehow to remove herself from the street. As the train slowly trundled up the Bowery, she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

She’d seen Nolan. Seen him when he had no idea she was there. Seen him, as it were, unclothed. Seen him angry. But no anger—even if she was the cause of it—gave him the right to do what he just did. It wasn’t just the violence of the blow—you could see worse than that any day around Five Points. It was Nolan’s cold, deliberate cruelty that had been exposed.

And this was the man who she’d been thinking of marrying, the man who’d kissed her, the man who, only hours before, had pressed his body into hers. And foolish though it might be, and though it was the boy he struck, and not herself, she felt a terrible, sickening sense, as though she had been violated.

When he called at Gramercy Park again the next week, she sent out word that she was unwell. A few days later, she asked Mrs. Master to help her. She gave few details, simply telling her that Nolan had been courting her, and that she had discovered something bad about him. And after a little gentle questioning, Mrs. Master told her she’d take care of it. The following Sunday, when Nolan called to know how Mary was, Hetty Master herself told him plainly that Mary did not wish to see him any more, and that he was not to call at the house again.

“He was not best pleased,” she told Mary afterward, with some satisfaction.

The only thing Mary dreaded was that Nolan might complain to her brother, and that this might cause Sean to come to the house, but mercifully it didn’t. The next Sunday, though, when she’d gone down to Gretchen’s house, it didn’t surprise her to see Sean waiting for her in the street.

“What’ve you done to Nolan?” he asked. “You’ve embarrassed me.”

“I can’t bear to be with the man any more,” she said. And she told him plainly what she’d seen.

“All right, Mary,” said Sean. And he hadn’t mentioned Nolan since.

Today, however, she’d been able to put Nolan completely out of her mind. She’d met Gretchen at the shop, and they’d walked arm in arm with Theodore along the street.

“Where are we going?” she’d asked.

“Oh, just to pick up Hans,” Gretchen had answered cheerfully.

Her heart had missed a beat, but she didn’t think it showed.

“I haven’t seen him for ages,” she’d said.