“He’ll see the broken bottles when he comes home,” Belinda says dazedly. “He’ll know we know.”

“I hope he does see them. We’re leaving here at first light anyway, and he won’t know you’re with me. He’ll arrive home to an empty house and think I opened the bottles and found the gold all on my own. And then he’ll come upstairs and unlock his desk and he’ll see all his precious papers are gone.”

“And then what will he do?” Belinda says, fear in her voice.

“If the police are doing their job, they will be watching for him to return and they’ll arrest him. If they aren’t, he’ll run. He’ll have to. I have the papers. He’ll know I’ll go right to the police. He can’t stay here.”

“But what if he comes to me?”

“He won’t. Your marriage certificate is in that pile of documents, too. He can’t risk going back to your place. The police will know all about you and the gold he tried to steal from you and the gold he did steal from you. This isn’t all there was, Belinda. He’ll take what he’s already stolen from your mine and he’ll run.”

Belinda places a hand over her belly. She looks exhausted. “And what do I do then? I just . . . I just go home to have this baby on my own? Am I widowed? An unmarried mother? Abandoned? What am I?”

“You are someone who’s been wronged—that’s who you are. And don’t ever think it’s too terrible a thing to bear a child alone. Be grateful you can have one. Not all of us can.”

I don’t mean to sound hurtful, but I know I do. I thrust the jar of gold toward her.

She doesn’t reach out her hand.

“Take it,” I say.

Belinda looks at the jar in disgust. “I don’t want it.”

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“The gold is yours!”

“I said I don’t want it! My father died trying to dig it out, and apparently it’s the only reason James wanted me. You take it. You’ll need it more than I will. What will you have when you leave this house? Nothing. Take it.”

I stare at her for a moment, nearly overcome with the desire to embrace her as a friend, the first I’ve had since I can’t remember when. She is right. I do need it.

“We can discuss this later,” I say, as I kick the shards away from our path back to the stairs. “Right now you need to get back home and Kat and I need to pack our bags so we can leave at first light. Martin might be home tomorrow. Kat and I need to be well on our way before he arrives.”

“But I’ve missed the last train,” Belinda says as she follows me. “It left the station just after six.”

I am surprised to find myself somewhat comforted by this news; it means I won’t feel so defeated and alone tonight, with just quiet Kat for company. Kat, the child I love and can’t keep. “Then you’ll stay here tonight with Kat and me. We’ll all leave together at daybreak.”