She looked up. ‘Yes?’

‘Walter has spoken to you about joining our two families. I hate to flatter myself, but I’d like to think you will be agreeable to my proposal.’

‘Um, sorry, I am confused.’ She had become so distracted by Silas’s plight she had not seen the danger directly before her. She cursed herself for allowing Mr Boothby to steer the conversation in a direction she might have been able to change, had she been paying attention. It was too late now. He was making the proposal of marriage her uncle had told her would be forthcoming.

‘You will not get a better offer!’ He laughed, his smug certainty echoing around the room. ‘And I am gentlemanly enough to forgive one kiss stolen by a ne’er do well.’ He put his hands over hers. His touch was clammy and she suppressed a shudder. ‘It is time for you to act according to your status. I know you enjoyed the work I secured for you, helping the poor of the town. Up until the time we start our family, you may continue to assist those less fortunate. Your kindness does you – it does us both – much credit.’

He had insulted Silas again. He had insulted her, perhaps without even being aware of it, but perhaps not. It occurred to her this proposal might be Silas’s only hope. Mr Boothby would be sure to grant his fiancée her dearest wish. She swallowed, and tried to smile. ‘Perhaps,’ she said, ‘we could begin by showing mercy to Silas.’

‘So you are agreeable? Walter said you would see the sense of it.’ He took her hands and kissed them. She gazed in dismay at the bald spot on the top of his greying head.

‘And… the boy?’

‘Put him out of your mind, my dear.’

‘I will, of course. I only wish you would explain the truth of my uncle’s fall.’

He squeezed her hands. ‘You are too good, Harriet. That rogue should never have taken advantage of you. He’ll get his just desserts!’

She understood then that only she could save him.

Chapter 33

She managed to send Mr Boothby on his merry way by telling him they ought to check on her cousins, who had gone out to play.

‘It gets very muddy on the common. I shall need my Wellingtons,’ she said, casting a critical glance at his polished shoes.

‘Ah, in that case I shall leave you to it.’

At the door, he stroked her arm; he seemed to need to be always touching her in some way. She moved imperceptibly away and he dropped his hand. ‘You do mollycoddle those children. In my day, we’d be left to our own devices from morning to night. Never did me any harm.’

Harriet smiled politely. ‘It’s my aunt’s wish that I keep a careful watch over the boys. You understand why.’

‘Of course, of course.’ He nodded soberly. ‘Well, I’ll bid you adieu, my dear.’

She found the boys kicking a football about in a noisy group of about a dozen children. She watched them for a few moments, but couldn’t see a method to their play. They all chased the ball in a solid clump, like a shoal of fish, towards one small and solitary boy standing on the line where the common met the road. He seemed braced to catch the ball and all the boys behind it. Harriet walked carefully across the wet grass so she would not have to shout like a common barker to gain the attention of her cousins. She beckoned Adam over. He cast a wistful glance at the ball, but came to her. She told him she had an errand to run and wouldn’t it be fun for the boys to visit Louisa so they could play with the dog? Luckily, he agreed and coaxed his brothers away from the game.