“Maggie was not with you then?”

She shook her head. “She does not know that Archie knows where we are living. I have kept that from her.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell her something, to prepare her, for I cannot guarantee that Gilroy will not want her testimony.”

Lily nodded, but she looked toward the fire, her eyes filled bright with unshed tears. “It’s very hard, you see, because I’ve tried to shield her from it all. It’s Maggie who will suffer if I fail.”

I was not following. “What is it Archie wants from you, exactly?”

“He was very plain. He said he’d learned that I was living here under the name of Mrs. Graeme, and that he remembered well the letter Jamie gave to me—the one he made me throw upon the fire. He asked me whether I had married Jamie, and when I gave him no answer, he replied it did not matter, all that truly was of consequence was if the marriage could be proved. For if it could not…” Lily took a moment to collect herself, continuing more calmly, “Archie still has Maggie’s letters from her father. If I fail to prove to the commission I was Jamie’s wife, those letters will come out and Maggie’s future will be ruined. Her birth will be exposed as illegitimate, and her employers at the school are careful who they hire, because their parents demand teachers of a certain moral quality.”

I thought, I could not help it, of how Helen Turnbull had been quick to judge the poor wife of Lord Grange for having been the daughter of a criminal, and I knew well how any whisper that a person’s birth was illegitimate could close a door to them that might have otherwise stood open.

Her hand rested lightly in mine while I thoughtfully rubbed my thumb over the back of her knuckles. “Did he know you had the certificate?”

“No. He expected that I’d have to make one. It pleased him to learn I would not, for it saved him time and the cost of supplies.”

“This may seem an odd question,” I told her, “but I have my reasons for asking. Do you have the sense Archie’s aim is to simply collect any claim that he can? Or does he seem to have a particular interest in James Graeme?”

Lily frowned faintly. “He showed me an edict the Commissioners of the Equivalent put out, inviting Jamie’s spouse—and bairns, if any be—to come before them with a claim. I simply did assume he’d seen the edict posted, and on learning I was here had made a move of opportunity.”

I said, “You’re very likely right.”

“Why? What else could it be?”

“I don’t know.” Truth was always best, but there was no need to tell all of it. “It’s only that the claim does seem a small amount of money, for a man like Archie Browne to go to so much trouble over.”

Lily’s face cleared. “He’s not doing it for money. It is not his own idea. He does take his orders from a man above him. That was evident,” she said, “at our next meeting, when I gave him the certificate.”