Flashing hot anger pumped through Sophie’s veins. “Your former employer is the father?”

Violet nodded. “He was wonderfully kind at first. He treated me like he … cared. I knew he wouldn’t marry someone like me, but I never imagined he’d turn so cold and harsh. When I told him I was pregnant, he called me a … a trollop. He said the babe wasn’t his.”

“What a vile, pathetic man,” Sophie spat. She was already thinking of ways to hold him to account. Perhaps she could enlist help from Gray and Nash. Surely they could shame the cad into providing for Violet and her child.

“He behaved horribly,” Violet agreed. “But I’m afraid I’m no better. I let him seduce me with pretty words and trinkets. How could I have been so daft?”

Sophie grasped Violet’s slender shoulders and forced the young woman to meet her gaze. “Listen to me,” she said. “You are not daft. He was your employer, and he took advantage of you. He is the one who should be ashamed of his behavior.”

“Well, he’s gone now,” Violet said, sniffling. She took the handkerchief Sophie offered and fanned herself. “I’d rather not talk about him anyway.”

“I understand,” Sophie said, even though her blood still boiled. “What can we do to help?”

“I’m afraid there’s nothing anybody can do. All I want is to be able to support myself and raise my baby without being a burden to my family. But no man will want me for his wife, and no employer will want me as a maid.”

“You’re in a difficult spot,” Sarah agreed. “I know what it’s like to raise a child by oneself. But you mustn’t be too proud to accept help when you need it.”

“I’ll figure out something.” Violet pushed herself off the wall and drew her shawl around her, hiding her belly.

Sophie desperately wanted to help the young woman, but she didn’t have the faintest idea how. “I’ll give the matter some thought this week,” she said. “At the very least, you need a safe, comfortable home for you and your baby. Let me see what I can come up with.”

“You needn’t worry about me,” Violet said briskly—as if she were embarrassed by her uncharacteristic show of emotion. “I seem to cry at the slightest provocation these days, but I’m certain all will be well, eventually. In the meantime, I beg you both to keep my secret. I’ve no wish to bring shame upon my family—at least not until it’s absolutely necessary.”

Sophie was still thinking about Violet’s predicament a couple of hours later, when Reese met her just outside the tailor’s shop. But the sight of him pushed every thought, rational or otherwise, from her mind.