Page 55 of Forgotten No More

“Oh, no,” Harold said. “We are not going back to Drake’s townhouse. You most certainly have another scheme set up for us to fall helplessly into.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes, and he couldn’t help but feel a vague familiarity in the expression. “If you will remember, I was not the one who invited you to snoop about the marquis’ house in the dead of night. I did not send out lovely notes asking for your visit.”

The girl was right, and Ruby most certainly needed to be seen by a doctor to assess that no bone was broken. The swelling was taking over the side of her face rapidly.

Harold relaxed a bit. “I stand corrected.” He did not know a doctor in town, and feared he couldn’t afford one even if he did. Until his and William’s venture started bringing in coin, he was practically a pauper. “Please, lead the way, and I will help her. She is still a bit dizzy.”

“Will the two of you stop talking as if I am not here,” Ruby said. “I can walk just fine.”

She shook off Harold’s arm and sidestepped Ellie, while cupping her injured cheek.

“Which way,” she called over her shoulder.

“This way, it is only a few blocks.”

A bit of pride infused him as Ruby, ever independent, walked before them with her head held high despite the pain she must feel. In that moment, Harold decided it was best to keep the truth of his discovery to himself. Maybe she would come to trust him enough and tell him, but he would not run the risk of her banishing him for meddling in her room.

Ellie took off past Ruby and down the walk, turning at the first corner. He hurried to catch up with Ruby. “Do you trust her?”

Ruby laughed, then winced in pain. “No more than I can throw her, but her brash attitude is a front, I believe.”

They hadn’t had much alone time to discuss the girl since they’d escaped Drake’s house. “Who is she?”

“We spent that brief afternoon getting ices but I fear I know nothing more than before, besides the fact that she is an accomplished pickpocket.”

“You jest!”

“I wish I did.” Ruby’s steps became more certain the further they walked. “I saw it firsthand; the little minx is precocious. I believe she did it to shock me.”

“I happen to remember another girl, equally as precocious at a much younger age.” He tried to keep her attention off her pain. “This girl liked to follow the boys about, playing in the mud, and pilfering Cook’s pies.”

The look she shot his way told him he’d succeeded.

“Oh yes, that gangly girl who was always getting in the way and causing trouble.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “I do not remember her getting in the way—but I fear it was those troublesome boys who always led her astray.” He would not wish his childhood on another, or seek to relive the taunting and maltreatment he’d endured at the hands of his father, although he’d think twice about going back to that time for a few moments’ time with an unguarded Ruby.

“Hey, you two love birds,” Ellie called over her shoulder. “It’s the next building. Keep quiet and allow me to speak for us.”

Chapter 22

Ruby took a step away from Harold, putting space between them. The distance gave her a chance to think. Her head still pained her, but that very well might be the least of her problems at the moment. She wanted to lean against him, have him take the weight from her shoulders, yet didn’t know how to ask.

Ellie paused in front of them and turned to what looked like a boarding house, with a sign out front that read Craven House. “As I said, keep quiet and let me handle things.”

The house, nicer than most you’d find in Mayfair, was better kept than any boarding house she’d seen. “What is this place?” Ruby asked.

“Are you sure there is a doctor here?” Harold asked skeptically.

Ellie walked along the side of the building and toward the back. “Of sorts. I never said she needed to see a doctor, only get medical attention.”

“Pox on me for not being more specific with my words.” Harold closed the distance Ruby had put between them as they followed Ellie to the door. “We can turn around now.”

Ruby climbed two steps to a back door, unsure. “We could.”

Ellie turned to them before she knocked. “I am not forcing help upon you. I know someone who is versed in this sort of thing. She will take a look, poke around a bit, and we will be on our way.”

It all sounded simple enough, and she did need to know how bad it was without the risk of involving Brock and Vi.