Julia Justiss by The Untamed Heiress Page A

replied. “Her father, a soldier, died at Waterloo. Her mother took in laundry, but worn down by grief and overwork, she, too, died last winter. Nell’s a fine girl, but she won’t do for you. She’s determined to keep what’s left of her family together. I doubt she would consider employment that would take her away and leave Dickon here.”
    “Let me speak with her anyway,” Helena said, already beginning to wonder how she might hire the brother, as well.
    Mrs. Smith called the girl over. Helena watched approvingly as Nell walked to them, her manner neither hurried nor ingratiating. “How can I help you, ma’am?”
    “The lady wants to talk to you,” Mrs. Smith told her. “Excuse me, miss, while I see to the other girls.”
    “You want to hire out washing, miss?” Nell asked as Helena walked her back to her washtub. “We launder and mend fine garments. Our rate is quite reasonable.”
    “Can you embroider and alter gowns, as well?”
    “Yes, ma’am. Madame Beaumont’s dress shop in Mayfair sends me work when they have too many orders to finish.”
    “Your father was a soldier?”
    A shadow of sadness passed over the girl’s face. “Yes, ma’am. Papa was a sergeant in the Ninety-fifth Rifles. He died last summer, and Mama after him.”
    “Why did you not seek shelter with other family?”
    “Mama and Papa’s kin live up north—I don’t know where. It seemed best to stay in London and hope for work here.”
    Her decision all but made, Helena nodded. “Thank you, Nell. I must discuss the matter with Mrs. Smith.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” Nell curtseyed and went back to her scrubbing.
    When she began questioning Nell, Helena had set the coin purse from her reticule on the bench beside the girl’s washtub. Leaving the purse, she sought out Mrs. Smith.
    “I wish all the girls were as diligent as Nell,” the matron said. “Some, I’m afraid, want only to sneak off to the main building where the boys stay. Then there’s Jane.” She indicated a thin girl with a vacant expression. “A sweet child, but not…all there.”
    While Mrs. Smith spoke, Helena covertly watched Nell. A moment later, as the girl wiped her hands, her brother gathered up Helena’s purse and the two walked toward her.
    “Miss, you left this. Dickon, return it to her, please.”
    With evident reluctance, the brother handed it over. “You kin count it iff’n you like, but ’tis all there.”
    “Thank you,” Helena said. “I’m sure it’s all there.”
    “Told ya we couldda kept a coin,” the boy muttered.
    “No, Dickon. ’Twould not be honest. You know that.”
    Though the dress the seamstress had brought Helena at the lawyer’s office was unadorned, the material and workmanship proclaimed its quality. After looking Helena up and down, the boy said, “She’s rich enough not to miss a copper. I couldda bought us apples on the street.”
    “Where you should not go anyway!” Her face coloring, Nell explained, “Dickon chafes at my keeping him here with the girls—but I’m afraid of what he learns from the boys.”
    “Whereas you possess the finest of scruples,” Helena said, pleased the girl had passed her little test. “Nell, I need a lady’s maid. Would you like the position?”
    The girl’s eyes widened. “You mean, work for you,miss? Oh, yes! But…would I have to live at your house?”
    A moment’s reflection told Helena she could not keep the girl’s origins secret if Nell traveled back and forth from the workhouse. “Yes, that would be necessary.”
    “Take it, Nell,” the boy urged. “I kin take care of m’self.”
    Clearly distressed, Nell looked from Helena to her brother. “I should love the job but…but I promised Mama we would stay together. I can’t leave Dickon here alone.”
    Interrupting the boy’s protest that he was old enough to fend for himself, Helena said, “If I promise to find a place for him, too, would you accept the job?”
    Nell’s face cleared. “We would both live