Lady Revealed by Jane Charles

not so sure now. I was not to know where she was to go for certain and then she actually did end up in Paris, with her grandmother.”
    Acker stiffened. “Juliette’s mother returned to her grandmother in Paris, after she left England.”
    His mother sat up and leaned forward. “Did you meet this Juliette’s mother?”
    Acker shook his head. “No. Juliette wasn’t even to have contact with me, or any gentleman for that matter. We met in secret.”
    “What did she look like?” Lady Acker asked before she drained her glass and rose to pour another.
    “Reddish gold hair, emerald eyes.”
    His mother turned and stared at him. “How tall?”
    “Her head came to my nose.”
    His mother pursed her lips and thought, not looking at Acker. A moment later she shook her head. “It cannot be possible. I am sure it is a coincidence.”
    “A very odd coincidence.”
    “Julia and Juliette are similar names, though I don’t know why Adele would change it.” His mother sank into the chair once again and sighed. “Adele did love the theatre.”

TWELVE
    Juliette took a deep breath and knocked on the stage door of The Theatre Royal. She had to find work within. Even if she wasn’t allowed to dance, she could play small company roles in any production. Their funds were dwindling and she and her sisters couldn’t afford to lose their rented set of rooms, not with maman ill. Her cough had worsened and it kept them all awake at night. Though her mother tried to hide the evidence, Juliette had seen the dark specks of blood on the handkerchiefs. If only they had the funds for a doctor and medicine, but at the moment, they could barely afford rent and food and that was only because Genviève had found a position as a maid. It only required Genviève to be gone during the day so it didn’t pay as well as one that required maids to live within the home of their employers, but she was still earning badly needed income. If only she and Hélène could find positions, they could get mother the care she needed.
    Why had her mother taken so long to come to London? When their ship docked in Dover months ago, maman had gotten them a set of rooms before they moved on. As was her habit, she had gathered what newssheets she could and spent the afternoon reading them one after the other. She grew shaky and pale. When Juliette or her sisters asked what troubled her, maman would not say. She would only mutter things like, “I hadn’t considered”, “how did I not know before now,” and “we shouldn’t have left.” Whatever it was her mother read in the newssheets on that day had changed her mind about going to London.
    Then they had funds, but after traveling across England and into Scotland and back again they were practically broke. That is what led them to Covent Garden, where her mother hoped her daughters would find work. Her illness began while they traveled. Juliette hoped that once they were settled maman would regain her health but that was not the case. She just seemed to grow weaker and more tired.
    However, despite maman’s illness, Juliette had been given strict orders not to contact Lord Acker. She did not need to be warned away from that gentleman again and he was the last person she wanted to see, Juliette lied to herself. If she did look for him, he would surely expect her to become his mistress.
    Her mother also gave further warnings to all of them after they settled into their latest home. “If anyone mentions the name Lord Bentley or anyone with the surname of Trent, I need to know immediately.”
    The sisters had nodded in assurance, though they didn’t understand why. The names meant nothing to them.
    “Also,” her mother added a few days later, “If anyone should mention Adele to you, deny knowing anyone by that name.”
    Juliette and her sisters questioned their mother but she refused to explain other than, “Bentley and the Trents are relations of your father and I don’t want them to know I’ve returned,