Minor Indiscretions by Bárbara Metzger Page B

and convicted me without a hearing. If it were up to you, I would hang."
    "No, ma'am, hanging's too good for you." Then he raised his hand. "But hold, let us not go round Robin's barn again. I hoped to resolve this matter with the least bother to everyone, but I see it will have to be decided by cooler heads. There is a simple question of who has legal right to the child. I'll have my man-at-law look into it, and recommend you do the same." Now victory was his, Corey was sure. The weight of justice almost always came down on the side of money, power, and prestige. "I am confident they will find that no magistrate in his right mind would name a skitter-witted shrew and a schoolroom miss as legal guardians to helpless babes."
    "And I am equally as certain no one would entrust the care of a guileless child to a—"
    Mrs. Tolliver cleared her throat and jerked her head toward the door. The conversation was over.
Chapter Twelve
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    Mama was wrought. Not distraught or overwrought, just wrought. "Do you mean all this time no one thought I was misusing the donations? And here I've fretted myself to flinders over nothing."
    "Mama, blackmail isn't nothing." They were in Lady Ashton's bedroom, and for a change Melody was limp on the chaise after the morning's encounter with Lord Coe, while her mother paced in agitation.
    "But I didn't do it, you goose. And how anyone could have thought I would is beyond me. Why, I've had more family skeletons locked away here than many a crypt, with nary a sound of rustling bones heard in the ton. I suppose that's why Lady Pa—ah, Lady Smith cut me dead at the Arbuckles' affair. After that a lot of my friends would not recognize me. I'll just have to write to Lady, ah, Smith and tell her that her little secret, or secrets, are safe with me."
    "So the twins are bastards, too?" Melody asked weakly.
    "Love children, dear, not that nasty term. And the twins were to be the tokens of affection presented to a very famous general by his fond, but childless, wife. Unfortunately, the twins' conception did not quite correspond to the general's leave time, and the lady feared he would not appreciate the effort made on his behalf. One child perhaps, but two…"
    Melody fanned herself with an issue of
La Belle Assemblée
nearby. Much more of this and she would be helping herself to the cordials. "Mama, are none of the orphans, ah, orphans?"
    Lady Ashton stopped at her mirror to think, checking for new wrinkles. "We did have a boy once whose parents both died in an influenza epidemic. His grandfather didn't want a child around. I suppose he was the only true orphan."
    "Then all of the others are love children?"
    "Why, no. Ducky isn't, for one. He's a duke. Why do you think Nanny calls him Ducky?"
    "Mama, have you been at the decanters so early this morning?"
    "Well, he would have been. He could never have taken on the duties, however. Could you see Ducky in ermine at court? His parents had him declared incompetent and disinherited in favor of the younger son. All legal and all very quiet, and happy they were to get rid of him.
    "Pip has quite legitimate parents, also, although I cannot consider them natural parents. We are used to dear Pip by now, of course, but he really is disfigured, you know. His mother took one look at the infant and went into strong hysterics. She said it was a mark of the Devil and refused to keep him. How one can refuse one's own flesh and blood is beyond belief. But she made her husband's life so miserable, down on her knees night and day, that he finally brought the baby to Judith."
    There was a catch in Melody's voice as she asked, "Does Pip know?"
    "Yes, his father told him. The man used to come visit. He'd cry and carry on about wanting his son at home, and then cross himself. Judith told him to send the checks instead."
    "Good for Aunt Judith! But Mama, Aunt Judith was always such a high-stickler, how could she have, you know, taken in the by-blows?"
    "Look at that, another