Page 60 of Code Name Duchess


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The corners of Winnie’s mouth twitched. This was as graceful a concession as her sister was willing to make, she knew. Beside her, even Mary could not help but smirk. Undeterred, Victoria turned her attention back to the powder and liberally applied several dabs under Winnie’s eyes to give her the appearance of deep, dark circles.

“There. You are done. A pauper through and through.”

“My, Miss Winnifred,” Mary said as she shook her head, her countenance full of amusement. “I wouldn’t know you if I saw you in the street.”

“Good,” Victoria said with a bright smile. “That was my intention. I dare say even our own brother would not recognize you. If you come upon him today, you shall have to announce yourself first, lest he thinks some stranger has come to rescue him.”

Winnifred’s heart swelled at her sister’s cheerful demeanor. What a change it was to see her so happy. Winnie could only pray that yet another horrifying discovery did not strike down her optimism.

She walked past her sister and friend to the mirror and gasped. The woman before her looked nothing like Winnifred. This woman, dirty and disheveled, with knotted hair and stained clothing, would not stand out in St. Giles.

Getting from her front door to the carriage without rousing the attention of their neighbors was another matter. She’d surely be inon-ditsif anyone saw and recognized her—but that was a worry for another day.

Today, she smiled at herself for, yes, this would certainly do. Nobody would suspect her of being a high-born lady looking as she did.

Suddenly, she thought of Seth and what he might think when he saw her. She did not have to suffer from her anticipation for long, for just then, Purvis announced the arrival of Seth’s carriage. After one last look in the mirror, Winnie rushed down the hall and out the door—and toward her brother’s rescue.

Chapter 30

Seth chuckled every time he looked at Winnifred during the journey to St. Giles. He’d made every effort to pass himself off as a commoner and resident of St. Giles. Well, at least he thought he had, until Winnifred entered the carriage.

“Seth, must you chuckle at me with such abandon?”

“I am sorry to say, but yes. If the circumstances of our journey were not as serious as they are, I confess I would laugh even more. You look a sight. Utterly adorable, but what a sight.”

“It was all Victoria’s doing. Mary and I had picked out the gown and a shawl, but Victoria insisted I was entirely too clean-looking.”

The smile faded from Seth’s face as he considered this. “It is rather sad, is it not, that there are people who live in such squalor that we must dirty ourselves up to look like them.”

“Indeed, I agree. My mother always raised me and my siblings to be charitable, and you know how much of our annual income Leo likes to donate to the Foundling’s Hospital and The Asylum. But sometimes, we forget that others could also need our help. St. Giles has always scared me. And I never considered the people who live there.”

Seth nodded slowly. “You are quite correct. I find that our fellow lords and ladies are quick to assist children or the ill amongst our society. But those living as they do in St. Giles, those in the poorhouses, are often overlooked. And I must include myself amongst those who have failed them.”

Winnifred reached out her hand to him. “Maybe one day soon we will be able to effect some good in those areas as well. What do you say?”

Seth smiled, not at all surprised by the suggestion. “Yes, I think so. However, in the meantime, I really must thank your sister for this attire of yours. For it surely cheered me.”

Seth looked down at himself. He was wearing a pair of trousers loaned to him by Mr. Bradford. He’d been obliged to fill the coachman in on their secret, given that he was already suspicious due to the journey first to Mr. Markham’s, and then into St Giles.

Seth thought it prudent that at least the driver knew the actual reason for their journeys. The delight on Bradford’s face at being told that there was a large likelihood that Lady Rose was alive after all had delighted Seth. Seeing how his servants reacted to his sister’s perceived passing was heartbreaking. He never realized just how loved Rose was amongst their servants. Everywhere he went, he encountered maids and footmen, the butler, housekeepers, and stable staff, all with red eyes or tears running down their cheeks.

Upon hearing the news, Bradford had immediately offered to assist Seth in turning himself from a peer of the realm into a citizen of the streets of St. Giles.

To that end, he now wore a simple shirt, Bradford’s black trousers, and a jacket that was too loose for him, that he would ordinarily not even have worn. There was one item, however, that he kept on him for it was essential—he patted his jacket pocket and felt the pouch full of gold coins.

The putrid smell of sewer and decay that always hovered around St. Giles wafted into his nose, and he shivered. Even though the carriage doors and windows were closed, there was no escaping the stench. Beside him, Winnifred retrieved an old, battered fan from a worn reticule and fanned air between them. It helped only marginally.

“I did not remember it smelling so bad the last time we were here. I mean, I know it smelled, for even the maid who washed my gown commented on the difficulty of removing the stench. But I did not remember it being quite as bad.”

“I believe we were both too consumed with fear last time to notice anything other than what was our objective. I am hoping once we reach our destination, we will once again be too occupied to notice the poverty and the decay all around us.”

Up ahead, St. Giles in the Field Church appeared, and Bradford took the carriage down a small alley. He’d left the carriage there last time and found it reasonably safe. However, like everything else in St. Giles, the alley hadn’t escaped the curse of poverty.

As Seth helped Winnie exit the carriage, she craned her neck to make out the houses before them. A window was broken, and an old newspaper had been placed on top of it to keep the glass from shattering. Another window on another home was entirely gone and in its place was a bedsheet. In the distance, a small figure slept huddled underneath a blanket. It was impossible to make out if it was male or female, adult or child.

The pain at seeing the state of this neighborhood was written all across Winnifred’s face, and silently, he took her hand and pulled her toward the main street. The site was not a great deal more pleasant there, but it was not as bad as it had been in the alley.

He stopped because right in front of them was the flophouse he and Winnifred had made their way into so very recently. It looked the same. Calm and quiet. He noted the front door was painted in a bright green and couldn’t quite recall if it was that way last time they were here or not. He shrugged. It did not matter.