The child was asleep at last. Unconscious, rather. Much as she hated laudanum, the Duchess of Haverford had seen the wisdom of using it this once. It had been nearly a week since the incident, and her poor god-daughter had not dropped off for more than a few exhausted moments at a time.

The child’s mother hovered over the invalid’s bed, her face haggard. “Will she ever recover from this, Eleanor?” she asked. “Or have I lost my little girl, as well as…” She bit her upper lip, as if to keep it from spilling out the truth of the rest of her bereavement. Even between the two of them, who knew what had happened, the words should not be spoken. If the girl was to be saved, no one could ever know what she had suffered.

“We will help her,” Eleanor promised. “We will be her strength until she finds her own, dear one. We will not let her blame herself or fall into despair.”

A knock at the door had her friend stepping swiftly into the curtained alcove that hid the window. Eleanor waited a moment until she was concealed, then lifted her voice. “Enter!”

It was a maid with the tea. Eleanor bade her set down the tray and leave them, and sat to prepare a cup of tea the way her friend liked it. The lady emerged from her hiding place. “I could kill my husband. The things he said to her, Eleanor.” She took a sip of her tea and sighed.

“Men always blame women for their own failings,” Eleanor reminded her. But how could that insensitive cad think an innocent seventeen year old, walking peacefully in her own garden with a trusted family member, deserved to be so brutally and intimately assaulted? Doubtless, he sought to excuse sins of his own.

“Thank you for keeping her here. Does Haverford…?” The lady shook her head, as if in answer to her own question.

Eleanor put down her own cup to lean forward and take her friend’s hands. “No. He has no interest in what I do, my dear, which is as well in this case. Only the maid who cleans this room and my cousin Miriam know she is here, and no one knows who she is.” Eleanor had sent the faithful cousin to sleep as soon as the invalid had succumbed to the laudanum.

“Miriam has been wonderful.” Her friend’s tears welled up and overflowed, and the lady gave a huff of a bitter laugh. “I cannot even nurse my own daughter, for fear my husband will find out where she is and punish her for the crime of…” she trailed off again, once more avoiding the boggy quagmire concealed in their every conversation.

“Miriam understands,” Eleanor explained, which was as much as she would reveal of the circumstances from which Eleanor had rescued the distant relative who now cared for the injured girl.

The friend put her cup down, and stood. “I must go. I cannot be away too long, or they will become suspicious.”

“You have transport?”

“An unmarked carriage. An anonymous driver. My sister arranged it. I daresay the driver thinks I am here for an assignation.” Her smile was a feeble attempt, but Eleanor admired the courage behind the weak joke.

“The maid will be outside. Let her show you to your carriage, dearest, and tell her to return to me when she is done. Do not worry about the child. I will sit with her until Miriam awakens.”

The mother managed another weak smile, kissed the sleeping girl’s forehead, and hugged Eleanor before lowering her thick mourning veil over her face. Her identity concealed, she stepped into the hall. Eleanor took Miriam’s seat next to the bed, where she could watch over her charge. Whatever would become of the poor girl? Eleanor had once had hopes of a match between her friend’s daughter and Aldridge… But now? Even if the incident could remain concealed; even if Aldridge ever settled down enough to consider marriage; even if the dear child recovered enough to allow a man within touching distance… Those were just the start of the obstacles to such a connection.

Eleanor took a deep breath. Whatever was she doing thinking about her own wistful dreams when this poor darling’s life had been turned into a nightmare?  As the child began to toss and whimper, she leaned forward to murmur soothingly. “You are safe, my darling. You are safe. No one can hurt you here.”