Lord Bridlington chose, unwisely, to intervene at this point. “No doubt it is just as you say, ma’am, but this is hardly a topic for my mother’s sitting-room! Let me beg of you—”
Arabella turned on him like a flash, her eyes bright with tears, her voice unsteady with indignation. “I will not be silenced! It is a topic that should be discussed in every Christian lady’s sitting-room! Oh, I mean no disrespect, ma’am! You have not thought—you cannot have thought! Had you seen the wounds on this child’s body you could not refuse to help him! I wish I had made you come into my room when I had him naked in the bath! Your heart must have been touched!”
“Yes, but, Arabella, my heart is touched!” protested her afflicted godmother. “Only I don’t want a page, and he is much too young, and such an ugly little thing! Besides, the sweep will very likely claim him, because, whatever you may think, if the boy is apprenticed to him, which he must be—”
“You may make your mind easy on that score, ma’am! His master will never dare to lay claim to him. He knows very well that he is in danger of being taken before a magistrate, for I told him so, and he did not doubt me! Why, he cringed at the very word, and backed himself out of the house as fast as he could!”
Mr. Beaumaris spoke at last. “Did you confront the sweep, Miss Tallant?” he asked, an odd little smile flickering on his lips.
“Certainly I did!” she replied, her glance resting on him for an indifferent moment.
Lady Bridlington was suddenly inspired. “He must go to the Parish, of course! Frederick, you will know how to set about it!”
“No, no, he must not,” Arabella declared. “That would be worse than anything, for what will they do with him, do you suppose, but set him to the only trade he knows? And he is afraid of those dreadful chimneys! If it were not so far away, I would send him to Papa, but how could such a little boy go all that way alone?”
“No, certainly not!” said Lord Fleetwood. “Not to be thought of!”
“Lord Bridlington, surely you would not condemn a child to such a life as he has endured?” Arabella begged, her hands going out in a pleading gesture. “You have so much! ”