Lord Day and Lady Night

22. In the Night the Shadows Come

"You can't, sister mine. That's the point."

Angeline jabbed him in the chest. "And I suppose you were the one who got them out of this 'horrible place'?"

"Let's just say I had a hand in the matter, yes."

"And they can't stay anywhere else?" Lowering her voice, she hissed, "It isn't as if you don't know that this isn't actually my place! What are mother and father going to say when they come back? Isn't there anywhere else?"

Her eyes for the first time flicked to Karim, who was towering in the background like a decorative bearded mountain with a turban-tipped peak.

"What about you? A big fellow like you must have a big place!"

"The Sahib does," Karim answered curtly. "And I shall defend it with my last breath against any and all invaders, no matter how tiny."

"What in God's name is a Sahib?"

"Someone ye don't wanna tangle with," Amy assured her—and then felt Angeline's eyes land on her.

Oops. Wrong time ta attract attention.

"What about you, Amy? Could you take them home and...?"

It almost hurt. The hopeful way Angeline was looking at her...

A mental image of her "home" flashed past Amy's inner eye. Take children there? She shuddered involuntarily. There was a very good reason why she had never taken Flo or Jo home with her. In order to take someone home, you first had to have a real home.

"Dat...dat wouldn't be a good idea, Angeline."

Patrick cleared his throat. "Well...I suppose I could always take them home with me." He scratched his noble chin. "Taking care of a dozen children shouldn't be that difficult, right? I should be able to do it without any—"

Amy and Angeline exchanged a look.

"Quick!" Angeline ordered, grabbing the closest child and pulling her towards the door. "Get inside, everyone, before something horrible happens to you!"

Patrick narrowed his eyes. "I have a butler, a cook, a housekeeper and two dozen maids!"

"Which begs the question: what does a single man without a family need those for?"

This time, Patrick didn't narrow his eyes, but rather his lips, which he chose to keep firmly closed.

"I guess that proves my point." Throwing the door open the rest of the way, Angeline gestured to the remaining children. "Quickly, inside!"

"Y-ye really mean it, Lady?" said a little boy, his eyes bigger than a pair of really expensive china saucers. Frozen at the entrance, he stared around the extravagant lounge as if he were stepping into Cinderella's castle. "Ye're really gonna let us into yer fancy 'ouse?"

"Of course I am! You need a place to sleep, don't you? What kind of person would I be if I just turned my back on you?"

Amy closed her eyes, working hard to resist the temptation to ram her head against the wall.

Dis family is gonna drive me insane! Are dey all descended from some biblical good Samaritan dat emigrated to England?

Maybe she should just introduce them to Ella and Edmund. Then they could all start a happy little club of do-gooders together and leave the rest of the world to normal people.