the palest shade of pink occupied the space along with small, delicate wooden tables.
“It’s quite lovely,” Effie said.
“Thank you, Miss Darrow. I do enjoy having lovely things and I am very lucky that my business has grown enough that I can now indulge myself. This is my refuge here at the shop when I need to rest. Now, please, do tell me to what I owe the pleasure of your visit.”
Effie didn’t hesitate, but simply dove in. “There was a young woman in here yesterday morning… she had two young girls with her, wards of their uncle, the Earl of Montgomery.”
“Yes,” Madame de Beauchamps exclaimed. “I remember her because she seemed so terribly familiar to me, yet I could not place her. As I get older, my memory gets worse by the day!”
Effie nodded and then looked back at Highcliff who was watching the exchange with a false air of boredom. “Well, perhaps when I utter this name, your confusion on the matter will clear up… Mademoiselle Veronique Delaine.”
Madame de Beauchamps gasped. One hand flew to her mouth and the other to her heart as she stared at them wide-eyed. “Oh, I can’t believe I did not see it! But the young woman… not that she wasn’t lovely—of a certain, she was!—she did not make as much of her beauty. She dressed so modestly and attempted to disguise her prettiness, I think! But the resemblance is there and now… well, I cannot believe I was so blind.”
“Do not take on so, Madame,” Effie said. “Miss St. James does make every effort to minimize her rather striking appearance. It is something that I have cautioned all of my students to do when they begin working.”
“St. James? Is she not Averston’s child then? Veronique was so wildly in love with him, I cannot imagine that she would have ever betrayed him and had a child with another!” the dressmaker cried in dismay.
Highcliff coughed behind her.
Effie looked back at him and all pretense of boredom was gone. His gaze was hard and his posture was that of a man ready to do battle.
“Did you say Averston?” he demanded.
“Yes,” Madame de Beauchamps replied. “Veronique came here from France at his urging… it was just before all the troubles began, you see. They were so very much in love. He wanted to marry her, you know? But she refused him. She was terrified that the scandal would embitter him toward her! It was only when she became with child that she even considered it… but she still would not agree until closer to time for the child to be born in case aught were to go wrong. There had been other babes, you see, that she had lost. She said that she didn’t wish him to be saddled with a scandalous wife who would never be able to bear him children.”
“How do you know all of this?” Highcliff asked.
“I was her dresser… one of them, at any rate. But she spoke freely with all of us. There were no secrets in the theater, my lord,” Madame de Beauchamps answered. “As to my failure to recognize Miss St. James, well, I had assumed the child was dead. Veronique would have fought the devil himself to save her child after losing so many before her.”
“You said she wouldn’t marry him until closer to time for her child to be born… did they actually wed?” Effie asked.
“But, of course! By special license at St. Clement Danes. It was a secret, of course. He insisted upon it… he was terrified that whatever his mother’s response would be might be too much of a strain on Veronique,” Madame de Beauchamps said. “He adored her and he was giddy at the thought of her bearing his child. I’ve never seen two people so happy or so deeply in love.”
“Would you swear to these things in court?” Highcliff asked.
“Certainly, I would!” the dressmaker replied readily. “I feel so terrible! That poor girl has gone her entire life without knowing what a beautiful soul her mother was and how very much she was loved and wanted!”
Effie felt tears pricking her eyes. No one understood better than she did just how important, how vital such a piece of information could be to someone like Callie. Someone like herself.
“Might I have a word with you outside, Miss Darrow?” Highcliff said.
“You remain here. It is very private,” Madame de Beauchamps said. “I must go out front for a moment and make sure that the shop girls