His hands, the Marquis noticed, had nothing coarse about them.
“Here is Nicholas!” Valeta announced proudly to the Marquis and then added to the small boy, “this is the gentleman who saved you from that horrible Mr. Cibber. You must bow and thank him.”
The Marquis was perceptive enough to notice that, when Nicholas saw that there was a man in the room, there had been a flicker of fear in his eyes.
Still holding tightly to Valeta’s hand he bowed his head and said in a voice that shook a little,
“Thank you – for saving me, sir.”
“I think it was really Miss Lingfield who did that,” the Marquis said, “but you are safe now and so we must just forget everything that happened since you left your home.”
Nicholas looked puzzled and the Marquis, to his own surprise, knelt down on one knee so t
