“Miss Julia!”
Julia spun around to see Henry Lee at her side. She pressed her hand against her chest to keep her pounding heart from running away as her face heated guiltily.
“Henry. You startled me.”
“I was on my way to the mission. I come here every day.”
“And Mr. Langdon? Does he come here every Tuesday?”
“Course. Mr. Langdon comes to play with us lads. He is a most excellent ball player. Have you come to play tea party with the girls?”
“I’m afraid not, Henry.”
She glanced up to make sure Mr. Langdon wasn’t watching her. She didn’t see him anywhere, so she turned her attention back to the little boy. He had such large brown eyes. Even with one tooth missing in front, and his clothing worn and faded, he was an adorable child.
“Henry, why does Mr. Langdon come here to the mission? I don’t quite understand . . .”
“He comes to play ball with us, as I said, miss.” Henry looked quizzically at her, cocking his head to one side and then nodding like a wise old man, as if a new thought had come to him. “Now you say it, I do think Mr. Langdon and Mr. Wilson, the parson who runs the mission, are old chums. Mr. Langdon wants to help his friend, I s’pose, and he likes playing with us, so he comes here to the mission. He gives us a few coins sometimes too. He’s a good bloke, Miss Julia.”
Julia swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and hurried to say, “Oh, I’m sure he likes playing with you very much, Henry. You are a fine lad, to be sure.”
“Miss Grey.”
Julia jumped and whirled around. Mr. Langdon stood just behind her, an accusatory half frown on his lips.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Though Mr. Langdon frowned, a glint of humor sparkled in his eye. A red-haired gentleman stood beside him.
“I was—” Julia tried to catch her breath. “I was talking with Henry, but I must be going back to the Bartholdys’—”
“Miss Grey, may I introduce my friend and the director of the Children’s Aid Mission, Mr. John Wilson.” Mr. Langdon spoke the words stiffly, as though suppressing his true thoughts.
Julia forced herself to be composed and nodded, meeting Mr. Wilson’s clear blue eyes. “How do you do?”
Mr. Wilson bowed. “The pleasure is mine, Miss Grey.” Amusement and surprise flickered over his boyish face. “I shall leave you two to converse.” He looked down at Henry. “Shall we see what mischief the other children are getting into?”
Henry nodded and took Mr. Wilson’s hand as they walked toward the redbrick building.
Julia felt her face tingling as she delayed meeting Mr. Langdon’s gaze for as long as possible.
“You were spying on me.” The surprise in his voice was unmistakable. “Miss Grey, this is most shocking. I had thought your purpose for coming to the East Side was to visit your dear music instructor, Mr. Bartol—”
“Mr. Langdon, you overstep your bounds with your insinuations.” Julia drew herself up with as much fake dignity as she could muster.
“Come now, Miss Grey. You must admit to following me. What were you hoping to discover?” His look was piercing.
She felt herself blushing furiously. Of course, he had caught her, and she’d be lying if she denied it, but it was most ungentlemanly of him to say so. Should he not be flattered that she had followed him? She might have expected him to tease her and laugh at her silliness in following him. Instead, he looked at her as if she had truly done something wrong.
“Hoping to discover? Why, nothing. That is, you would not tell me your business in the East Side, and I did not know any other way of finding you out.” She longed most fervently to disappear, or to at least wake up and find that she had been dreaming. Why had she let her curiosity get the better of her?
“Now that you have found me out, and now that you know where I go . . .”
“I shall not speak of it,” Julia said quickly. “If that is your wish.”
There was a spark of suspicion in his eye, reminding her of how he had snuck into her uncle’s study. But even though his purpose here today was innocently visiting a mission to play with children, that certainly was not what he had been doing in her uncle’s study. Was he involved in something nefarious? Was that why he looked at her with suspicion in his eyes now? Or did he have a good reason for sneaking into her uncle’s study?
“Thank you, Miss Grey.” He touched her hand, curving his fingers lightly around hers, and lifted it to his lips.
He was not like the other privileged gentlemen of the ton that she was acquainted with. She couldn’t imagine any one of them playing with poor children, or going through her uncle’s study, for that matter. “Will you tell me why?” she whispered.
“Why?”
“Why you come here to play with children?”