Lillian Holmes and the Leaping Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

They are not all evil. There are good men in the world, noble men, like Thomas.”
    “Please, Addie. Do not fret so.” Lillian forced a smile and stood to straighten her skirts. “It’s simply that the right man does not knock at my door. I am sure that it will work out in due course.”
    Where was he, the man who did not want her money and her home, who did not require a mouse of a wife? The man who would care for a woman with a grown man’s sensibilities? The man who would defend her honor rather than steal it from her?
    No, do not think about it. Think instead about the Leaping Man.
    “I must rush, Addie. I will continue this conversation whenever you like.”
    Addie sniffed out a laugh at the lie. “You have no more appointments, do you?”
    “I am to meet Bess, for she would have me adjust some flaw of my appearance. I imagine it will necessitate the purchase of a new hat, as she is obsessed with hats. Then she desires to take in the Grand Festival in the Park.” Lillian sighed. “I hope there will be no milliners about. Or Mr. Jonathan Aloysius Hoyt.”
    Addie let the last pass without comment. “You are kind, to appease your friend. I like Miss Wheeler. She has good taste in hats, and you could do with a new one. And I know you intend to buy something for her as well. You cannot hide your generosity so easily.” She paused then shook her finger. “Don’t go without Aileen!”
    “Aileen is but twenty. She can do nothing to protect me, even though I do not need protection, and I find it unnecessary to have a maid trail along. I can open my own parasol and buy my own lemonade.” And I can use a revolver.
    “A hard life ages one. She’s older and wiser than her years, and you know it.”
    Lillian sighed. Her maid Aileen O’Shaunessy could not emerge from their home without her ragamuffin little brothers and their friend materializing from thin air. The Musketeers, as the three boys insisted on being called, would hover around Lillian like bees on a sweet pie. Their presence brought snickers from the neighbors, but Lillian cared not. She had never found the heart to turn them away. They were good boys, despite their appearance. Still, they and their dog would not be welcome in Light Street’s expensive shops.
    Well, she decided, perhaps she and Bess would settle for a turn in the Park after all.

CHAPTER FOUR
    A chance meeting of great importance.
    “I say!” Bess called to the youngest of the Musketeers, Paddy Moran. “Control your hound! He is drooling on my only parasol.”
    Lillian laughed at the scene playing out in the bright midday sun. Tiny Paddy, only eight years old, struggled with Abraham, pulling at the dog’s collar, but the beast was nearly as big as him. Lillian’s maid, Aileen, abandoned her duties and leaned against a tree, deep in flirtation with Constable Johnnie Moran, Paddy’s much older brother. As Paddy tried to gain control of Mr. Lincoln, Aileen’s own younger brothers, Darby, age 11, and Billy, 13, ran along the bank of the pond, attempting to push one another into the murky waters.
    The commotion of the boys was welcome to Lillian, as were the sights of the Park as it readied for the evening’s festival, which was truly only an advance taste of the traveling circus arriving in Baltimore within the week. Vendors passed by selling refreshments and newspapers, an Italian organ grinder with a chirping monkey on his shoulder played joyful tunes for a penny, and romantic couples strolled slowly to stretch out their time together in the late afternoon sunshine. Lillian practiced her observational skills with each passerby, looking for minutia that others would miss.
    Ah, there! The woman in purple and black stripes fidgets with her bag, looking for something while her husband surveys a toy sailboat. She deftly puts something tiny—a medicinal—into her mouth. She smiles broadly when he turns around to speak to her. A morphine addict! I, however, am not addicted to morphine,