The Pirate Lord Read Online Free PDF Page A

to do so, too. She’d seen it happen in Newgate, and it would surely happen here. Besides, she wanted these women to see their own value—and they wouldn’t do that by selling themselves.
    But she couldn’t very well say that to Queenie, could she? Instead, she took a different approach. “That’s fine, Queenie. If you’re incapable of teaching, then by all means, do something else. I want only those with true ability. If you’re inadequate for the position, I certainly wouldn’t want you ruining the other women’s chances to better themselves.”
    At the titters of those around her, Queenie lost hersmirk. “See here, I wasn’t saying I couldn’t do it, just that—”
    “I’ll be perfectly happy to take Queenie’s pupils,” Miss Yarrow cut in, much to Sara’s surprise. When Sara shot her a questioning glance, the well-spoken young woman stuck out her chin and added, “ I don’t have any other pursuits, not of Queenie’s kind, at any rate. I’m not letting any filthy man put his paws on me .”
    Her words were spoken with such vehemence that Sara couldn’t help wondering about it. She stared at Louisa Yarrow, straining to remember what she’d read about her in the list of convicts and their crimes. Ah, yes, Louisa was the one who’d been a governess to the Duke of Dorchester’s daughters until the night she’d stabbed the duke’s eldest son and nearly killed him. Now the gently bred woman was serving a sentence of fourteen years’ transportation.
    Louisa’s angry words had silenced the women, and Sara didn’t know how to respond. Suddenly, a soft voice spoke up. “Beggin’ yer pardon, Louisa, but it ain’t like we’ll have a choice when we reach New South Wales.” It was Ann Morris speaking, her girlish brow creased with a frown. “I’ve heard tell of what they do, how they send the women off to serve the colonists. There’s too many men, I heard. They’ll make fallen women of us whether we want it or no.”
    The blood rose in Sara’s veins at the thought that even a sweet young woman like Ann could feel so helpless. “No, they won’t. I’ll do all in my power to keep that from happening. Once we reach New South Wales, I’ll see to it you receive decent assignments where you’ll be treated with respect.”
    Moving to the burlap bags filled with the packets of sewing materials, Sara took a handful and began to pass them out. “But before you can gain respect from others, you must learn to respect yourselves. You must strive to improve your other feminine strengths and makeyourselves proud. Then you’ll have a chance at escaping your former lives.”
    There were some who scoffed. They gathered to form knots of grumbling voices in the cells. But others looked to her with renewed hope. They took the packets from her, staring down at them with curiosity.
    Soon she was joined by Ann Morris, who shot her a shy smile as she helped pass out the packets. Then some of the ones Sara had chosen as teachers joined her, and before long the women were thoroughly engrossed in looking at their materials and talking about quilts.
    When all the packets were distributed, Sara stood back to observe her charges. So many of these women had never been given a chance. No one had ever told them they were worthy of saving, and they’d been taught to believe that they were forever lost to a world of thievery, prostitution, and murder.
    But it wasn’t true. They were capable of more. She could tell from the way some of them helped each other, the way others sat down at once to begin sewing, the way Ann took aside one of the little boys and patiently showed him how to pick a pocket—
    “Ann Morris!” she exclaimed, hardly able to believe her eyes. She walked up to the petite Welsh woman just as the little boy whisked a packet of sewing materials out of Ann’s apron pocket with a giggle. “What in heaven’s name are you doing?”
    Ann looked up, a wide, ingenuous smile on her face. “’Tis a magic