I expect McCreadie to laugh, but something in his face tightens.
Gray continues, “Catriona made a few astute observations of her own.”
“Did she? And our young Catriona evidenced a never-before-seen interest in your work, I presume?”
“Itisvery interesting,” I say. “I did not realize so until now.”
McCreadie’s tone chills. “I see.”
We head outside. The two men talk for a few minutes, and I’m looking around, ready to take my leave, when McCreadie says, “Catriona?”
I glance up to see it’s just the two of us. I peer around for Gray.
“I sent Duncan to fetch us pies from the seller,” he says. “I wanted a word with you.”
He motions me around a corner, and I’m about to say we should tell Gray where we’ve gone when I realize that’s the point.
“Yes, sir?” I say after I’ve followed him.
“So you’ve discovered a sudden interest in Duncan’s scientific inquiries?”
“As I said, theyareinteresting.”
His face hardens. “Do not take me for a fool, Catriona, and do not forget who took you to Isla. I believed you could be redeemed, and you have done nothing but prove I am a very poor judge of character.”
Isla? Is that Mrs. Wallace’s first name? No, Gray said his sister hired me. That must be Isla.
Wait,redeemed?
Right. Gray did say something about Catriona’s felonious past.
McCreadie continues, “I cannot count how many times I have bit my tongue against telling Isla the rest of your story. The parts I misguidedly decided were not your fault. I know better now. There was no Fagin in your life, Catriona. It is all you. The only reason you are still employed is because Isla is too good-hearted—nay, toostubborn—to accept defeat. And Duncan is too caught up in his work to see you for what you are. But I see you, and I will not allow this.”
“Allow what?”
His eyes narrow. “I warned you not to play me for a fool, Catriona. You owe me the respect of honesty. You did not take a sudden interest in science. You took a sudden interest in the man behind the science.”
I stare up at him. Then it hits. “You think I’m trying to seduce Dr. Gray?”
“I think you liked your stay in their guest room. I think it made that scheming mind of yours do what it does best.”
“Scheme?”
“Do not mock me, Catriona. You tread on very dangerous ground here. If I told Isla the rest of your story—and if Mrs. Wallace stopped shielding her from the worst of your misdeeds—you would be out on your arse. You have set your cap on Duncan. You are a pretty girl from a decent family, and Duncan is a very busy man with no time to look for a wife. You see an opening.”
A doctor marrying his housemaid? I want to say someone else has been reading romance novels, but then I realize it might not be so implausible. Gray isn’t a lord or an earl and, from what McCreadie is implying, Catriona didn’t grow up in tenement housing. She’s a girl from a good family who made poor choices, one who might be looking to climb back up to her old status.
“It will do you no good,” McCreadie continues. “That’s what I pulledyou aside to say. I could warn that I am watching you and you’d best not try anything, but I needn’t bother. We both know how he is.”
“How heis?”
McCreadie eases back, a little of his anger dissipating. “An illustrative example, Catriona, in case you have failed to notice these things on your own. Last month, we were in a public house, and Duncan got into a brawl.”
“Dr. Gray?” There’s honest incredulity in my voice.
“He did not start it, which I should say makes the man happier than is decent. He does love the excuse for a good bout of fisticuffs. In this case, he had it, having been struck with a knife.”
“What?”