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Sighing, she reached down and removed one of her shoes, a sturdy black leather affair that laced up to the ankle "It’s the only way to keep him quiet," she said dourly

Immediately, the ferret’s chatter ceased, and he buried his head inside the shoe

Suppressing a grin, Amelia turned her attention to Poppy "Did you have a roith Harry?" she asked gently

"Not really Well, it began as one, but--" Poppy felt a wash of heat over her face "Ever since the wedding we’ve done nothingit seemed that ould finally--" The words seemed to bottle up in her throat, and she had to force them out in a jumble "I’m so afraid it will always be this way, this push and pullI think he cares for me, but he doesn’t want me to care for him It’s as if he both wants and fears affection And that leaves me in an ih and looked at her sister with a helpless grimace, as if to ask what can be done with such a aze to Miss Marks

The co beneath the veneer of coht on the situation On what makes Harry so unreachable"

Startled by the familiar way she had referred to Harry, Poppy stared at her without blinking "You have soe of my husband, Miss Marks?"

"Please call me Catherine I would like very much for you to consider me as a friend" The fair-haired woman drew in a tense breath "I was acquainted with him in the past"

"What?" Poppy asked faintly

"I should have told you before I’ I can speak of easily"

Poppy was silent with amaze ti way A connection between Miss Marks and Harry? That was profoundly unnerving, especially since both of them had kept it secret She suffered a chill of confusion as an awful thought occurred to her "Oh, God Were you and Harry--"

"No Nothing like that But it’s a complicated story, and I’ you what I know about Harry"

Poppy responded with a dazed nod

"Harry’s father, Arthur Rutledge, was an exceptionally ambitious man," Catherine said "He built a hotel in Buffalo, New York, around the time they had started to expand the port and the harbor And he h he was by all accounts a poorArthur didn’t marry until he was in his forties He chose a local beauty, Nicolette, known for her high spirits and chare, and they had little in common I don’t know if Nicolette married him solely for hisUnfortunately, Harry was born a bit too early on in the reat deal of speculation as to whether or not Arthur was the father I think the ruee turned bitter After Harry’s birth, Nicolette was indiscreet in her affairs, until finally she ran away to England with one of her lovers Harry was four years old at the tiht, in fact, that she didn’t appear to notice that the ferret had crawled into her lap "Harry’s parents had taken little enough notice of hilected Worse than neglected--he was deliberately isolated Arthur put him in a kind of invisible prison The hotel staff was instructed to have as little to do with the boy as possible He was often locked alone in his room Even when he took his meals in the kitchen, the employees were afraid to talk to him, for fear of reprisal Arthur had , and education No one could say Harry was being maltreated, you see, because he wasn’t beaten or starved But there are ways to break someone’s spirit other than physical punish to absorb the idea of it, a child being brought up in such a cruel manner "Was the father so vindictive that he could blame a child for his mother’s actions?"

"Harry was a reminder of past humiliation and disappointment And in all likelihood, Harry isn’t even Arthur’s son"

"That’s no excuse," Poppy burst out "I wishoh, someone should have helped hiuilt over as being done to Harry The housekeeper, in particular At one point she noticed that she hadn’t seen the child in two days, and she went looking for him He had been locked in his roootten to let him out And Harry was only five"

"No one had heard hi? Hadn’t he made any noise?" Poppy asked unsteadily

Catherine looked down at the ferret, stroking him compulsively "The cardinal rule of the hotel was never to bother the guests It had been drilled into hi someone would remember him, and come for him"

"Oh, no," Poppy whispered

"The housekeeper was so horrified," Catherine continued, "that she one, and she wrote letters describing the situation in the hopes that theywith a mother like Nicolette, would be better than the terrible isolation that was imposed on Harry"

"But Nicolette never sent for him?"

"Not until much later, when it was too late for Harry Too late for everyone, as it turned out Nicolette took ill with a wasting disease It was a long, slow decline, but when the end approached, it progressed quickly She wanted to see what had beco him to come He left for London on the next available ship He was an adult by then, twenty years of age or so I don’t knohat hishis mother were No doubt he had many questions I suspect there was always an uncertainty in his mind, as to whether she had left because of hihts "Most often, children blame themselves for how they are treated"

"But it wasn’t his fault," Poppy exclaimed, her heart wrenched with compassion "He was only a little boy No child deserves to be abandoned"

"I doubt anyone has ever said as much to Harry," Catherine said "He won’t discuss it"

"What did his mother say when he found her?"

Catherine looked away for aunable to speak She stared at the curled-up ferret in her lap, stroking his sleek fur Eventually she aze still averted "She died the day before he reached London" Her fingers twined into a tight basket "Forever eluding hi answers, any hope of affection, died along with her"

The three women were silent

Poppy was overwhelmed

What would it do to a child, to be raised in such a barren and loveless environment? It must have seemed as if the world itself had betrayed him What a cruel burden to carry

I will never love you, she had told hi day And his reply

I’ve never wanted to be loved And God knows no one’s done it yet

Poppy closed her eyes sickly This was not a problem to be solved in a conversation, or in a day, or even a year This was a wound to the soul