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"Yes, I’er," Frannie said "We have a cook who prepares food for the gentle at the tables Co to eat"

"Nah, thank ye, I’ht"

"He taught uess it weren’t so bad after all"

Frannie had been brutally raped To even think that it wasn’t "so bad" was the sah the heart to a pinprick of the finger "I survived" She glanced around "It’s all da in At least coet out of the weather"

"I ’eard yer taking in orphans," Nancy said quickly

"Yes, I--"

"Then take this ’un" Nancy reached back into the shadows, then slung a boy against Frannie’s legs "He’s one of Sykes’s boys I ken bring ye more if ye’ll take this ’un"

"Nancy--"

"Please ’e’sbetter than the streets fer ’i her arainst her skirts While he wore a jacket, she could still tell that he was little lar by trade, and she kneorked hard to keep the boys set into a house and open the front door for him

"You come with us, too, Nancy I can provide a safe haven for you and the boy"

Nancy scoffed "I been with ’io easy"

"I can find you employment in the country--"

She watched Nancy’s face crumple "Ye was always so nice I didn’t want to do it, ye know Ye gotta believe that I didn’t want to do it"

"What are you on about?"

"It was Sykes ’eye to that old woh an ice storray-haired woman who’d run the brothel where she’d been taken? Suddenly she found herself clutching the boy to keep herself standing

"Ye look loike yer about to bring up yer supper Ye didn’t know?"

Frannie shook her head "No"

"Ye was always so sainst my boy"