Anna shook her head. He and Ann, always so difficult, never once understanding why she hadn't wanted them out running wild and leaping about the house like monkeys. "I had a choice, Harry. Slater was out for Jon's blood and he wasn't going to stop until he'd wiped the whole of it all from the world. I couldn't get to her without leaving her an orphan, and that day..." Anna shuddered. "They told me no one could find her. I thought he'd... Well. Nevermind. I did the best I could. Sir Elliott wrote me later. And as for your being on a prison barge, Harry, how was I to know? I hadn't heard a word from you since you were sixteen, had I? Gone in the night and never come back. Not even for your father's funeral." She sighed and waved a hand, her face pale. "No, I surrender. I know I was hard on you. I never once thought you'd think I didn't love you. And then it was too late to do anything."
She looked away, withdrawn and too hurt for words by his cruel accusations. Instead she looked at Nell, who was a... very pale girl with hardly any curves. Good lord but she had to be young. "It is lovely to meet you, Miss Abbot." She watched the exchange between them and smiled. So her son had found love. Excellent. The dear boy deserved it.
"Your dear late stepfather Cesare wanted me to take his faith, and I did it gladly. Have you ever been to Italy, Miss Abbot?"