‘Mrs Clough, how’s my brother?’ he asked, giving me a desperate look.
‘Well, he’s just had what you barbarian boys call a good kicking, but he’ll live. He’s now refusing to let me put some wolfsbane on his bruises. How he expects to get better if he won’t take his medicine, I don’t know. Tell him to take his shirt off like a good boy, will you?’
Charlie quickly grasped my predicament.
‘He’s very shy, Mrs Clough. It’ll be torture for him to do that in front of you. What needs doing?’
‘All I want to do is rub some ointment on his bruises.’ She took another look at my shocked face. ‘But I don’t want to make him suffer any more today, so you do it for me, Hengrave.’ She put a jar in his hand. ‘I’ll leave you in peace so that his delicate sensibilities are not offended by the presence of a female.’ She tutted and left the room.
Silence fell. I could hear the bustle of the school beyond the peaceful sanatorium. Boys were calling to each other as they went to the first lesson. Charlie held the jar gingerly as if it might explode at any moment. Our situation suddenly struck me as being so absurd it was funny. Mrs Clough thought I had an aversion to females! I began to giggle hysterically but stopped as my ribs ached.
‘Who was it, Cat?’ Charlie asked. His voice was taut with suppressed anger.
‘Richmond and his planter friends from Ottley’s. Teaching me a lesson about abolition.’ I winced. ‘Are you going to pass me that ointment then?’ He handed it to me wordlessly. ‘Turn your back, please.’ I took a scoop from the jar and began to rub my battered body. They had certainly been thorough. I couldn’t reach my shoulder blades which had taken the brunt of the attack. ‘Er, Charlie, would you mind helping your little brother rub this on his back?’
He blushed as red as I did. ‘Of course. I’ll keep my eyes closed.’ He swiftly applied the wolfsbane. Neither of us spoke, but finally Charlie burst out, ‘I’m going to beat Richmond into a pulp when I see him.’
‘What good will that do?’ I asked, feeling tired of this whole charade. More than anything I wanted to be back among my own people – back at Drury Lane.
‘Well, it’ll make me feel a lot better for a start.’
Mrs Clough bustled back in. ‘Now get yourself into that bed, Hengrave. I want to keep you here until I’m happy you’ll not black out again.’
‘Cat . . . my brother was kicked unconscious?’ asked Charlie, his knuckles white as he gripped the jar.
‘Yes, dear, but he’ll be all right now with me to look after him. Run along to lessons. You can come back later to check on him.’ She handed me a nightshirt and left the room.
‘Right, that’s it. This is war,’ Charlie declared in a hiss as he stood with his back to me, his shoulders quivering with rage. ‘Those slavers won’t know what’s hit them.’
‘Charlie, don’t. They’re not worth it,’ I whispered hoarsely.
‘But you are,’ he said, leaving the room abruptly.
I put the nightshirt over my breeches and got into bed. The wolfsbane did indeed have a soothing effect on my bruises and I fell asleep, dreaming the morning away. I only woke up when someone touched my arm gently. Fearing it was Mrs Clough coming to apply the ointment again, I sat up quickly, gathering the sheets around me.
‘Don’t worry, Cat, it’s only me,’ said Frank, not quite meeting my eyes. He looked tired. ‘And I’ve brought you a visitor.’
I turned to find the Duchess of Avon sitting at my bedside.
‘Oh no.’ I collapsed back on the pillow. So it had all come out then.
The duchess leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek. ‘Don’t be alarmed, Master Tom Cat, I’ve heard all about it from Frank and Lizzie. I assure you that I have no interest in interfering with your decision to – how shall we put it? – play a breeches role for a few weeks. I merely came to bring back Frank and leave the items you requested – and perhaps catch sight of you in your new guise. But when we arrived, we learned you had ended up here, so I changed my role as messenger into that of sick bed visitor. I hope that is not unwelcome?’
I shook my head and flinched with the pain. Frank, failing to disguise his outrage at finding me like this, took to striding up and down the room.
‘Is there any news?’ I asked.
‘Of your little African friend? No, I’m sorry to say,’ said the duchess softly.
‘Nothing?’ I turned to Frank.
‘We’ve looked everywhere in Covent Garden,’ said Frank. ‘He’s not there. Syd’s spoken to the boys from Billingsgate and they’re searching the port. So far, no news. All we know is that Pedro stayed at home all day and the only visitors to the house were a blind piano tuner and his assistant at four in the afternoon. Pedro met them and showed them into the music room. According to the maid, these two showed themselves out later when they’d finished. We’re trying to find them because it sounds as if they were the last people to see Pedro. Joe ‘The Card’ thinks he knows where the blind man lives. Somewhere near Seven Dials, he says, so we have to tread carefully.’
Seven Dials – that was in an area known as the Rookeries, Billy Shepherd’s patch, the haunt of thieves, beggars and vagrants. I was sceptical that even Joe would find the blind man if he thought it in his interests to vanish for a while. Then something Richmond had said before the kicking came back to me. ‘One of the boys that attacked me seemed to know a lot about Pedro. He said that Pedro’s old master was planning to get him home and make an example of him as a warning to other runaways.’
Frank stopped pacing. ‘He said that, did he? How would he know?’
‘He talked about it as if it were an open secret among the slavers. They all seem to be aware of what’s planned, even if they don’t know the details.’
The duchess stroked my arm. ‘It’s very possible. The planters have joined forces to oppose Mr Wilberforce.’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all in on it,’ Frank said, running his fingers through his hair in exasperation. ‘Pedro’s become something of a test case for both sides.’
The duchess sighed heavily. ‘If the slavers can get him out of England, the laws of slavery apply once more. He’s no longer a servant but a slave again, God help him.’ She leant forward and smoothed my hair off my brow. ‘What are we going to do with you? Shall I see if I can get you transferred to our house so we can look after you? It would certainly save you a lot of trouble here.’
It was a very attractive offer – with only one drawback.
‘Have the runners stopped looking for me?’
‘I don’t know, sweetheart. They’ve talked to the servants a couple of times, according to Joseph.’
‘Do you think any of them would tell on me if they knew I was in the house?’
The duchess frowned. ‘What do you think, Frankie?’
Frank chewed his bottom lip. ‘It’s a very large staff we have, Mama. I don’t know all of them. It would be risky. Cat’s probably safer here for the moment.’
‘What a shame.’ The duchess touched one of my curls tenderly. ‘You know, it rather suits you cropped. Long hair can be such a bore. I always prefer a wig – so much more convenient – but that’s a secret best kept between you, me and the hairdresser.’ With that, she rose to her feet and kissed me on the brow. ‘I was almost forgetting – here’s your parcel from Lizzie. What would you like me to do with it?’
‘Can you give it to Frank to take up to my room? It had better not stay here. If someone opened it, I’d have some very awkward questions to answer.’
His mother gone, Frank finally met my eyes.
‘Dammit, Cat, can’t you keep out of trouble for five minutes?’ he said. Though he sounded angry, I knew he was just furious with himself for failing to protect me.
‘You know me, Frank. If there’s trouble anywhere on hand, I’ll walk right into it. Us runty fellows seem to attract it like magnets – even Mrs Clough said so.’
‘Runty! I never said you were runty. I may have impli
ed you were a bit undersized, but that’s not surprising –’
‘What was it Milly said yesterday?’ I interrupted. ‘When you’re in a hole, stop digging?’
Frank smiled, recognizing the justice of my remark.
‘I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Cat.’
‘And I’m sorry I was. Try to stop Charlie doing anything stupid in retaliation, won’t you? Richmond might be a valuable source of information on Pedro. I wouldn’t want his mouth permanently shut in some misguided attempt to avenge me.’
Frank nodded and chucked me under the chin in parting. ‘Chin up, Tom Cat. You’re certainly playing the part properly. Now you’ve been beaten black and blue, no one can say you didn’t experience the full delights of boyhood.’
SCENE 2 – BILLY SHEPHERD RETURNS
Charlie was waiting with me outside the headmaster’s office. I had been called in to explain how I had been rendered unconscious.
‘What would a boy say?’ I whispered to Charlie. ‘Would he tell?’
‘Lord no, Cat. Your life will be hell if you are thought to have snitched. You leave Richmond and his crew to us boys. You should say something like you “tripped” or you “fell down the stairs”.’
‘But Mr Castleton saw them.’
‘Yes, but the teachers don’t expect you to tell either. They’d think the worse of you if you did.’
‘This is silly. What’s the point of having schoolmasters if they have no control over their boys?’
‘They have control – but it’s selective.’
‘Hengrave Junior?’ Dr Vincent appeared at the door, tapping his cane on his leg. ‘Come in.’
Feeling like a prisoner walking to the gallows, I entered his study. It was a warm, book-lined room with a view over the street outside. I could hear the carriages rattling by and the call of the hot chestnut seller in the Abbey Yard.
‘Explain!’ he barked.
‘I slipped on some ice, sir,’ I said quietly.
‘Speak up! I’m not as young as I was.’
‘I slipped on some ice, sir.’
He looked at me from under his bushy brows, a smile hovering on his lips. I realized that he knew exactly what had happened to me. ‘That was very stupid of you.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Well, don’t do it again or I’ll have to flog you for your carelessness, understood?’
‘Yes, sir.’ That was the final absurdity. I was to be flogged if I got beaten up again. He knew I couldn’t help it, but no matter.
‘And I’ve written to your mother to tell her that you met with . . . with an accident that kept you off lessons for three days. Make sure you work hard to catch up.’
‘My mother?’ I croaked.
‘Yes, boy. Who else do you expect me to write to? The Archbishop of Canterbury? Dismissed!’
I stumbled from the room and broke the news to Charlie: a letter was winging its way to Dublin to a bemused Lady Hengrave.
He grimaced. ‘That gives us about a week, I’d say. Lord, Tom will be surprised to hear he’s missed lessons before he even started them.’
Now the end of my stay in Westminster School had been sighted, I went up to my room to check the necessary items for my escape plan. Lizzie had been as good as her word: they were all there, waiting for the right occasion. The first sign of news from Ireland and Tom Cat would be gone.
Chops arrived on Friday night without us sending for them. Their bringer, Syd, had come to tell us how the search for Pedro was progressing. He also brought other, stranger news. But first he had to do what he usually did: take me to task like a big brother who always thinks he knows best. The prompt was seeing the fading bruises on my face.
‘What’s ’appened to you, Cat?’ he said, pulling me closer as he made a quick inspection of all exposed areas of skin. ‘Right, that’s it. This ends ’ere and now. I’m takin’ you back with me.’
‘Back where, Syd?’ I asked grimly. ‘You’re forgetting that if I go with you, I’ll end up in gaol by tomorrow.’
He brushed this minor detail aside. ‘You’ve been gettin’ in fights, ain’t you, Cat? I know you – you can’t keep your temper five minutes. You let your big mouth run away with you. I should never’ve left you ’ere.’
‘Cat’s not been picking fights,’ said Frank, leaping to my defence. ‘She’s being picked on. A gang of boys decided to kick her unconscious for their own amusement.’
Syd’s reaction was predictable. I braced for the volcanic eruption that I knew would follow Frank’s indiscreet remark.
‘Where are they? Let me at ’em! Their own mothers won’t recognize them when I’ve finished.’ He rounded on Frank. ‘And where were you when our Cat was bein’ done over, eh?’ He took Frank by the lapels and pushed him up against the wall. I’d never seen Syd so angry. ‘I trusted you to look after ’er!’
‘Syd, listen,’ I said, trying to pull him away, but I might as well have attempted to move a mountain. ‘He was out searching for Pedro. He couldn’t have done anything anyway. There were too many of them.’
Syd let go of Frank, still shaking with rage. Slowly, he began to calm down. ‘Sorry, Frank. I got a bit carried away.’
‘I understand, Syd,’ said Frank, tucking in his shirt. He had the rumpled look of someone who had been out in a strong wind. ‘I felt bad about it too when I got back. So did Charlie. They jumped her when she was on her own. But don’t worry about them. We’ll sort them out when the time’s right.’
‘Is that a promise?’ asked Syd. Frank nodded.
‘Let me know if me and the boys can ’elp.’
‘I will.’
Syd turned to me and, with a hesitant gesture, stroked my hair. ‘So are you all right, Cat?’
‘I’ve been better but I’ll live. The worst part is that the headmaster has written to Charlie’s mother, so I have to find somewhere else to hide.’
Syd scratched his head. ‘I could ask one of my boxin’ chums if they could find a place for you.’
‘Don’t worry about me: I’ve got a plan.’
‘Of course I worry about you, Cat. What do you expect? I s’pose you’re not goin’ to tell us what this plan of yours is?’
I smiled. ‘How did you guess?’
‘You ’ave a shifty look when you’re tryin’ to keep a secret. I’ve seen it before.’ Syd had surprised me. I had always thought him a bit slow to notice these things. ‘As long as it’s not dangerous, I don’t think I want to know.’
‘No, it’s not dangerous. In fact, I’m probably heading for the safest place in England.’
Syd gave me another appraising look then nodded. ‘All right. I trust you. You always seem to land on your feet so I’ve no reason to think you won’t this time.’
Charlie and Syd took this as the signal that Syd had calmed down and was safe to approach. Frank sat Syd in the best armchair, I took the footstool, while Charlie and Frank shared the bench which they dragged to the fireside.
‘So what’s the news about Pedro?’ Frank asked.
‘Well, that’s the rum thing. It’s why I come this evenin’. Joe finally caught up with Blind Bob this mornin’ but only ’cos Bob ’ad a message for ’im. That fleabag, Billy Shepherd, wants to speak to me. ’E says ’e ’as information about our Prince. Boil’s asked me to bring the boys to the Pantheon on Oxford Street tonight.’
‘What? For a fight? But the Pantheon’s a ballroom!’ exclaimed Charlie.
Syd shook his head. ‘Nah, not for a fight – not that we wouldn’t be ready for one if ’e offers – but to talk – man to man, ’e said.’ He leaned forward, lowering his voice. ‘I’ve ’eard that the Pantheon’s on the slide – no longer the place it was. Rumour ’as it that Shepherd bought a stake in it.’
‘Don’t tell me – he’s expanding his operations westwards,’ I said with a groan. ‘And who said that crime doesn’t pay? That’ll be a big step up from ruling the roost in the Rookeries.’
‘That’s right, Cat. Shepherd’s got a lot o
f money from somewhere lately – and he’s been buyin’ into businesses left, right and centre. Not in Covent Garden, of course.’ Syd gave a proud smile. ‘’E ’asn’t tried it on there, knowin’ what I’d do to ’im if ’e put a foot into my patch.’
‘And do you believe him – I mean, believe that he knows something about Pedro?’
Syd nodded. ‘Stands to reason, don’t it? I’d wager my next boxin’ purse on Pedro still bein’ in London. Shepherd might well know where ’e is.’
‘So, you’re going to meet him?’
‘Course. Got the boys waitin’ for me – we’re goin’ in style. But there’s just one thing that’s botherin’ me.’
‘What’s that?’
‘’E’s asked me to bring you along too.’ Syd sat back and looked at me, one eyebrow raised sceptically. ‘What d’you think of that?’
I was as suspicious as he was. Shepherd hated my guts. ‘It must be a trap.’
‘That’s what I thought, but Shepherd sent me this as proof ’e’s straight.’ Syd took out a leather bag from his pocket and placed it on the table. I opened the string and saw that it was full of guineas.
‘There must be one hundred pounds in there!’ I shook my head in disbelief.
‘Yeah, Cat. It’s a kind of ransom for you. If ’e tricks us, ’e forfeits this.’
Did Billy Shepherd hate me enough to lose a hundred pounds on me? I wondered. I doubted it. Billy loved money more than his own mother.
‘And there’s somethink else. ’E swore that ’e wouldn’t tell us nothink unless you came to the meetin’.’ Syd prodded the coins. ‘What d’you think, Cat?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t trust him.’
‘Course not. ’E knows that.’
‘She mustn’t go,’ said Frank quickly. ‘It smells bad to me.’
‘Stinks to ’igh ’eaven,’ agreed Syd. ‘But what about Prince? We’ll ’ave all the boys there – we’re more than a match for Shepherd’s gang of squealers and any runners that ’e might invite along. We can get ’er away if there’s trouble.’
I knew I didn’t really have any choice – I would never forgive myself if we passed up this chance to find Pedro. Billy probably knew that too.