The Girl in the Mask (28 page)

‘I shall speak to your father,’ said Captain Mould, almost panting in his eagerness. He caught at my hand, dropped a lizard-kiss onto it, so very different from Mr Charleton’s kisses the previous night, and hurried away.

I leaned back over the parapet, gulping the air, trying to calm myself. I shivered uncontrollably for a moment and then began to regain my calm. I wanted to wash everywhere the lizard had touched me, and I wanted to run and shout to blot out the memory of those horrible moments. But the note was clutched tightly in my hand. I’d done it. If it was a love letter, I would scream with disappointment, but I was certain it wasn’t. Swiftly glancing around me to check I was still alone, I unfolded the slip of paper. It meant nothing at all to me; it was scribbles and gibberish. After an initial lurch of disappointment, I realized it could be code.

I had to get it to Mr Charleton. He might know what to make of it, though I did not. Having searched the tea room and the card room fruitlessly, I stood irresolute, at a loss what to do next. As I hesitated, I saw the captain approach my father at his card table, only to be entreated to join him. To my relief, he did so, taking a seat, being dealt a hand, and poured a glass of wine. If he was to play he would have no opportunity to speak to my father immediately.

My aunt was seated three tables away with a party of ladies, but had her back to me. I was unsupervised, and none of them realized it. This was the moment I’d been waiting for. I left Harrison’s, my mind running on whether to seek Jenny or Mr Charleton first. As I walked along the street, my heavy, cumbersome petticoats swaying and my high heels threatening to twist my ankles, I realized that finding Jenny in these clothes would be completely impracticable. I’d never make it to the village where she lived, nor be sure of finding her there even if I did.

Instead I hurried to Trim Street, making my way past my own front door towards number two where Mr Charleton resided. The butler who opened the door informed me that his master wasn’t at home. ‘Can you tell me where I might find him?’ I begged. ‘It’s extremely urgent. I know he would want to get this message.’

‘Sorry, Miss, I’ve no idea,’ replied the butler, his face blank and his voice expressionless. I imagined he was shocked by a young lady calling unaccompanied on a gentleman, but was too well-trained to show it. ‘Would you like to wait for him?’

I stood on the doorstep, irresolute. He could be out for hours. ‘No, thank you,’ I said and turned away. What should I do now? I couldn’t walk into the busy stable yard to retrieve my boy’s clothes in the day time. I had no money for a chair and no idea what to do next. I turned and walked slowly back along Trim Street, trying to decide whether I should search the city for my quarry or return to Harrison’s before I was missed and hope to see him later in the day.

I’d almost decided to go back when a low whistle from the roof of the stable caught my attention. I looked up and saw a grubby face framed by tangled brown hair peering down at me. ‘Jenny!’ I cried with relief, but she shushed me urgently. Glancing around her, she disappeared from sight for a moment and then reappeared on the wall. She was still in her boy’s garb, but looking thin, dishevelled and dirty. She dropped down beside me. ‘I’ve been wait-in’ here, tryin’ to speak to you for days,’ she said.

‘I’m so sorry. I’ve been locked in. I was recognized, you know, that night. I’ve run away now and I won’t go back. Not ever.’

‘You’re goin’ to run away?’ asked Jenny doubtfully. ‘In that get-up?’ She looked at my brocade gown with its tight bodice over quantities of lace petticoats. I looked down at it too, and had to laugh.

‘I’ve got breeches hidden in the yard. I’ll sell this.’

‘Where will you go?’

‘To Windsor to look for my cousin,’ I said. Jack was the best friend I had in the world, and I was sure he would help me if only I could get to him.

‘Windsor’s a long way,’ began Jenny, and then she gasped and pulled me into a doorway, using me to shield herself from sight. Voices were approaching behind us.

‘What’s wrong?’ I asked. ‘Who’s looking for you?’

The men passed and Jenny grabbed my hand, led me along Trim Street away from the city out into the open fields beyond. I lifted my petticoats out of the mud and took care how I placed my feet. Jenny stopped behind a clump of trees and turned to face me.

‘I’ve been hiding,’ she said. ‘All the time you’ve been away. I can’t risk being seen, I can’t go home and I’ve spent me last farthing. I’m so hungry!’

‘What happened?’ I asked horrified.

‘They cheated me, didn’t they? Took the papers off me and didn’t give me a penny. Jest this … ’

She turned her left cheek towards me and I saw it was discoloured with a fading bruise and a nasty cut. I caught my breath. ‘So we did all that for nothing?’ I asked despairingly. ‘We robbed Mr Charleton, those papers have fallen into the wrong hands, and you haven’t even been paid … This is dreadful. They … they were important papers, apparently, Jenny. I think we did a very wrong thing in taking them.’ I rubbed my hand over my face and groaned.

‘What are they about?’ asked Jenny.

‘I don’t know. But they’re something to do with preventing those riots.’

‘So the gentleman we took ’em off might pay to get ’em back?’ asked Jenny hopefully.

‘He would if we had them,’ I replied. ‘A minor point, but an important one.’ I sank down on the grassy bank, heedless of my clothes, my petticoats billowing about me. Jenny knelt beside me.

‘I’ve got them, but I didn’t know what to do with them,’ replied Jenny. ‘They’re hidden up in the stable yard.’

I stared at her blankly. ‘But you said … ’

‘I know what I said. Only I nicked ’em back, didn’t I? I wasn’t being cheated like that. So I followed ’em and picked their pockets. They ain’t even been opened. Thing was though, I didn’t know what to do next. I couldn’t even get to the fence to flog the jewellery; nearly got caught goin’ there. I bin hidin’ on the rooftops ever since, terrified they’d find me.’

I caught her hands delightedly. ‘Jenny, you’re a wonder!’ I cried. ‘Maybe it won’t be too late to return them. Only … Mr Charleton isn’t at home, and I don’t know where to find him.’

I sat quite still, wondering what to do. ‘Perhaps I should return to Harrison’s after all,’ I said reluctantly. ‘It’s my best chance of finding him. It’s the masquerade in a few days and he said he’d see me there.’

‘A few days … !’ groaned Jenny. I looked at her. Her face looked pinched and pale with want. She couldn’t sleep out on the rooftops indefinitely. I had no money to give her, not so much as a penny. An idea struck me.

‘Mr Allen,’ I said, jumping to my feet. ‘He’ll help us, I know he will.’

‘Who?’ asked Jenny.

‘He’s the postmaster and a friend of Mr Charleton’s. I’m quite certain he can be trusted. He’s kept letters for me before; from your brother. Can you get the papers and meet me on the far side of Trim Bridge?’

We made our way swiftly along Trim Street, parted there, and I walked back into the city. I kept my eyes open for my family, hoping they wouldn’t yet be looking for me. Jenny, when she rejoined me with her jacket bulging, was as jumpy as I was, looking about us as we walked.

I was deeply thankful to find Mr Allen behind the post office counter. ‘Mr Allen,’ I said keeping my voice low, though there were no customers but us. ‘We have important papers for Mr Charleton. Can we trust you to get them to him safely? As soon as possible?’

With a surprised glance at me and a curious one at Jenny, Mr Allen swiftly called for his assistant to take over the counter and led us both behind it and into a small back parlour. A low table was laid with an untouched jug of ale and a plate of bread and butter.

‘Sit down, both of you, please,’ he said courteously. ‘You can trust me completely. I’m in close communication with Charleton on a number of matters, and in his complete confidence. What is this about?’

By way of reply, I handed him the sheaf of papers Jenny had retrieved along with the ring and tie pin I’d stolen. Mr Allen looked questioningly at me. ‘We need you to get these back to Mr Charleton,’ I begged. ‘They haven’t been opened.’

Mr Allen caught his breath and looked searchingly at me. I blushed, ashamed of the part I’d played. ‘There’s more,’ I told him. ‘I took this from Captain Mould today. I have no idea what it says, or if it’s important.’

Mr Allen took the crumpled note, smoothed it out and frowned over it. ‘A code, but not one I’ve seen before,’ he admitted. ‘Who gave him this?’

My eyes dropped. ‘My aunt,’ I confessed. ‘I didn’t see who she got it from.’

‘Your aunt? Yes, we’ve had our eye on her since you arrived,’ he said, surprising me. A dozen questions ran through my head. Who was
we
and why were they watching my aunt? But I didn’t get a chance to ask. Mr Allen was already speaking again: ‘I need to get this to Charleton now,’ he said. He grabbed his coat from a hook, and on his way back across the room, he took my hand and shook it, and then shook Jenny’s grubby hand with equal respect. ‘Before I go, are you in any danger for taking these?’ he asked us both.

I shook my head. ‘Not me. I may be in trouble for escaping from Harrison’s, but that’s all. In any case, I don’t intend to go back. I’m going to run away. But Jenny is in some fear of reprisals.’

‘In that case, Jenny, please stay here until I get back,’ said Allen. ‘I promise you’ll be quite safe here. Please help yourself to this food and ale; you look as though you need it. Miss Williams, I’d like you to rethink your plan of running away.’

‘I can’t go back,’ I said instantly. ‘My father, he plans to … no, I can’t.’

Mr Allen took both my hands in his. ‘Please. If you would be willing to be eyes and ears for us within your family … I know it’s a great deal to ask, but it could save lives. I’ve suspected all along Charleton was mistaken to believe you were part of the conspiracy. I can’t say any more right now, it wouldn’t be safe. But we need your help. You’ve done well today. Will you try and do more?’

I hesitated, unsure what I was agreeing to or why. I dreaded the thought of returning to the imprisonment of my father’s house. ‘Just for a few days,’ added Mr Allen persuasively.

‘Very well,’ I agreed reluctantly. ‘What am I looking for?’

‘Any communication between your aunt, Captain Mould, and others. Do not take risks; they are dangerous people. But watch them. Either Charleton or I will be in touch to hear what, if anything, you’ve discovered. Do you understand?’

I nodded dumbly. Mr Allen released me, and almost ran from the room. I turned to Jenny. ‘I don’t know what any of this is about, but if I’m going back, it had better be right away,’ I said. Jenny looked at me, her eyes large in her pale face. ‘Eat something!’ I recommended, indicating the bread on the table. She nodded, looking forlorn. ‘He’s a kind man,’ I told her. Feeling bad about leaving her, I gave her a hug. She clung to me, her thin frame feeling as light as a bird’s. Then I hurried back through the city, knowing it was too much to hope that my absence would have gone unnoticed.

I was kept locked in the house for three days after my escape from the Assembly Rooms. My copy of Pope’s poem was found and confiscated and I had nothing to do but sew and read sermons. I grew so bored that even those occupations were eventually better than nothing. I neither heard nor saw anything that I could relate to Mr Charleton, and bitterly regretted ever having been foolish enough to return home. When I thought that I could be halfway to Windsor now, I wanted to scream in frustration. My only consolation was that nothing at all was said of Captain Mould and his proposing for me.

My aunt, forced by my father to keep me company, was moody and silent. My father returned home late at night, drunken and ill-tempered. He shouted at us both and then shut himself in his study. At the breakfast table, he was surly, his face etched with deep shadows.

The night of the masquerade arrived. At first I assumed I wouldn’t be permitted to go to any, just as I’d been forbidden to attend any of the other events during the past days. But to my surprise, after we’d dined at four o’clock, I was sent to get changed. Dawes helped me bathe and wash my hair. When I got out of the bath, my costume was laid out on my bed.

My gown was purest, virginal white. Once I was dressed in the crisp petticoats and gown, I looked like a frost maiden. A profusion of lace was pinned around my neck and at my wrists, as though a waterfall had frozen in the act of tumbling over a precipice. I stared in the mirror, stunned by the vision the dressmaker had created for me. I was Persephone; unwilling child-bride, trapped by Hades in the underworld whilst winter reigned on Earth.

Dawes powdered my hair and my face, whitening my complexion to match my gown. Only my blue eyes and red lips had colour now. Then she tied a golden sash around my waist and a golden mask over my face. I surveyed myself once more.

‘It’s almost a pity to wear the gold,’ I mused, surprised at my own degree of interest in my costume. ‘It spoils the effect.’

‘Well, you won’t be wearing the sash in the morning, Miss, just the gown,’ said Dawes briskly.