‘Well, in that case, we’d better go. You watch my brother, Mr Tom Cat,’ Milly said playfully as she rose. ‘He never showed me any mercy when we were children in the nursery together so I hate to think what he’d do to a boy like you.’
‘Sis, you know that’s not true. If I remember, you were the one who was lethal with the hatpin at a very young age,’ protested Charlie.
‘Self-defence, Charles, self-defence . . .’
The voices of the Hengraves faded as Charlie led his sister back to the lodge, leaving me alone with the Avons for a few moments.
‘How are you, Cat?’ Lizzie said, her voice trembling slightly. ‘I mean, really?’
I gave her a brave smile but her kindness made me feel weak. ‘I’m homesick,’ I confessed.
‘Are they treating you well? No one suspects anything?’
‘She’s doing brilliantly, Lizzie,’ said Frank. ‘Completely convincing.’
‘But what are you going to do?’
‘Do? I’m aiming to be top in my form for Latin and to become a passable fencer,’ I joked feebly.
‘Cat, you know what I mean. You can’t stay here forever.’
Milly called Lizzie’s name from the bottom of the stairs. She straightened her bonnet in the mirror, and tidied her curls ready to leave. I touched my shorn head self-consciously. It was then that the idea hit me.
‘Lizzie, could you help me with something?’
‘Of course. Anything.’
‘Can you send me some things? I might need them at short notice.’ I moved to Frank’s desk and began a list. ‘I’ll write them down for you.’
Lizzie read the list quickly and gave a nod.
‘I’ll send them round tomorrow. Is that all you need?’
‘Yes. And thank you.’
She hesitated, then gave me a swift kiss. ‘It feels so strange kissing a boy!’ she said with a small laugh and let Frank escort her back to the carriage.
Milly’s visit turned out to be but the prelude to something far worse. Frank and Charlie took a long time coming back from the lodge and I began to worry what had happened to them. Perhaps they had met another pupil, or worse a teacher, and Milly had been asked about how she found her younger brother? Would there be footsteps thundering up the stairs any moment now, demanding to know who the impostor was? I listened by the door, tensing myself to make a run for it if necessary. Sure enough, I heard pounding footsteps. I hid behind the door, ready to flee as soon my chance came.
‘Cat! Cat!’ It wasn’t a teacher or the porter as I had half expected: it was just Frank and Charlie, both of them white as a sheet.
‘Is someone after me?’ I asked hastily, craning my head out on to the landing, listening for more footsteps.
‘No.’ Frank hauled me back in by the jacket and closed the door with a bang. ‘Look. The boy was just crying the news as we handed Lizzie and Milly into the carriage.’ He thrust a newspaper into my hand. The front page was covered in advertisements, but my eyes lit upon the headline.
Mysterious disappearance of the African Ariel
Tonight’s performance of The Tempest at Drury Lane has had to be cancelled due to the mysterious disappearance of the African known as Pedro Hawkins. He went missing some time after four o’clock Tuesday afternoon from the house of his current master, Signor Luigi Angelini. No one saw the African leave the house. Pedro Hawkins’ fate has been an issue of great public concern since it has become known that a former master claims to own the young African. Immediate enquiries were made with the gentleman in question, but he denied all knowledge of the boy’s whereabouts and permitted officers of the law to search his lodgings to prove his innocence.
In place of the advertised programme, Drury Lane will be performing Macbeth.
I sat down heavily in the armchair. ‘We didn’t save him after all.’
Frank slammed his hand down on the mantelpiece in frustration. ‘I thought he was safe! He was being guarded on the streets and staying indoors, but he’s been snatched anyway!’
Charlie squeezed my shoulder. ‘Lizzie and Milly have gone straight to Mr Sharp’s. The abolitionists will do all they can.’
‘What can they do?’ I asked.
‘Mr Sharp can apply in the courts for habeas corpus – it’s a court order that means that Hawkins will have to produce Pedro if he has him. Mr Sharp’s used it before to stop men being taken out of England against their will.’
‘But Hawkins claims he doesn’t have him. What good will this habeas thing do if he can get away with pretending he knows nothing about it?’
Charlie fell silent. They both knew I was right. It had to be Hawkins – of course it did – but clearly he had hidden Pedro somewhere with the intent of bypassing the legal channels to get him out of the country. After his humiliation at Drury Lane, Hawkins had probably decided the public pressure to keep Pedro here was too strong for him to fight overtly. He was trying to smuggle Pedro away.
‘We need to act fast,’ I said, my mind clicking into action. ‘We’ve got to get our friends to check the port. It’s the obvious place. If he’s not sent Pedro there yet, he will.’ I closed my eyes, leaning back in the chair, fighting my panic and fear. I was useless. I couldn’t even go to Covent Garden to get a message to Syd and the gang. In Pedro’s hour of need, I was stuck learning Latin and pretending to be an Irish landowner’s younger son.
‘I’ll go,’ said Frank, getting up. ‘Make my excuses at Prep for me, Charlie. I’ve suddenly developed a bad toothache and gone home to see the family tooth puller.’
‘Right you are,’ said Charlie.
‘And, Cat, stay put! Charlie, make sure she does!’ Frank said, realizing exactly what I was thinking as I sat there with my eyes tight shut. ‘You won’t help Pedro by getting caught yourself, Cat. The gang’ll look after him – you’ll see.’
I nodded, but something told me that it would need more than the Butcher’s Boys to find him. As Pedro had warned, Hawkins never forgot and never forgave – he was not a man to let revenge on his slave be denied him.
ACT III
SCENE 1 – WOLFSBANE FOR BRUISES