‘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 implied 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.’