I ran across the cobbles and slid in through the back door to the kitchens. The place was once again alive with activity: from the clatter of pans and splash of water in the scullery I guessed that the plates from some fancy dinner were being washed. No refuge there this time then. I crept as far as the open kitchen door and peered in. The chef was sitting with his feet up on the table swilling a glass of red wine, humming to himself. I stole past and ran as quietly as I could up the stairs to the green baize door Lord Francis had taken us through.
I stopped. I could hear the confused babble of many voices and a door opening and closing. It appeared I had arrived just as the duke’s guests had taken it into their heads to depart. Pushing the door open a crack, I saw a large party of gentlemen fetching their cloaks from the two footmen on duty. There was Mr Sheridan reaching for his hat and cane and, yes, there was Marchmont senior accompanied by the Earl of Ranworth. If only Mr Sheridan would look in my direction. How I could do with his assistance! I wished I could tell him how much danger his ‘diamond’ was in! But to break from my hiding place would be to reveal my unauthorised presence in the house and attract far too many questions from the host. I watched despondently as Mr Sheridan resolutely looked the other way, bade the duke goodnight and left.
So, no way up those stairs while the duke was still about. I backed down the steps to the corridor and paused for thought. Where were the back stairs? I wondered. There had to be some for the servants to pass unseen about the house. As if in answer to my question, a maid emerged from the scullery carrying a jug of steaming water. I hid behind a row of aprons hanging from pegs along a wall. The maid walked straight past me and took a passageway on the left. I crept after her. She then took a sharp right and disappeared. I followed, discovering that she had indeed led me to the stairs. I had to be quick: this narrow flight offered no hiding places. I’d have to be up and off them before she headed back down.
She carried her burden up three flights, pausing only to straighten her cap when she reached a landing. She then knocked on the door of the room closest to the stair and entered.
‘Put it over there, please, Mary.’ It was Lady Elizabeth! Feeling a wave of relief, I remembered to dart behind a linen chest just in time.
Mary’s feet could be heard getting further away as she went down the stairs. I had a final look up and down the corridor . . . all clear.
Tap, tap! I knocked softly on Lady Elizabeth’s door.
‘Come!’ she called.
I opened the door and saw her reflection in the dressing-table mirror. She looked beautiful, like a mermaid rising out of a silver pool: her hair was strewn with pearls and her silk dress was the colour of bluebells.
‘Cat!’ she exclaimed, dropping her brush on to the table with a clatter. ‘Whatever has happened to you?’
I caught a glimpse of myself in the glass. My hair was in a hopeless tumble and half my skirt was missing, displaying grubby white petticoats beneath.
‘Ah,’ I said gesturing to my dress ruefully. ‘I had a merry meeting with my friend Billy Boil.’
She got up, moved swiftly across the thick rose-coloured carpet and pulled me inside the room. She took a quick look at the silent corridor before she closed the door and turned the key.
‘Oh, Cat, are you all right?’ she said. ‘Have a seat. Tell me what happened.’
‘Forget about that, Lady Elizabeth . . . ’
She held her finger to my lips. ‘Lizzie, Cat. Remember!’
‘Lizzie, then. What I’ve come to tell you, Lizzie, is that Johnny’s here. He didn’t come off quite so well in his encounter with our friend so we’ve brought him here. He’s in the stable with Pedro.’
Lady Elizabeth now ran to the window and peered out into the yard.
‘Is he all right?’ she asked anxiously.
I nodded.
‘He’ll be safe there for the moment,’ she told me. ‘It’s quiet now. It is very fortunate you did not arrive half an hour earlier: we had all the carriages lined up in the yard. They’ve only just gone round to the front of the house.’
‘Will you help us?’ I asked anxiously.
‘Of course. Stay where you are. Don’t answer the door unless you hear four taps. I’ll fetch Frank.’ She picked a candle up from her dressing table. ‘Father sent him to bed an hour ago, but if I know him he’ll be spying on the guests as they leave, giving their carriages marks out of ten or some such fancy of his.’
She slipped out and I locked the door behind her. It would not do for a maid to find me in here alone. I sat at the dressing table and stared at myself in the mirror. I did not have the luxury of my own glass at home, though there were plenty in the dressing rooms for the actors. A solemn face looked back out at me. My red curls were matted with dirt. My freckled nose was smudged, my bodice torn where the skirt had departed from it at the waist, my hands red raw with marks of hard work and blows. Compared to the vision with white skin and chestnut locks that had just sat there, I was a complete troll. It was a depressing comparison.
Four taps on the door. I quickly opened it to find myself almost knocked down by the arrival of Lord Francis.
‘Cat!’ he exclaimed, giving me a relieved hug before remembering himself and giving me a formal bow at arm’s length. ‘Lizzie’s told me what happened. I’m so pleased to see you in one piece. When our gang gets to hear about this, Shepherd’ll wish he had never been born!’
Our gang? Since when had Lord Francis been enrolled among Syd’s followers? But I had forgotten . . . he was a boy, wasn’t he? That was sufficient to earn Syd’s approbation.
‘Now, you sit down and let Lizzie look after you. I’ll fetch the others,’ he said, taking charge.
To be honest, it was a relief to relinquish responsibility for seeing Johnny to safety. This was Lord Francis’s home: it was right that he should deal with the ticklish matter of smuggling a wanted man inside it. He led me back to the dressing-table, gave me a pat on the arm and left.
Minutes later Lady Elizabeth returned. She slopped some hot water into a porcelain bowl decorated with pink roses and carried it over to me.