‘Gently, Charley, gently. Is that any way to treat a lady?’
The man sitting in the seat facing her was clothed all in black; black frockcoat, black trousers and a black top hat. Cat was now frozen with terror, and although her mouth was free she couldn’t cry out or move. Not that she would have got very far with the two men who had accosted her now sitting either side of her.
‘But we haven’t been formally introduced, my dear.’ The man leaned forward and Cat instinctively shrank from what she saw in his face. ‘My name is Henry, and yours is Christabel. Such a very beautiful name.’
The carriage was moving but the curtains at the windows made it impossible to see out. That alone increased Cat’s dread. It was inconceivable that she was being abducted in the middle of a normal working day, but it was happening, and no one would know.
Somehow she found her voice. ‘Stop this carriage this instant.’
‘Why should I do that?’ The man leaned back again, the slender walking stick with a silver top he was holding resting between his knees. ‘I’ve been waiting for this opportunity to talk to you for some time. It’s unfortunate it had to be this way but you’ve only brought it on yourself, my dear, ignoring my letters and requests that we meet.’
She knew but she still had to ask. ‘Letters?’
‘“A devotee of your art”?’
Oh God help me, help me, help me. Those disgusting letters detailing what he wanted to do to her, the ‘fun’ they could have. ‘They were not the sort of letters a gentleman sends to a lady,’ she said, aiming to keep the trembling in her body out of her voice.
‘On the contrary, a lady of your profession must receive such accolades all the time, surely?’
‘They weren’t in the nature of an accolade, they were offensive and detestable.’
‘They were a compliment, my dear. To your beauty and the free spirit you talk about on stage. You are magnificent in your unrestraint, your shamelessness.’
She stared at him. If he had come to see her as he proclaimed, then how could he possibly have twisted the fight for liberty and the vote and the other issues in the play like this? Swallowing hard, she tried to inject cool politeness into her voice. ‘It is a play and I am an actress, that is all.’
‘Such modesty.’
‘I have to be at the theatre shortly so will you kindly stop this carriage,’ she said again, warning herself not to lose control. With this man’s henchmen sitting either side of her she had no chance of escape, so she had to talk her way out of this, but it was hard when she wanted to shout and scream. Whoever he was, he had money, that much was evident, but for all his fine clothes and this carriage, which she had to admit was beautiful, he was no gentleman to behave this way.
‘All in good time.’ He smiled the smile that wasn’t a smile. ‘All in good time, m’dear.’
She would escape. He would have to stop the carriage at some time, and no matter where she was she would scream and make a run for it. Her mind made up, Cat tried to get her bearings. The carriage had been pointing in the opposite direction from the Cathedral, towards the Strand, but already she had been conscious that they had twisted and turned a couple of times so they could be going back whence she’d come for all she knew.
Was his name really Henry? She moistened her lips which were dry with fright. He was a big man and heavy with it, and she would put his age at about fifty or so, although it was difficult to tell with the full beard he wore in the style of the King. He wasn’t ugly, but there was something distinctly repellent about him, something that made her flesh creep. Whether it was the redness of the thick, full lips beneath the moustache or the look in his eyes when he stared at her, she didn’t know, but whatever it was, everything in her recoiled from any contact with him.
The two men either side of her were apparently relaxed, but she sensed the slightest move from her and they would pounce. Quietly, she said, ‘Where are you taking me?’
‘You’ll see shortly.’
‘Why are you doing this?’ She hated the pleading note in her voice. ‘If you admire me as you say you do, why are you treating me this way?’
‘This way? What way is that?’
‘Kidnapping me.’