CHAPTER
Four
“What were you thinking, scaring poor Daphne like that?” Gabriella demanded, crouching beside the now-unconscious lady. “I’m afraid her nerves weren’t up for the sight of a pistol trained her way.”
“I thought she was a threat.”
“She’s not a threat. She’s my lookout.”
“An unlikely choice, given that she just fainted at the sight of a pistol. I wasn’t planning on shooting her.”
“How would she have known that?” Gabriella grabbed a large reticule that was sitting next to Daphne and began digging through it.
“What are you looking for?” Nicholas asked.
“Smelling salts.”
“One hardly expects to hear that a woman taking up the position of lookout for a clandestine matter has smelling salts available. That suggests she’s possessed of a less-than-adventurous nature and leaves me wondering why you chose this particular woman to accompany you tonight.”
“Adventurous and Daphne are never uttered in the same sentence, and the only reason she’s here tonight is because she fit into the Cleopatra costume.”
Not having the least idea what to make of that, Nicholas bent down and gave Daphne’s cheek a pat, not encouraged when the lady didn’t move a single muscle. “We’re running out of time.”
“I know, but I can’t find her smelling salts.” Gabriella thrust the bag aside and rose to her feet. “You’ll have to carry her.”
“I can’t go strolling through the house while carrying an unconscious lady in my arms. That would draw all sorts of attention.”
“I meant carry her out the window.”
“You want me to carry a woman out the window and down two stories, using the rope I left dangling over the side of the house?”
“Unless you have a better idea, yes.”
Unfortunately, a better idea did not spring to mind. “Out the window it is,” Nicholas said, leaning over to scoop Daphne up from the floor as Gabriella dashed past him and opened the window as far as it would go.
“Careful. Watch her head,” Gabriella said as Nicholas backed his way through the window while trying to keep a firm hold on Daphne. “I would hate for her to suffer a bump on it.”
“Just as you demanded I stop talking while you opened the safe, I’m going to make the same demand of you while I try to get your lookout to the ground—a lookout, I must remind you, who certainly does not possess the heart of a lion.”
“It’s fortunate Daphne’s still unconscious because I can’t imagine her reaction if she came to right now and realized she was dangling out a second-story window.”
“Let’s hope she stays unconscious because if she comes to and begins to flail about, I’m certain to drop her, and then she’ll suffer more than a bump on her head.”
“Don’t drop her.”
“Easy for you to say,” he grumbled before he took hold of the rope he’d used to access Mrs. Birkhoff’s bedchamber, and then, inch by inch, began climbing down the side of the house.
Sweat beaded his forehead and began running down his face, and by the time he was almost to the ground, his eyes were stinging from the sweat and his muscles were screaming. Before he could make it the last few feet, though, the rope suddenly went slack and he was plummeting through the air. Twisting right before he hit the ground, he took the brunt of the fall, Daphne’s limp form bouncing a single time against his back before she went still again.
Wondering if he might have broken his nose when his face smacked into the ground, because it was bleeding and throbbing dreadfully, Nicholas shimmied his way out from underneath a still-unconscious Daphne, pushing himself to a sitting position as a most troubling thought sprang to mind. Looking up, he found Gabriella sitting on the windowsill, no rope at hand, looking down at him.
“Any suggestions?” she called in a voice so low he could barely make it out.
“You’ll have to go back through the house,” he called just as quietly.
“I’ll have to jump and you’ll catch me?”
“Ah . . .” was all he was able to get out before she looked over her shoulder, then back at him. “I hear someone.”
Realizing that jumping was now Gabriella’s only option, even though she was two stories up, Nicholas lurched to his feet. “On the count of three, then. One . . . two . . .”
She was flying through the air before he got to three.
Rushing forward, he didn’t have a second to brace himself before the force of her descent sent them both to the ground, Gabriella landing on top of him.
For a few painful seconds, he didn’t bother trying to move, not until Gabriella rolled off him, sat up, and let out a snort. “You almost didn’t catch me.”
“I didn’t catch you. I merely broke your fall. In all honesty, I’m lucky I even managed that because it usually goes one, two, and then three. You jumped on two.”
She frowned. “Did I really? I could have sworn I heard you say three.”
“Just like you heard me say you should jump in the first place?”
“I suggested you go through the house.”
“Ah, that might have been the better choice, if someone hadn’t been about to enter the room.”
“Which means we need to get out of here before that someone thinks to look out the window we left open.”
Nicholas got to his feet, pulled Gabriella up beside him, and stilled when the sound of hooves coming from beyond the stone wall that separated the back of the house from the alley caught his attention. “Our ride is here.”
“Daphne and I have a carriage waiting out front.”
“If you think I’m going to carry Daphne around to the front, where there are most likely guests milling about, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“I suppose we could ride with you to get to our carriage.”
“Or better yet, you can accompany me to my home, at which time you can then answer the hundreds of questions I have for you.”
Gabriella shook her head. “Ann and Elsy will be beside themselves if Daphne and I don’t eventually show up.”
“Who are Ann and Elsy?”
Before Gabriella could answer, Daphne’s eyes fluttered open.
Nicholas smiled. “This will certainly make everything easier.” He leaned over Daphne, his smile disappearing in a flash when Daphne’s gaze settled on his face, her eyes widened, and then she fainted dead away again.
“Don’t think Daphne’s nerves were up for the sight of so much blood coming from your nose,” Gabriella said. “You’ll need to mop that up as soon as possible, which may allow Daphne to remain conscious for more than a few seconds the next time she comes to. Or better yet, perhaps we should pray she doesn’t come to until I get her into our carriage and we part company.”
“We’re not parting company until I get answers to the myriad questions I have.”
Gabriella’s brow furrowed. “Myriad is not a word I ever expected to hear coming out of your mouth, which has me wondering how it came to be that you know such a word in the first place.”
Since it was hardly the moment to disclose how he’d acquired an impressive vocabulary, Nicholas bent over and scooped Daphne into his arms again. He ignored the blood that was dripping from his chin and strode for the stone wall, relief washing over him when he spotted Gus, his coachman for the night, already sitting on top of the wall.
“Don’t think I’m going to forget the myriad business,” Gabriella said, matching him stride for stride.
“I’m sure you won’t, but you seem to have forgotten to explain who Ann and Elsy are.”
“They’re sisters who are driving the carriage Daphne and I are using tonight.”
“Dare I hope they’re more proficient with driving a carriage than Daphne is with being your lookout?”
“Proficient is yet another word I’m surprised to hear you use. However, to answer your question, proficient with driving might be a stretch for Elsy and Ann. They’re paid companions by day and don’t have many opportunities to drive carriages, although Elsy once drove a pony cart, which is why she volunteered for the job tonight after Ivan came down with a nasty stomach ailment and kept tossing up his accounts. Eunice refused to let him leave the house.”
“And doesn’t all that demand more than a few explanations, ones I expect you to give me at some point tonight,” he said, stopping directly beside the wall.
“Nasty business having that rope break, Nicholas,” said Gus, patting binoculars that were hanging around his neck, which looked out of place with his formal dark livery and top hat. “Sure wasn’t expecting to see you leaving the window with someone thrown over your shoulder. Imagine that extra weight is what had the rope breaking.” Gus’s gaze traveled over Daphne, his eyes widening. “Didn’t realize it was a woman, but what’s wrong with her? I hope you didn’t have to knock her out because she caught you in the act.”
“I think I’ve had just about enough of people insulting me tonight, what with Gabe thinking I wouldn’t abide by the code of thieves, and now you apparently believing I’d ever knock a woman out,” Nicholas said. “How about you do something more constructive, like help me get Daphne over the wall?”
To Nicholas’s annoyance, Gus, instead of helping him with Daphne, turned and peered closely at Gabriella, his mouth making an O of surprise. “You ain’t suggesting this gentleman is the Gabe who was part of our street family back in the day, are you?”
Gabriella’s eyes widened as she took a step closer to Gus. “Gus Croker, is that you?”
Gus’s lips curved into a grin. “It sure enough is me, Gabe, but bless my heart, I never thought I’d lay eyes on you again. Where’ve you been all these years?”
Before Gabriella could respond to a question Nicholas was certainly interested in learning the answer to as well, someone began shouting from the vicinity of the house.
“We have to go,” Nicholas said. He lifted Daphne up to Gus, who grabbed hold of her and, after a few grunts, disappeared with her over the wall. Nicholas turned and knelt to the ground, cupping his hands, and then Gabriella was stepping onto his makeshift lift and disappearing over the wall as well. Following her a second later, Nicholas landed on the ground, finding Gabriella not already in the carriage but backing away from it instead.
“You need to get in,” he said, moving up beside her.
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
Gabriella looked at his carriage. “There’s a dog in there. A vicious one from the looks of him.”
Nicholas shot a look to the carriage and found Winston, his decidedly less-than-vicious dog, looking out the door with a big, sloppy grin on his furry face. “That’s Winston. He won’t hurt you.”
“He’s needy and doesn’t like to be left alone. But he’s also harmless, so get in the carriage.”
Gabriella shook her head. “Dogs don’t like me, something you should remember since you’re the one who pried that poodle off my arm when I was ten.”
Gus took that moment to dart out of the carriage. “Got the lady settled on the seat. She ain’t movin’ a’tall, but can’t worry about that now. Trouble’s coming. I can feel it.”
“Get in the carriage,” Nicholas said between clenched teeth, irritation running through him when Gabriella’s nose shot into the air.
“I won’t. I’d rather get caught than get in—”
He moved fast, hoping the element of surprise would work in his favor. Throwing Gabriella over his shoulder, he strode to the carriage, threw her in it, then climbed in after her, calling to Gus to get them on their way.
As the carriage jolted into motion, Nicholas lurched forward, steadied himself, then held out a hand to Gabriella, who’d landed on the floor. He wasn’t surprised when she ignored the hand and pulled herself onto the seat beside an unconscious Daphne.
Sitting down beside Winston, he smiled when the dog plopped his head directly onto Nicholas’s lap. “See, he’s perfectly harmless.”
“He’s snarling at me.”
“That’s Winston’s happy look.”
“Why’s he wearing an eyepatch?”
“He lost an eye sometime before I found him. I thought he seemed self-conscious about that, so I got him an eyepatch. He now seems to feel much better about himself and really enjoys when people call him a pirate dog.” He caught Gabriella’s eye. “If you talk to him like a pirate, he’ll be your best friend for life.”
“Talk like a pirate?”
“You know, give him an Argh or a Matey.”
“I’m not talking like a pirate to your dog.”
“Suit yourself, but it’s your loss, because Winston makes a very loyal friend.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Where did you find him?”
“Outside Delmonico’s. He wandered up to me as I was returning to my carriage.”
“What were you doing at Delmonico’s?”
“Having dinner with friends.”
“You can afford a meal there?”
“Ah . . .”
She interrupted him with a wave of a hand. “Never mind. That’s really none of my business. So, Winston just wandered up to you and you decided to take him home?”
“I couldn’t very well have left him there. He was the scrawniest dog I’d ever seen, missing an eye and trembling up a storm.”
“You don’t seem to be bothered by the fact I’m trembling right now—and trembling harder than ever because Winston’s licking his lips.”
“He often does that because he’s always hungry.”
Gabriella reached for the door. “And here’s where I really must insist you tell Gus to stop the carriage, because I have every intention of getting out of here before your dog decides to turn me into his next meal.”
It took a great deal of effort for Nicholas to refrain from rolling his eyes, something his etiquette instructors had told him time and again was to be avoided at all costs because it was considered common.
“We’re not stopping the carriage.” Nicholas reached up, flipped open the small window located directly underneath the driver’s seat that allowed him to converse with his coachman, and told Gus to take them home.
“I’m not going to your home,” Gabriella argued. “I have a carriage waiting for me out front.”
“We’re certain to get caught if you’re seen unloading an unconscious lady from this carriage. It’ll be best for you if we go to my home, where I’m sure we’ll be able to bring Daphne around, and then we’ll talk about returning you to your carriage.”
Gabriella’s eyes narrowed. “It’s awfully high-handed of you to decide what’s best for me.”
“All the ladies I know prefer when a gentleman makes decisions for them.”
Her eyes narrowed another fraction. “How lovely for those ladies, but I don’t need any gentleman to decide what’s best for me, and frankly, I find such a notion insulting. I’m perfectly capable of seeing after myself.”
“Be that as it may,” Nicholas countered, “returning to my residence makes more sense than returning you to your carriage.”
She lifted her chin. “If you don’t tell Gus to take me to my carriage, I’m prepared to leap out of here, which will draw all sorts of attention your way, especially if I start yelling that I was abducted by the Knickerbocker Bandit after I caught him in the act.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“Try me.”
“I don’t remember you being this difficult in our youth.”
“There’s apparently much you don’t remember about our youth.”
“Such as?”
Instead of answering, Gabriella crossed her arms over her chest and sent him a look that almost scorched his face.
Having no idea what else to say, since she clearly believed he should be remembering something he wasn’t, Nicholas reached up and opened the small window beneath Gus again. “Gabriella wants us to take her to her carriage. It’s parked out front, and . . .” He glanced over at her. “How’s he to know which carriage is yours?”
“It has two coachmen sitting on the seat, both dressed in purple livery.”
“Did she just say her coachmen are dressed in purple?” Gus called as the carriage slowed to a stop.
“She did.”
“It’s awfully dark out here,” Gus called back. “Not sure I’ll be able to tell the difference between black and purple under the dim gaslights.”
Gabriella leaned forward. “One of the coachmen will probably be knitting.”
“Beg pardon?” Gus asked.
“Knitting, you know, with needles and yarn.”
“Don’t believe I’ll miss that,” Gus said, and with a snap of the reins, the carriage lurched into motion as Nicholas closed the window.
“Why would one of your coachmen be knitting?”
“Because as I mentioned, Elsy and Ann spend most of their time as paid companions to society matrons. One of the society matrons Elsy is currently working for has recently taken an interest in knitting, and she believes Elsy needs to take an interest in her latest endeavor as well. Unfortunately, Elsy is not very good at knitting, and uses any spare moment to practice in order to avoid unwanted criticism from her employer.”
“I imagine that maintaining paid companion positions is a wonderful cover for Elsy and Ann, because I doubt anyone would suspect them of getting up to shenanigans at night.”
“Elsy and Ann haven’t been getting up to shenanigans.”
Nicholas opened his mouth to dispute that point because, clearly, the sisters were in cahoots with Gabriella, but before he could speak, the carriage pulled to a stop. A few seconds later, Gus opened the door, but only wide enough to where he could stick his head in.
“I stopped a few carriages back from the one where there’s a coachman knitting because I’m not sure it would be wise for you to return to your carriage right now, Gabe,” he whispered. “There’re guests from the ball strolling about, and I bet they’d notice us trying to haul an unconscious lady around.”
Gabriella gave Daphne’s face a pat, biting her lip when Daphne didn’t so much as twitch. “She seems to be in a remarkably deep swoon, which means I’m going to have to ask you to drive us to Bleecker Street, where we reside. If you’ll pull the carriage next to mine, I’ll tell Elsy we’ll follow her and Ann.”
“Will do,” Gus said, shutting the door.
The carriage rocked as Gus returned to his seat, and then it moved forward, stopping a moment later. Gabriella opened the door and stuck her head out.
“Elsy,” she whispered.
Nicholas looked out the door and found the coachman not paying them any mind, her attention squarely fixed on her knitting.
“Elsy,” Gabriella tried again, this time a little louder.
Elsy looked up, dropped her knitting needles when she caught sight of Gabriella, and wrinkled her nose “What are you doing in that carriage?”
“Shh,” Gabriella returned. “We’ve run into a complication. I need you to drive away as nonchalantly as possible. We’ll wait for you up ahead. You’ll need to pass us, and then we’ll follow you back to Bleecker Street.”
“I’m not sure I’m up for passing another carriage on the road. That might be beyond my skill level.”
“You’ll be fine,” Gabriella said briskly. “Just make sure you keep a firm grip on the reins.”
“I don’t think the strength of my grip has all that much to do with being able to steer the carriage.”
“I’ll pull over so you won’t have to pass us,” Gus said.
Elsy sent Gus a bright smile and a nod, which had Gus setting the carriage into motion again. Gabriella pulled the door shut and settled back on the seat, where she immediately began riffling through the large bag she’d had the presence of mind to sling over her shoulder before she’d jumped out of the window.
“What are you doing?”
“Looking for Daphne’s smelling salts again. I can’t very well let her linger in a senseless state for too long.” Gabriella pulled out a notepad and a large book and set them aside. “As has obviously been proven, she’s not a lady possessed of steady nerves, which is another reason why I didn’t want to repair to your house. There’s no telling what might have happened if she’d come out of her swoon in the midst of the chaos that’s always happening in Five Points.”
“I don’t reside in Five Points. I live by Washington Square Park.”
Gabriella lifted her head. “What do you mean, you live by Washington Square Park?”
“I’m not certain how you’d like me to elaborate since it seems fairly self-explanatory.”
Her eyes narrowed before she dipped her head and began rummaging through the bag, the intensity of her search suggesting she was furious—and at him, if he wasn’t mistaken.
Nicholas leaned forward. “Why are you so angry with me? Does it have something to do with your earlier comment about me not remembering what happened in our youth?”
Her head shot up. “It has everything to do with your not remembering. And the most important matter you’ve apparently forgotten is this—you abandoned me, hence the reason behind my longing to punch you for years.”
Nicholas stilled. “I did no such thing.”
Gabriella released a snort. “Don’t try to deny it because, obviously, you didn’t rush to my assistance when the police grabbed me all those years ago, nor did you ever come for me after I was apprehended.”
“I did try to help you get away from the police,” Nicholas argued. “After they swarmed the room we were robbing and grabbed you, I tried to get back through the window to help you. If you remember, I was exiting first so that I’d be available to catch you if you fell. A policeman saw me and rushed my way, but as he and I struggled, I lost my grip on the windowsill and plummeted three stories to the ground. I think I only survived the fall because I landed in a shrub.”
“And you were able to walk away from such a fall?”
“No. I was knocked out, but I rolled underneath the shrub, which is why the police didn’t catch me. They evidently assumed I’d run away.” Nicholas shook his head. “Rookwood is the one who found me the next morning. After he realized you weren’t with me, he immediately set out to find you, but with no success. It was as if you’d disappeared.”
“I didn’t disappear. I was taken to an orphanage after I spent a few hours in jail.”
Nicholas nodded. “Rookwood got a tip a few days later that you’d been sent to an orphanage, but when he went there to fetch you, he learned that you’d already been put on an orphan train and sent west.”
“What?”
Dread settled in Nicholas’s stomach. “You weren’t put on an orphan train?”
“I never left the city.”
“No wonder you think I abandoned you.” He reached out and took hold of Gabriella’s hand, which she immediately tugged away from him.
“Why would an orphanage tell Rookwood I was put on an orphan train when I wasn’t?”
“I have no idea.”
“You’ll have to question him about that the next time you see him.”
“I haven’t seen Rookwood since I went to live with Professor Lawrence Cameron a month or so after you disappeared.”
“Professor Cameron?”
“He’s from the society set, and we’re talking old society—in that he’s a Knickerbocker. He’d been studying what he calls ‘the human condition’ for years and sought Rookwood out because Professor Cameron wanted an opportunity to study street children to see if there was a way to help them improve their circumstances in life. After mingling with us for a few weeks, he came to the conclusion that he could improve circumstances through extensive educational efforts. However, he wasn’t certain how extensive those efforts would have to be, so he decided it would be best to begin those lessons with a single street boy.”
“You were that street boy?”
Nicholas nodded.
Gabriella frowned. “Why would Rookwood, after losing me, his best thief, hand over his second-best thief relatively soon after?”
“Rookwood suggested the professor take Virgil Miskel at first, but after Professor Cameron balked, probably because Virgil was never what anyone could call a pleasant sort, the decision was made for me to go.”
Gabriella tilted her head. “I bet Virgil didn’t react well to being overlooked.”
“Frankly, all the children were disappointed to have not been chosen, since leaving with the professor was a way to get out of the Lower East Side. Virgil, however, was especially enraged, so much so that Rookwood was forced to step in and assure Virgil that his time would come, especially if the professor found success with me.”
“And did Virgil’s time come?”
“Not with the professor. He eventually told me that he’d gotten a bad feeling about Virgil the moment he met him and certainly didn’t care to seek Virgil out again.”
“I bet Virgil didn’t like that either.”
“I don’t imagine he did, but I’ve never seen Virgil again—or rather, I’ve never spoken with him again. I caught a glimpse of him a few years ago, but we didn’t acknowledge each other.”
“Why not?”
Nicholas shifted on the seat. “I was escorting a young lady and her chaperone down Broadway to do some shopping and didn’t want to make Virgil uncomfortable by drawing attention to him. He was looking rather rough around the edges.”
Gabriella’s lips thinned. “Are you certain it was Virgil you didn’t want to make uncomfortable and not yourself?”
Before Nicholas could voice a protest to that—not that Gabriella was entirely off the mark, which didn’t speak well of him in the least—Daphne’s eyes began to flutter and then opened a second later. She blinked a few times, then set her sights on Gabriella.
“I’ve just had the most disturbing dream,” Daphne began. “There was a man with a pistol, and then I was flying through the air. After that, the man was looming over me.” She wrinkled her nose. “There might have been blood, but . . .”
Daphne stopped talking when her gaze darted his way. She lifted a trembling hand and pointed a finger at him. “That’s him, right there. But that means it wasn’t a dream after all and also suggests that he’s abducted us for some nefarious purpose, but . . . my nerves won’t survive an abduction.”
Pushing away from where she’d been slumped against the carriage wall, Daphne snatched the large bag Gabriella had been rummaging through. Instead of searching the contents of that bag for her smelling salts, as he expected, she wrapped her hand around the strap, jumped up from the carriage seat, and began beating Nicholas around the head with it.