12

The next morning, I was under strict instructions to get Master Ellis out of bed for some fresh air.

‘Vigorous exercise is the key to building up his strength and creating a healthy temperament,’ Mr Spicer informed me. ‘My son, you may have already observed, is in dire need of both.’

I’d observed no such thing but didn’t argue. I wanted to keep my job, because work meant money. And money meant going home as soon as possible. Though to my mind, Master Ellis had seemed as cheery a soul as anyone could be who’d recently lost their mother and a sizeable back tooth.

On arriving at Master Ellis’s bedchamber I found him already up, dressed and in surprisingly good fettle.

‘Ah, Fortune! Glad to see you!’ he beamed.

I couldn’t take my eyes off his outfit. ‘You look …’ I fumbled for the right word, ‘… recovered, master.’

He was wearing a yellow brocade doublet over scarlet hose, topped off with a sky-blue cap in which waved a ridiculously large feather. I’d never seen so many colours all together, all at once, not even in a church window.

Beneath the smiles and brightness, Master Ellis still looked pale. Yet he was buzzing with energy, rushing about the room, gathering things and humming under his breath. Being used to the sight of farm workers’ forearms, I recognised good muscles when I saw them. And Master Ellis might be small, but his shoulders, thighs, calves, were packed with strength, which made Mr Spicer’s comments seem way off the mark.

‘I’m sorry for asking again, master,’ I said, for the matter was perplexing me. ‘But this manly business your father speaks of. What do you suppose he has in mind?’

Master Ellis laughed drily, gesturing at his outfit. ‘Not this, that’s for certain.’

‘But he wants you to be strong and healthy, and to me, you already seem both,’ I pointed out.

He folded his arms, looked at me, head on one side like a curious dog.

‘You’re very direct,’ he said. ‘And I like you for it.’

‘Your father wants to change you though, doesn’t he?’ I pressed. ‘Only it seems to me there’s lots of ways of being a man. Take my brother – he’s all legs and arms, like a great bony bird, but he’s honest and good—’

Master Ellis stopped me with his hand.

‘I want to show you something. Carry that, will you?’ He pointed to a basket, brimful of what appeared to be ropes and cushions. ‘We’re going down to the beach.’

This pleased me no end.

‘Oh, I do so love the sea! Our shoreline back home is my favourite place in the world!’ I gushed. Then, remembering to add, ‘Very good, master,’ I took hold of the basket. It was far heavier than it looked, and chimed like a clock when I tried to hoist it off the ground. Really, it needed two people to carry it, but Master Ellis was already out of the door.

Susannah joined us at the head of the stairs. The baby was with her again, arching its back and shrieking to be put down. Susannah looked tired.

‘You’re taking Fortune along?’ she asked, surprised. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Quite sure. I believe my new servant understands me very well,’ Master Ellis replied, smiling at me.

I smiled back, not sure I did understand, not totally. Yet what I did see was how bright he was, how full of life, and that his father was trying to snuff him out like a guttering candle.

‘We’d better come with you,’ Susannah said, turning to the baby. ‘Hadn’t we, Bea?’

Which I took to mean she didn’t yet trust me.

*

I had it in my mind that the beach lay on the far side of the woods. But instead of heading for the garden, Master Ellis stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The baby was no longer crying, thankfully. It was as if she sensed where we were going.

‘In here, quick!’ Master Ellis said, and pulled me through a doorway. Susannah followed as we went down more stairs into a cellar. On the bottom step Master Ellis took another lantern from its hook, lighting it with flint and tinder from his pocket. He beckoned us to the far corner of the cellar, where between us we moved aside a table. Underneath it, set in the floor, was a trapdoor. I felt a stir of excitement.

‘Take this,’ Master Ellis said, meaning one of the door’s rope handles. The other he gave to Susannah, who wrapped it round her wrist.

Putting down the basket, I grasped the rope. Together, on the count of three, we heaved the door, which was as heavy as a slab of stone. As the trapdoor creaked open, I caught a waft of salt and seaweed, a smell as familiar to me as home. Bea seemed to know the smell too, and squealed in delight.

‘Stay close behind us,’ Susannah instructed. ‘And stop grinning like an idiot, Fortune. You’ll need to watch where you put your feet.’

Master Ellis went first, then Susannah with the baby. We climbed down one ladder, then another longer one. It was tricky-going. The wooden rungs were slippery and I had to hold on for dear life with one hand, the basket in the other, in danger of dropping everything. Susannah’s head was just below my feet, and beyond that Master Ellis’s lantern, making little impression on the darkness. It got blacker and damper the deeper we went, until finally the lantern stopped moving. We’d reached the bottom.

We were in a long narrow cave with walls that were solid black rock and so wet with running water they glinted. About two hundred yards up ahead was a keyhole of brightness. I could even now hear the shush of the sea.

‘One small thing.’ Master Ellis shone the lantern at my face, making me blink. ‘You’re not to mention we’ve been here. Father won’t approve.’

‘If anyone asks, we’ve been to the woods,’ Susannah added.

I wanted to ask why, but felt her eyes on me, daring me to break the fragile trust her brother seemed to be offering.

‘Very good,’ I answered, and meant it. The truth was, the more I heard of Mr Spicer, the more I warmed to his son. Anyone who loved the beach was decent in my book.

As we burst out into daylight, I breathed in great lungfuls of salty air. The effect was immediate: my head cleared, my shoulders relaxed. The benefits of fresh air were one thing Mr Spicer and I could agree on.

And fresh it was – a bitter cold northerly breeze that quickly numbed my face. The heavy sky made everything look grey: the beach, the grass in the dunes, the sea. Our little cove back home shared this same stretch of coastline, yet the view felt strikingly different. Unlike ours the beach was long and flat, and with the sky up above and the ocean out in front it felt as if we’d all the space in the world.

Beside me, Master Ellis started stretching his arms above his head.

‘Just look at that sea,’ I murmured as much to myself as to him.

The tide was starting to come in, the waves the gentle, lacy-edged kind that made a lapping sound when they touched the beach.

‘Are you going to begin, Ellis?’ Susannah called. She’d spread out her skirts to sit at the bottom of the sand dunes. Bea, now free of her wrappings, was on her knee, twisting her hands through Susannah’s hair.

With a quick glance back at the house, Master Ellis gestured for me to put down the basket, which I did gladly.

‘This is a decent spot, do you see?’ he said.

From here all that was visible of the house was its garden wall that ran along the top of the beach like a castle’s ramparts. The spot Ellis had chosen was almost directly beneath, so anyone at Berrow Hall looking out of a window would only see beyond us.

Master Ellis flung his hat down on the sand. He started unbuttoning his doublet, excited and maybe nervous in equal measure.

‘I’m afraid I have something else to ask of you,’ he said.

‘What is it?’ I wasn’t sure where to look, what with him shedding his clothes, so kept my eyes on the sea.

‘First, I’d rather you addressed me by my name.’

‘I already do, Master Ellis.’

‘Ellis, please. My second request involves you keeping another secret, and I think you’ll find that easier to do if we’re friends.’

‘But I’m your servant,’ I said, rather surprised.

‘Indeed, and I suspect you’re one of the most honest people in this household.’

I glanced nervously at Susannah, who probably wouldn’t agree. I wasn’t sure I would, either, standing here in my boy’s clothes.

‘Yes, master – I mean, Ellis,’ I stuttered.

‘Good. I find the qualities of friend and servant often overlap.’

I wasn’t an expert in either, so bit my lip.

Ellis, meanwhile, was rummaging deep in the basket, cushions, rope, jugglers’ balls all spilling out on to the sand. When he found what he was looking for, he held it up for me to see. It was silky, brightly coloured. The sort of costume an acrobat would wear.

‘We come here as often as possible so I can practise,’ he explained. ‘One day, when I’m good enough, I’m going to be a performer in a theatre troupe, or an entertainer, a player. That, my friend, is my lifelong dream.’

‘And he’s brilliant,’ Susannah chipped in. ‘Now you’ve shared your secret, Ellis, you might as well show Fortune a few tricks.’

In a blink, Master Ellis had swapped his doublet for the acrobat’s vest. Gesturing for me to stand back, he stood, feet apart, then slowly widened his legs until he dropped to the ground. It looked painful, seeing them split apart like that.

Ellis laughed at me. ‘Look at your face!’

But I’d never seen anyone do such a thing before. Next, he was up on his hands, curling his legs right over his head so his toes almost touched his nose. It was incredible. He kept stretching till his feet hit the sand again. Then he crawled like a crab over to Susannah, who was grinning from ear to ear. So was Bea.

A quick backflip. A gracious bow. And Master Ellis stood before me, pink in the face and sparkling.

I was, for once, speechless.

‘No one else knows what I do,’ Master Ellis warned me. ‘My father would disown me if he ever found out.’

‘I bet he would!’ I agreed, for this Ellis – the acrobat, the performer – was worlds away from the son his father was planning a future for. I couldn’t help imagining the look on Mr Spicer’s face if he ever did find out.

‘Can you keep the secret?’ Master Ellis asked. ‘You look as if you might.’

Instantly, I was wary. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘I’ll be honest.’ He glanced at his sister. ‘Susannah is convinced you’re not a proper boy.’

I tried to laugh. ‘Bet she says that to all the skinny ones.’

‘Just the ones who are girls.’

‘Oh.’

I dug at the sand with my foot. There was no point denying what they’d already guessed, though I felt bad for not confessing earlier, and worried they’d have to tell Mr Spicer. So it was a relief when all Ellis did was hold out his hand for me to shake.

‘Seems we’ve both got things to hide,’ he said. ‘Come, can you keep a secret?’

‘Can you?’ I asked in reply.

Susannah, baby on hip, crossed the sand to join us.

‘Look at us all,’ she said, rather fiercely. ‘None of us is exactly normal – Ellis, in your bright clothes; you, Fortune, a girl who passes for a boy; and me, well, I don’t feel like a proper young lady, even though I try.’

She didn’t seem like one, either, now I dared to study her properly. Certainly, she wasn’t easy to warm to like her brother: if he was sunshine, she was dark, heavy skies. Yet maybe all that temper and scowling was her disguise, and beneath her prim face and expensive grey frock was a different Susannah Spicer.

I didn’t know. And she certainly gave very little away. But after our conversation on the beach, I watched out for that girl, so that when she did appear, I’d be ready.