15

IN MY DREAMS, THE church bells were ringing, and when I woke up, they truly were, demanding our attendance for the worship of God, who cared so little for us. They hammered through my head with a toneless clang, holding none of the charm of St Paul’s.

Ten minutes after I’d woken up, Peregrine barged through my door with a tray. ‘Mrs Mackay’s done you fried eggs.’

I remained underneath my covers with only my face poking out.

‘Thank you, that’s very kind of her.’

‘I heard there was a raid on the club last night,’ he said. ‘Those poor boys. I wish I’d stayed. I might have been able to help them. Did you get caught up in it?’

‘Not really.’

I should probably have left it at that. But to omit the truth was self-serving and wrong. He was my friend and I had to tell him what I’d done.

‘It was my fault, Peregrine. I broke my promise to you. I needed a favour from Dorling, and he already knew everything anyway, and I thought it wouldn’t make any difference. I told him about Papaver.’

Peregrine looked at me squarely. For all his jovial flamboyance, he could be as stern as a judge. ‘What favour?’

‘It doesn’t matter. Rosie said Dorling would have to take action because I was a journalist, and he wouldn’t have any choice. And she was right.’

Peregrine said nothing for several seconds and then closed his eyes. ‘That’s why you were keen for me not to stay last night.’

‘Yes. I didn’t want you involved.’

‘I see.’

I had expected him to shout and stamp and call me every name he could think of. I had expected him to fling Shakespeare at me and leave in a spectacular fury, and then come back and fling some more. This calm self-possession was new to me, and quite terrifying.

‘Was it revenge for my telling Miss Morgan about you?’

‘No, of course not—’

‘Because if so, it was a pretty poor show.’ He lowered himself on to the bed, stiff and upright like a man with back pain. ‘There are few enough places where we can be ourselves.’

‘I know. And I’m sorry.’

‘You always think you know best, Leo. You take charge and everyone has to accommodate whatever it is that you decide. Rosie, Jacob, me, we all have to play to your rules, right or wrong.’ He looked away from me. ‘Quite frankly, I’ve had enough of it.’

‘Do you want me to leave?’

‘It might be for the best, yes.’

He stood up and left the room.

I pulled on my clothes, gathered my essentials into my hessian tater sack and headed down the stairs, feeling as awful as I could remember. Peregrine was my friend and I had hurt him. I couldn’t bear the thought of it. And he was correct; I had chosen my own judgement over my promise to him. And my judgement had been wrong. Even had it been right, that still didn’t justify my actions. A promise was a promise.

Sometimes, I got so focused on one thing, I couldn’t see anything else. My only thought was to tell Rosie about it. She always knew what to do.

As I left the lodging, I caught sight of Mrs Mackay in the parlour, helping a portly gentleman on to the half-horse.

‘Did you enjoy the eggs?’ she called out.

‘No, I’m sorry … I’m not feeling very hungry.’

When I reached Viola’s house, the front door was wide open and Jack-the-bloody-dog was barking furiously.

‘Rosie?’ I called. ‘Are you here?’

Viola appeared from the parlour and rushed towards me, her face red.

‘Have you seen them? Are they with you?’

‘Who?’

She took the lapels of my jacket in her fists.

‘Bill and Roisin, of course. They’ve disappeared.’

‘What?’

I could feel a coldness rushing up from my feet.

Viola let go of me, struggling to avoid tears. ‘I hoped they were with you. But if not … oh, God. What could have happened?’

‘When did you last see them?’

‘I asked the spirits, Leo. I asked them where my sister and husband have gone. But they wouldn’t tell me. They’ve fallen silent.’

‘Listen.’ I took her shoulders and looked into her eyes, uncannily like Rosie’s though they were nothing alike in temperament. ‘Mr Broadman left the house shortly after me last night. What about Rosie? When did she leave?’

Viola seemed to be disintegrating. ‘It’s not my fault. I was worried about Bill. You rushed out and then he did. I didn’t know where he’d gone. Roisin was doing her knitting and she jumped up and said she could guess exactly where he was, and off she went as well. I tried to stop her, but you know how she is.’

The coldness in my veins expanded into my stomach, as if I’d drunk from a tap in winter.

‘Viola, did you go to the club last night? Answer me honestly.’

‘No, I didn’t go anywhere. I waited at home for them. What club? What do you mean?’

I felt a tension across my chest as if my binding was contracting, trying to squeeze me in two.

It wasn’t Viola I’d seen outside the club: it was Rosie. And she hadn’t returned home, which meant she’d been arrested by the police.

While I’d been kissing Alice, Rosie had been in jail.

‘I know where they are. I have to go right now.’

‘Please, Leo.’ She sagged, her hands reaching out as if she might collapse on me in tears. ‘Everyone keeps going away and they don’t come back.’

‘I will. I’ll bring them home.’

I was about to leave when two faces appeared from round the parlour door: Lillian and Sam.

Viola leaned down to speak to them. ‘You have to go with Mr Stanhope now.’

I shook my head. ‘No, please, Viola. Look after them for a little longer.’

She wrapped her arms around herself, her eyes darting from side to side as if a hornet had found its way in.

‘They can’t stay here, Leo, not now. The spirits are confused by their presence. Ever since I became pregnant, they’ve spoken to me as clear as a bell, but now, when I need them most, complete silence. It’s the children distracting them, I’m sure of it. I can’t think of another explanation.’

I rubbed my forehead with my palm, feeling a headache starting to form above my left eye.

‘I can’t take them with me.’

‘Of course you can. You must. Once they’re out of here, the spirits will talk to me again. They’ll know where Bill and Roisin have gone.’

Her tone suggested I was an idiot for arguing. Perhaps I was. The only way I would win this was by telling her the truth about her séances, and that seemed cruel – and unlikely to work. Anyone who believed such nonsense wouldn’t be swayed by mere facts.

‘Very well. Lillian and Sam, get your coats and shoes on. Viola, you’ll have to lend me some money. Rosie can repay you when she gets back.’

Getting them ready took an age. Sam couldn’t find one of his shoes and Lillian was determined to bring her book and gloves, and ribbon, and Lord knew what else, each time returning to the back room and promising she’d only be a minute.

By the time we left, I was shaking with exasperation. I couldn’t bear the thought of Rosie in a jail cell. I knew exactly how she would react to incarceration. She would take her fury and fashion it into armour. She wouldn’t sleep at night or even lie down. She would be rigidly polite and endlessly patient. And she wouldn’t despair because she would know that I was coming for her.

By the time I’d found a cab, the bells were ringing for one o’clock and Sam was starting to grizzle.

‘He’s hungry,’ said Lillian. ‘We didn’t get breakfast. Auntie Viola said we were a barrier to the spirits and made us sit in the yard.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Your aunt’s a good woman, but she thinks some things which aren’t true.’

‘Where are we going?’

‘To the police station to get your mother out.’ It struck me that I could have phrased that more delicately. ‘A mistake has been made.’

Sam’s grizzles became louder as we bounced along. My usual trick of putting him on my lap and distracting him with a set of keys didn’t work, and even his favourite game of who-can-spot-a-doggie, failed to interrupt the flow. By the time we reached the police station, he was red-faced and covered in mucus. We certainly made a strange rescue party.

The driver gave me my change.

‘Discipline,’ he said. ‘That’s what they need. Otherwise, they turn into devils, the lot of ’em. Couple of whacks with a paddle and he’ll be right as rain.’

I didn’t give him a tip. Nor did I explain that their father had begun hitting Sam when he was a babe in arms and had once hit Lillian so hard with a bottle, she’d suffered a concussion. Rosie told me how she ran through the streets, cradling her daughter in her arms, believing she was dead. I couldn’t imagine the pain of that, nor the relief when the child opened her eyes.

All the tea shops were shut, but I spotted a muffin stall along the road and paid fourpence for two; extortion, perhaps, but it was a seller’s market.

Truly, I didn’t know how anyone could look after kids and get anything else done at the same time.

It must have been half past one at the earliest when we climbed up the steps and entered the police station. The clerk told us he didn’t have anyone named Rosie Stanhope in the cells, but he would make further enquiries.

We waited in the foyer with a young wife who was hoping her husband would be freed soon. He was an assistant at the customs house, she told me, and a good man, though he hadn’t taken well to fatherhood. But he would adapt in time, she was sure of it. She had no idea why he’d been arrested. Most likely drunkenness or some ridiculous jape like stealing a bicycle. I listened quietly, hearing the anxiety beneath her garrulousness. Eventually, the clerk summoned her to the desk and explained that her husband would be released shortly.

‘But what did he do?’ she asked.

‘Good question, ma’am. A bit of a kerfuffle last night. Some arrests were made in error. Him and some of his friends were acting in a play, apparently.’

‘A play?’ She blinked several times. ‘What play?’

‘It was Little Women, so I’m told. He’s the last of ’em to be released.’

‘Why would he … I don’t understand.’ She looked utterly confused. ‘And isn’t Little Women a novel?’

‘I couldn’t say, ma’am. I’m not much for these things.’

When her husband appeared, he still had the remains of powder on his face, though it didn’t disguise his bruised cheek and fat lip. I caught his eye, and he looked away. His wife was in tears as they left.

Sam, who had been playing on the floor with Lillian, came and sat next to me on the bench, fidgeting and picking at the leather despite my entreaties to stop. After ten minutes, he put his head on my lap and was soon snoring gently.

At half past two, the clerk approached me.

‘I’ve worked it out,’ he said. ‘People give false names, you see. Your wife said her surname was Flowers, not Stanhope. She was brought in last night with the others. The sergeant said to take anyone in a dress and not assume they were a real woman just ’cause they looked like one.’

I closed my eyes and took a breath.

‘Is she here?’

‘No, we’ve let her go already. Soon after lunch, it was.’

At least she was safely out of the cells.

‘And what about Bill Broadman? He’s shorter than me, Welsh, red in the face.’

‘Yeah, we brought him in too. We know that one of old. Always mixed up in something. Never thought of ’im as the type who’d be in a place like that though.’

I gave the clerk my most genial smile, the one Rosie said made me look like a jack-o’-lantern carved by a ten-year-old. ‘I can vouch for Mr Broadman. It was me who told Sergeant Dorling about Papaver. Mr Broadman was doing undercover work on my behalf. He hasn’t committed any crime, I assure you.’

The clerk went away to confer with his superiors, and we had to wait a further twenty minutes until he returned, this time with Bill, who didn’t seem at all contrite.

‘Leo,’ he said. ‘I’m surprised you came, if I’m honest. You’re a life-saver.’

‘Mrs Broadman is worried about you. I promised to bring you home.’

‘Well, that’s wonderful, isn’t it? You know Rosie’s here too, don’t you?’

‘They’ve released her already.’

He slapped me on the back. ‘Perhaps now you’ll be less inclined to lecture me about marriage, eh? I may have my faults, but I’ve never abandoned my wife to a jail overnight.’

Lillian looked up sharply.

‘I didn’t abandon her,’ I insisted. ‘I didn’t know she was here.’

As we were leaving, the clerk caught my sleeve. ‘He’s a nasty piece of work, that one. You should watch ’im.’

I could believe it. And yet, without Bill, the events at the club might have turned out far worse.

Bill seemed in a good mood as we walked back. He hoisted Sam on to his shoulders and capered down the pavement, kicking up his heels and making wild circles, as if he was about to topple over, while Sam giggled, and Lillian clutched hard at my hand.

They ran into the house together and I heard Jack-the-bloody-dog barking, followed by Viola’s delighted cry. I could picture her throwing her arms around her husband.

I walked up the path with my hands in my pockets.

In the hall, Viola gave me a look of such gratitude I feared she would attempt to kiss my cheek. I kept my distance.

‘Where’s Rosie?’ I asked.

Her face fell. ‘She’s in there. She got back an hour ago. I’m afraid she’s not very happy.’

Rosie was sitting on her mattress with Lillian.

‘Is Sam all right?’ she asked.

‘Of course. I’m sorry, Rosie. I didn’t realise you’d come to the club. I’d never have let them take you if I’d known.’

She nodded to Lillian, who gave me such a look as she left that a shiver ran through me.

Rosie’s own expression was unreadable. Her face seemed slack, devoid of all thoughts and feelings.

‘I saw you,’ she said, in a flat voice. ‘You were coming out. I called to you, but you were too far away, and the police took me.’

‘I didn’t hear. I’m sorry.’

I went to sit next to her, but she flinched away as if I was a stranger.

No, no, I wanted to say, I’d never do anything to hurt you. Meet my eye and you’ll see that I’m still your Leo. Nothing’s changed.

‘Did the police mistreat you?’

She shook her head and spoke without inflection, as though she were talking about a trip to the market. ‘A constable told me to get in the cart with those other poor souls. They stuck us in the cells overnight, but they couldn’t prove anything, so they let us all out. I’m tired, that’s all.’

I wanted desperately to protect her, but what if the thing she needed protecting from was me?

‘All right. You should get some sleep.’

Finally, she raised her eyes to mine. ‘You were leaving with a woman. Holding hands. I saw you.’

I felt my face flushing pink. ‘She was scared, that’s all. I hardly know her. What was I supposed to do?’

Rosie gave a little laugh, but there was no humour in it. ‘You looked back, and I’m certain you saw me. I thought to myself: “Now, Leo will find a way to free me. He always finds a way.” But you didn’t.’

‘Rosie, it was hectic, and I thought … ’

My sentence petered out. What could I say? That I had thought she was Viola? Suddenly, it didn’t seem like a very good excuse.

‘I thought our marriage, our arrangement, would be simple, Leo. I thought we’d be friends, you and me. No fuss and no pain. But I suppose it’s never like that, is it?’ She stood up. ‘I’m going back to London tomorrow with Lillian and Sam.’

‘We’ll go together.’

She took my hand and pressed something into it. ‘No. I need time to myself.’

‘Rosie, please. I would never … ’

‘Don’t,’ she said.

She left the room and closed the door behind her.

When I opened my palm, it contained her pinchbeck wedding ring.