The past week had passed in the slowest manner possible. Amanda had convinced the family to travel to an estate outside of Manchester to visit her Aunt Elda. Once there, all that remained to do was wait. But now, on the eve of the event, finally, Amanda sat ready to leave for St. Peter’s Fields. She and Molly had packed a satchel, which she kept under her bed, full of appropriate clothing. Amanda’s heart pounded at the thought that she would be there, amongst all those people, dressed as a commoner even.
The thought of hearing Henry Hunt again excited her the most. She wondered if he knew the influence he could have on a person. He had made all the difference in her life, and she would have paid any price to hear him speak again. Now the moment would soon be upon her.
Amanda’s hands drummed on her dressing table as she waited for Molly to come. She had arisen earlier than usual, unable to sleep any longer.
Finally, Molly came in, flustered. “Oh! You are awake. I am sorry, my lady. I was so busy, rushing about, and thinking about my parents . . .”
“It’s just fine, Molly, of course. I have been using the time to become more and more thrilled that your family will be here today.”
“I am so grateful to you, my lady. I don’t know what we would have done.”
Amanda stood and embraced her. “I am so happy my father could help. What is the news?”
Molly waved her hands. “Your father wrote a letter of reference for mine, and he has been offered a position here in town! Not three streets over!”
Amanda jumped. “Oh, that’s wonderful!” Amanda held Molly’s hands in her own. “Everything is working out so wonderfully for you, Molly—for us both! Tomorrow might well be the most glorious day of my life so far.”
She sat again, and Molly began brushing her hair.
“To think that we will be there with people who think like us. And perhaps we will make a difference.” Amanda almost didn’t dare hope.
Molly nodded, humming to herself and separating sections of Amanda’s hair.
“And even Red himself will be there,” Amanda continued.
Molly smiled at her. “I would imagine so, seeing as how he planned the whole thing.”
Amanda turned to face her friend. “I admit to being quite taken with the mystery of Red. I find I very much want to meet this man.” She blushed in anticipation.
Molly began rolling pieces of Amanda’s hair around her fingers and pinning them on top of her head. Her forehead creased the tiniest bit. “Did you think to invite Lord Nathaniel?”
Amanda sighed and looked at her hands. “For a moment, I considered it. But it’s not necessary. He has undoubtedly seen the fliers, and I saw him holding The Manchester Guardian as he left Whites, so surely he knows.”
“Yes, my lady, but an invitation from you . . .”
Amanda frowned. “I admit to thinking of it, but no, I cannot. I’m going in costume, after all, and I just really think he wouldn’t want to go. I told you what he said about my fliers.”
The crease in Molly’s forehead deepened. “Yes, you told me, but it just doesn’t sound like him, not from what Charlie tells me. He was worried about you, that’s all. I think he’s more amenable to this whole idea than you realize.”
Her heart pounded with hope at the thought, but Amanda huffed. “Charlie has become a Nathaniel worshipper. He is altogether too biased.” She smiled up at Molly. “You know, Charlie will be there, I am certain.”
Molly blushed. “Yes, he said he would be.”
Amanda watched her, smiling. That would be a wonderful match if it ever came to fruition. “Molly, you must take the day off today. Meet your parents in town, go to their new place.”
Molly finished pinning up the last few strands of Amanda’s hair and said, “I do think I might, if you’re sure. Mrs. Gibbons said it would be all right.”
Amanda nodded. “You must!”
Molly smiled. “I’m most grateful to you. Now, let’s get you in your prettiest day dress, shall we?”
Amanda nodded, and the two of them talked of Molly’s family and where they would be living and how excited Molly was to see her younger brothers, until it was time for Molly to leave.
After saying goodbye and ensuring that Molly left with a basket of food for her family, Amanda walked aimlessly about the house. After strolling by the morning room for the third time, her mother called her in, “Amanda, my dear. Why don’t you go for a walk? Get out of the house and enjoy the fresh air.”
Amanda smiled. “Is it obvious I am so restless?”
Her mother stood to embrace her. “I cannot concentrate for wondering when you might walk by again. Now go. Enjoy the day.” She gently pushed her to the door.
Amanda went in search of her pelisse. Parsons assigned Thomas to follow her as soon as she made her intentions known. She sighed. “But I am only going for a bit of a stroll. Surely I will be just fine.”
The butler only said, “Hmm,” and summoned Thomas anyway to join them immediately at the front door.
Amanda nodded in acquiescence. She did not want someone in the house to have any reason to hinder her activities tomorrow. She turned to Thomas. “Come, good sir, let us go make merry out of doors, shall we?”
Thomas tried to contain his grin but, giving up, said, “Yes, my lady, make merry.” He swallowed a laugh, cleared his throat, and waited for her to lead the way, schooling his features into a stoic expression.
Pleased with herself, Amanda stepped out the front door and into the sunshine. She breathed deeply, and contentment entered her heart. The birds were calling, flying, and searching for food in the dirt.
Movement behind the trees across the street on the edges of the park attracted her eyes. She looked closer and watched for a moment. Someone lurked in the cover of the copse of trees. She walked closer on her side of the street, squinting to get a better view of the fellow. And as soon as she recognized him, she stood still in amazement.
There, on the other side of the street was none other than Charlie. She almost called out to him when Thomas rested a hand on her arm. “Forgive me. Look, my lady.”
Amanda, surprised at Thomas’s boldness, looked closer and saw that Charlie was looking in all directions and reaching down into the bushes. Whatever he was doing, he hoped to remain undiscovered. After another moment, he left the trees and began walking rapidly down the street away from them.
“Oh, we must follow,” Amanda said in excitement and walked as quickly as she could in the same direction, though on her side of the street.
Charlie seemed to be full of urgency this morning. She was almost at a run, trying to keep a reasonable pace behind his longer legs. Soon he crossed over to her side of the street and turned briskly down a side alley to the right. Amanda picked up her skirts a couple of inches and ran to catch up, hoping not to lose him on the next turn. As she rounded the corner, he turned down another street to the left. Her breathing coming hard, she was grateful to see Charlie open a door and enter into what might be a flat on the right.
Amanda looked up and down the street. She couldn’t see anyone but Thomas, but when she stepped out away from the corner, she nearly collided with a gentleman who was making his way in the same rapid pace Charlie had been.
He said, “Oh, pardon me.” He tipped his hat to her before hurrying past and entering through the same door. She glanced up and down the street again and hurried after him.
She felt a hand gently at her elbow. “Where are you going?” Thomas stared at her with suspicion.
She floundered for a moment, not sure what would appease him and then gave up. “I am following Charlie and that other man through that door. Something is going on and I want to know what.” She raised her eyebrows in a challenge to Thomas.
He searched her face for a moment and then shrugged. “After you, my lady.”
Amanda did not want Thomas following her anywhere, but she did not see any other way to be able to enter that door. She hurried across the alley and pushed the door open.
After the sun outside, Amanda saw only darkness for a moment. Voices sounded from somewhere at the end of the hall, which turned to the right and opened up into a great room filled with chairs and, to her surprise, people. The chairs were mostly occupied by men, but interspersed were groups of women in twos and threes. And behind the chairs, others were standing.
She and Thomas moved quietly behind the backs of many in the room and over to the far-right corner, hopefully unseen by most. As she felt the wall with her back, she leaned against it, feeling strangely reassured by its strength and solid coolness.
Thomas stood next to her, arms crossed, surveying the room. “Lots of noblemen in here.” He nodded toward a few Amanda knew.
She shrank deeper into her corner, Thomas instinctively moving to shield her. He continued. “Not just nobles, though. Many the likes of Charlie and myself as well.”
Amanda was about to protest that no one was the likes of anyone when she saw him grin. She folded her arms and nodded, acknowledging his teasing.
He understood her better than she realized.
The room became very quiet. Her breath caught when Charlie stood to address them.
Thomas turned to her with raised eyebrows.
Charlie said, “Thank you for coming on such late notice. I know you are all very busy preparing for tomorrow.”
Triumph filled her. Amanda quickly scanned the group. If they were preparing for tomorrow, these must be the Liberty Seekers. Her heart beat in excitement. She had found them at last. Her neck craned around Thomas, looking for anyone she knew, hoping to memorize faces so she could find them again.
Charlie continued. “We have received some alarming news. It is going to require quick action on our parts, but I am sure we can divert a disaster.” The crowd rumbled in concern. Amanda leaned forward, trying to make out Charlie’s expression. She was too far back to see it clearly.
He said, “Our last correspondence to Henry Hunt has been intercepted and copied by one of Bender’s men.”
The crowd’s noise grew.
A man standing next to Charlie shouted, “Quiet, please. We must move with all haste on this.”
The crowd went still and Charlie read the details from his own copy of the original correspondence, a letter signed by one Joseph Johnson:
“Nothing but ruin and starvation stare one in the face [in the streets of Manchester and the surrounding towns], the state of this district is truly dreadful, and I believe nothing but the greatest exertions can prevent an insurrection. Oh, that you in London were prepared for it.”
The crowd gasped collectively.
Charlie continued. “I see you grasp the implications of this. We were not in any way suggesting a revolt. To be sure, the opposite has been all that we have strived for. We all agree that only the most organized and peaceful of demonstrations will have the power to sway any opinion our way.”
The crowd nodded, but Amanda could tell Charlie had more to say.
“However, this note has fallen into exactly the wrong hands, and at this moment, the magistrate is preparing for an armed revolt tomorrow in St. Peter’s Fields. Because of Bender’s loyal followers, who may stir up trouble, the magistrate considers our meeting to be, in many ways, too great a threat.”
The crowd erupted in conversation, many shouting from the back.
“We must give up.”
“Let us go home now.”
Charlie held up his hands, and they quieted. “We are doing our best to relieve the magistrate of his concerns. Red is at this moment doing all he can to calm alarmed feelings up and down the ranks of law enforcement. But in the meantime, we feel it wise to postpone our demonstration at St. Peter’s Fields.”
Some in the crowd grumbled, but most nodded their heads in agreement.
“Right dangerous, now,” someone said.
Amanda was surprised to hear a woman closer to the front call out, “What if we just give it one week? We are all gathered and prepared. If we meet next week, August 16, wouldn’t that be an effective delay, as effective as any other?”
Charlie consulted with the men closest to him while Amanda strained her neck to see who had spoken. She could not see her face, only that she appeared to be a sensibly dressed younger woman with fiery red hair. Amanda liked the looks of that hair. Her eyes shifted to the right, and she was surprised to see Mirabel Tanner staring back at her with a big grin. Amanda blinked in recognition and then very subtly waved her hand. Miss Tanner nodded at her and turned back to the stage.
Charlie stepped forward. “We agree with you. We propose a delay of only one week’s time for our demonstration. All in favor, say, ‘Aye’.”
“Aye,” resounded around the room.
“Any opposed?”
One large man to the right of Amanda and a few paces to the front of her shouted, “Nay!”
Charlie looked toward the back of the room, and Amanda positioned herself out of his line of sight. “And what is the nature of your disapproval? Pray tell us, so we may consider.”
“How do we spread the news? What of the people here in Manchester and all over England? It’s not just the Liberty Seekers we have told, is it? The papers have been mentioning it. We have fliers about. How do we tell all these people about the change of date? And moreover, how can we warn them not to step foot in that square? No sense getting arrested for not protesting.”
A few people around him chuckled, but his point drove itself home.
Amanda closed her eyes to concentrate. How indeed could they get the word out? People all over the room began to chatter, weighing the options. Amanda opened her eyes in a moment of perfect clarity. She could fix this. She grabbed Thomas’s arm and moved toward the door. Sensing her urgency, he escorted her quickly, and in all the bustle, no one seemed to notice them, except one. As Amanda glanced over her shoulder toward the front of the room, Charlie’s eyes followed her. He nodded his head.
She turned back toward the hallway to the door, allowing herself to be led by Thomas out into the fresh summer air once again. “We must hurry,” she said, looking at Thomas fully in the face. “I must get to the printer’s shop right away. We don’t have time for me to explain, but this is an errand of the most serious nature. Can I count on your help?”
Thomas made direct eye contact. She realized she had never seen the color of Thomas’s brown eyes before. But he was looking at her now, intently and with great respect.
“Lady Amanda. If you mean to go about helping that group, I will do whatever I can.”
“Oh, thank you, Thomas. They are the best of people, with good intentions. I promise we will be about doing good today and probably into the night. I must warn you it could take all our sleeping hours.”
Thomas nodded. “Very good, my lady. Shall I find us a hack?”
Amanda nodded. “Straightaway, Thomas.”
Soon they were arriving in front of the printer’s shop where Mr. Taylor ran the operations for The Manchester Guardian. She rushed through the door, looking around in urgency for Mr. Taylor. “Oh, where is that man?” She called, “Mr. Taylor?” She breathed out in relief as she saw a man exiting from the back room, wiping ink off his hands onto an ink-filled handkerchief that he placed in the pocket of an ink-covered apron. The man was a walking ink stain. Even his cheek had a stray mark of black ink. She didn’t have the heart to tell him. Besides, they had no time.
“Oh, you must be Mr. Taylor. I am so glad you are here. We work with the Sparrow, and we are having a bit of an emergency.” She proceeded to tell him what she had learned at the meeting and what they now needed. Mr. Taylor nodded every time she paused for breath.
And when she had told all, he said simply, “Let’s get to work.” He waved for her and Thomas to follow him into the back. “I will need your assistance to help set the type. Have you thought of a specific message?”
Amanda looked at Thomas, a bit embarrassed. “No, not yet. I am afraid we simply just rushed here.”
Mr. Taylor nodded. “Think of the simplest way to say what you need, with the fewest words.”
Amanda grabbed a quill and dipped it in ink. After several minutes of writing, scratching out words, and starting again, she felt satisfied.
Meeting Aug 9 cancelled. Danger there. Avoid. Please come in peace Aug 16, St. Peter’s Fields.
She showed Mr. Taylor, who grunted and nodded. “Now, please sort the letters required and place them here on the setter, as if you are reading them backwards.”
Amanda paused and stared at him for a moment, processing his instructions. She took a deep breath and then started pulling letters out of their boxes.
When she was sure they were all lined up in their proper places, including punctuation, Mr. Taylor sent her to a back storeroom to collect large sheets of paper. He finished tightening the frame and preparing their type for the ink. When she returned, he used what looked like a large ball of linen to dip in ink and dab onto each of the letters, covering them in black.
Amanda was so fascinated by the process she did not hear Thomas at first. He cleared his throat. “Lady Amanda.”
She turned to him in surprise. “Yes, Thomas?”
“I was thinking, my lady, maybe we should talk about delivery? If you don’t mind my asking, how will we go about getting these fliers to the right people? Should we post them about in public places as well?”
Amanda paused. She hoped Thomas would still want to help when she told him she didn’t really know. Maybe they would have to do it all themselves. “Thomas, it might be a long night.”
While they were there, Mr. Taylor called in his apprentice to help him and a few friends besides to finish the printing. He assured Amanda that all the fliers they needed would be ready and at her back door this evening.
Now, four hours after she had entered the print shop, almost unable to stand on her own feet any longer, Amanda climbed out of her second paid hackney coach of the day and, trembling a bit while leaning on Thomas’s arm, she stepped out and onto the steps in front of her home.
“Please help me watch for the delivery of the fliers this evening, Thomas. I must know as soon as they get here.”
Thomas nodded. “Yes, my lady.” And then with his help, she walked up the stairs and through the door Parsons held open for her in concern. She must look a fright. She smiled at him in what she hoped was a reassuring way.
She’d had no idea how much work it was to set and ink the type, or lay out the papers and cut them for a print job. It was not much of a stretch to claim she was unwell and therefore must stay home from the evening’s activities.
Thomas had informed her that the fliers had arrived, so she waited until her parents’ carriage pulled away from the house before she rushed to the kitchen, where she found Thomas and a stack of papers coming in through the back door. He hefted them onto the table with a loud thunk.
Only when she saw the fliers did she realize what a daunting task lie ahead of her. She grabbed onto the back of a chair, fighting the urge to despair, fighting her body’s exhaustion.
Thomas eyed her with sympathy. Whatever he would have said was lost when the door burst open, allowing entrance to Molly and behind her a line of people, overflowing with conversation and laughter.
Amanda’s mouth opened in surprise. “Molly!” She ran to embrace her. “You are back! I am so happy to see you! You’ll never guess what I’m about.”
Molly laughed. “Oh, I have some idea, my lady.” She turned to the group who had entered the kitchen and crowded around behind her. “We all do. Let me introduce to you, Lady Amanda, my family.” And she swept her hands out to encompass the group of ten behind her.
Amanda smiled. “I am pleased to meet you all. Molly is one of my dearest friends.”
An older gentleman stepped forward and bowed to her. “I hear I am to thank you most of all for my new position. I am Molly’s father. And I am right proud she has a mistress such as you as her employer. I thank you.” He bowed again.
Touched, Amanda placed a hand on her heart.
Molly blushed and said, “We are here to help. Word got ’round to us what you were trying to do tonight all by yourself, and well, we just couldn’t let you do it alone.”
Amanda smiled. These were strangers, really, but they had all come to help. She bit her cheeks to stop herself from crying in front of them. She inhaled deeply and said, “I thank you all. Well, then, let’s get to work, shall we?”
The group nodded, and Thomas started handing out fliers and giving directions to each group of three.
Amanda watched in gratitude as the pile became smaller, and the neighborhoods covered became larger. Soon everyone was gone except for Molly, Thomas, and herself.
Thomas said, “We have a rather large stack for ourselves, but I gave us the closest locations. I just don’t think your father would be happy with any other—well, I don’t imagine he would be too happy with you doing any of this, would he?”
Amanda considered the question for a moment. “He definitely supports greater equality in London.” She sighed. “But to have me running all over in the dark, no, I don’t suppose he would like that at all.” Amanda shrugged. As much as she did not want to disappoint or upset her parents, this was simply the only option. Her fliers had announced tomorrow’s meeting in the first place, and she felt responsible to warn others of the danger. With that thought keeping her moving, they followed where the others had gone, out the back door and into the night.
Molly said, “Most of the others had horses, and we brought a cart as well. We will all be done in no time.”
Amanda wrapped her free arm around Molly’s back. “You are a miracle, Molly. An angel. How can I thank you?”
Molly leaned her head on Amanda’s as they walked. “I think my father would agree it is us who should be thanking you. I’ve never seen him happier or my mum either.”
“It’s just what friends do then, I guess.”
Molly nodded, her breath coming heavier as they did not slacken their pace, following Thomas to the first location where they could post fliers.