Cat Among the Pigeons (11 page)

Frank exchanged looks with Charlie. ‘They would,' he admitted reluctantly. ‘But you . . . you shouldn't. It's not right.'

‘Look, you got me into this. I'm just trying to play my part right! Bit late for qualms about seeing me in a scrap, isn't it?' I dabbed my nose: I was dripping blood on to my lip. ‘I thought I did quite well considering it was two against one.'

‘You did, little brother, I'm proud of you,' said Charlie, slapping me on the back. ‘We'll tell the boys in the house how you took on two bruisers from Ottley's on your first day: it'll do your reputation no end of good.'

I gave him a bloody smile.

‘Let's get you cleaned up,' sighed Frank. ‘I can see we've a long day ahead of us.'

I soon discovered that life as a schoolboy was far more of a grind than I had imagined. When lessons were over, we had a breather for dinner,
but then were expected to go to work again at something called Prep.

‘What's that?' I whispered as we made our way back into the classroom.

‘Preparation for lessons,' said Frank. ‘Here – take this.' And he thrust a Latin Primer into my hand. ‘I hope you're a fast study. I had a word with Rookie and you're doing Horace again on Monday. Look at Chapter Three.'

‘Rookie?'

‘Mr Castleton,' explained Charlie. ‘You have to watch him, Cat: he's completely obsessed with the Latin play. He'll have you on the stage before you know it. Last year I got landed with a main part.'

‘Clytemnestra,' snorted Frank. ‘Dress, wig – the works. It was a sight for sore eyes.'

‘Yes, well, thank you, Frank, for mentioning that,' growled Charlie. ‘I had hoped I'd lived it down by now.'

‘You know I'll never let you forget,' grinned Frank. He turned back to me. ‘You'll be all right
in Arithmetic and Greek – they won't expect you to know much – so I'd concentrate on the Latin if I were you.'

‘When this is all over, at least I'll be qualified as a governess,' I groaned, flipping over the cramped pages of text.

‘Disqualified,' quipped Frank. ‘Girls don't learn Latin, lucky beggars.'

‘Shh!' Charlie hissed as Richmond took a seat along the table from us, eyeing my companions resentfully.

Dr Vincent came in and everyone but me immediately got to their feet. Frank kicked me and I leapt up.

‘I'm a boy, I'm a boy,' I chanted to myself under my breath. ‘Boys get up when elders enter the room.' I let my eyes wander round the room, searching for character notes. I'd never paid so much attention before. Ugh! Boys pick their nose. Boys scratch their armpits. I began to scratch mine, surprised to find how satisfying it was.

‘Hengrave Junior, stop that disgusting habit!
We are a school for young gentlemen, not Covent Garden costermongers!' barked Dr Vincent. Frank turned to look at me in astonishment. I winked and linked my hands behind my back.

‘You may sit down!'

With a noise like thunder, we resumed our seats and applied ourselves to work.

And that was when a miracle happened. Do you know, Reader, I found that those close-printed pages held a feast of poetry I had never before tasted. I couldn't confine myself to Chapter Three. I had to leaf through to glance at the verses and their translations. Latin was a lovely language, I realized as I sounded out the lines in my head. Why had I not known this? Every schoolboy I met had complained about the tedium of studying it, but why? There was so much here I recognized. Playwrights had mined this stuff for some of the best speeches in English drama. I felt as if I had come home.

The hour for Prep passed in a blink of an eye
and then we were released for what remained of the day. Frank linked arms with me and we went outside. He kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye and shaking his head.

‘What's the matter?' I asked as we made our way up into his set.

‘It's uncanny. I keep forgetting who you really are.'

‘I know. You'd never've gone through a door first when I was . . . well, before today.'

‘Did I? Oh, sorry.'

‘Don't be sorry. That's just how it should be.'

We arrived back at the set to find Charlie was toasting some bread for supper. The smell was delicious. He buttered a slice for me.

‘Ladies first,' he said, chucking it in my direction.

‘Don't. I was telling Frank, you've both got to forget all that. Something might slip out by mistake.'

‘You're right.' Charlie sat back on his haunches. ‘So half-starved Tom Cat's first then.
You look to me as if you've missed a few too many meals, brother.'

I didn't know where to look. His observation was true but I wasn't used to young gentlemen making personal remarks about my appearance. By changing clothes, I'd crossed a boundary and would have to become accustomed to being treated as an equal. Well, I'd better do the thing properly. I slumped in an old armchair with feet up on the fender and took a big bite. You know, girls, being a boy's not half bad. You get to slouch around in comfortable clothes. No one tells you to sit up straight and act like a lady. There were compensations in this otherwise disastrous situation.

‘I think we'd better get a message to Syd and Pedro,' I said when we'd demolished a stack of toast. ‘If I know Syd, he'll be combing the streets for me. And Pedro will worry.' It now came back to me that I had promised Mr Equiano to keep an eye on my friend. In the adventures of the day, I'd temporarily forgotten the peril he was facing.
Hawkins had effectively rendered me useless by forcing me to go on the run. ‘And we'll need to check Pedro's safe.'

‘I'd given that some thought too. I sent Lizzie a note with the carriage this morning,' said Frank. ‘And I forgot to mention that I got one back telling me on no account to proceed with the plan for you. Too late, hey?' He grinned and chucked Lizzie's note into the fire. ‘Syd's easy. We already have an arrangement for passing messages.'

‘What's that?'

‘I order sausages.'

‘Or chops,' added Charlie.

‘Sometimes kidneys. The last lot went down a treat devilled for breakfast. Syd or one of the boys brings them. It's getting late, but I'm sure he'll make a special delivery for us.'

Frank disappeared downstairs to dispatch a messenger and I found myself alone with Charlie for the first time. It felt very awkward without Frank. I was suddenly very conscious that I was
masquerading as a boy in a strange place with someone I hardly knew. I couldn't stop it – a blush crept up my cheeks. I sat up straight and crossed my ankles.

‘You must think me very shocking, getting into trouble with the runners and the rest.'

Charlie stirred the fire. ‘Well, I must say you're not a bit like my sister. Not that that's a bad thing,' he added hurriedly. ‘She's very much a busybody – a great friend of Frank's sister.' He dropped the poker. ‘I hope she doesn't take it into her head to visit me. She's in London at the moment . . .'

‘This isn't going to last, is it?' I said, resigned to what I saw as the inevitable moment of revelation. ‘I'll have to think what I'll do when I'm found out. I don't want them adding “impersonating a Westminster schoolboy” to the other charges.'

‘We'll get you out, don't worry,' said Charlie. ‘I won't let my little brother down.'

Syd's arrival was signalled by a loud thumping on the door. Frank opened it and was almost
knocked down in the rush of Syd unburdening himself.

‘Cat's gone missin'.' He thrust a packet of sausages into Frank's arms. Syd's cheeks were flushed, his eyes anxious. ‘The runners are after 'er. They're watchin' the shop – your place – the theatre – the 'ole bloody town. Word is Pedro's old master is payin' them well – and they've a score to settle with Cat, they say.' He gave a distracted nod to Charlie, not noticing me by the fireside. ‘I've been lookin' everywhere for 'er – all me boys are out – but she's vanished. I'm that worried about 'er. What if someone got 'old of 'er last night? She's only a little thing – can't defend 'erself. If she spends another night out on the streets, I don't know what I'll do.'

‘Do, you great lump?' I said, tears in my eyes at hearing his concern for me. ‘You'll stop worrying yourself to death this instant, that's what you'll do.'

Syd did a double-take. ‘Cat? Cat! What the 'ell 'ave you done to yourself?' He folded me in a
rib-cracking hug and then pushed me to arm's length to take in my transformation. ‘What you done with your 'air?'

‘Charlie cut it off.'

‘'E did what?'

Charlie took the sensible precaution of backing out of Syd's reach behind an armchair.

‘I'm his little brother,' I said, bowing. ‘Tom Hengrave. Can I join the gang now?'

‘No, you bleedin' well can't, Cat Royal! 'Ave you gone mad or somethink?'

‘Think about it, Syd.' I was trying to be reasonable for the both of us but Syd looked more wild-eyed than ever. ‘It's all for the best really. You can't hide me – neither can the theatre. I had to go somewhere and here's where I ended up. No one's looking for Tom. They all think Cat's on the street somewhere – and that's where I'd be if it weren't for Frank and Charlie.'

‘It won't work,' declared Syd. ‘You don't know 'ow rough boys can be, Cat. What if one of them sets about you, eh?'

‘They did,' said Frank cheerfully, putting a frying pan on the grate and filling it with sausages. ‘Two of them. But Tom Cat sorted them out, didn't you?'

I nodded. ‘Though I could do with a few tips from the master. I've learned that, apart from Latin, the boys here do little else but fight.' I looked up at Syd and pummelled his stomach playfully.

He frowned and shook me off. ‘But they'll notice soon enough.'

‘Notice what?' asked Charlie innocently.

‘Well, that he's a . . . he's a she,' Syd said delicately.

‘I'm being very discreet, Syd.'

‘I dunno, Cat.' He ran his hands through his hair distractedly. ‘It's not right – you sittin' there all shaven and shorn.'

‘I'm sorry, Syd,' I said, serious now, ‘but it was the best we could come up with at such short notice. And after all, it's only hair: it'll grow back. I'm just staying here until the runners get tired of looking for me. If Hawkins goes away,
they're bound to lose interest – there'll be no one to press charges.'

‘Do you want me to get rid of 'im for you, Cat?' Syd's kind, open face became quite nasty for a moment. Used to him treating me like a wayward younger sister, I sometimes forgot that he ruled a fair percentage of London and could call on a powerful following.

‘No, Syd. He won't be here forever. He's got his plantation in Jamaica to think of. Once he realizes he's not going to get hold of Pedro, he'll leave.'

‘And what's the word? Does he show any signs of giving up?' Frank asked Syd.

‘Nothin' doin' on that front as far as I've 'eard. I 'spect 'e's laying low since last night.' Syd's face broke into a grin. He took my hand affectionately and pulled me on to the arm of the chair beside him. ‘Wasn't Prince a dazzler? 'Ole town is talkin' of it. Tonight's show is sold out. They could've flogged the tickets twice over, Caleb told me.' Syd's brow puckered again. ‘'E's
worried for you too, Cat. Been lookin' for you when 'e's off duty. So's Pedro.'

‘Can you let them know I'm all right?'

‘Course I will.'

The bells in the abbey struck the hour. Syd got up to leave. He shook the boys by the hand. I held out mine. He took it but didn't shake it. Instead, he inspected the scratches I had sustained last night. “You're a rum 'un, Kitten. No two ways about it. You'll need to toughen up these paws of yours. And if you get in a fight, you're to aim 'ere and 'ere.' He pointed to Frank's jaw and stomach. ‘You're not supposed to go lower, but if it's an emergency, punch or kick there . . .' (he pointed – Frank went pale) ‘ . . . as 'ard as you can. That should soon sort out your opponent. Goodnight.'

‘Goodnight, Syd.'

The door closed.

‘Anyone fancy something to eat?' asked Charlie, holding up a pan full of sizzling sausages.

SCENE 3 – SNATCHED

The following day was a Sunday and the boys from Westminster School were expected to attend the morning service in the Abbey. I ate cold sausages up in Frank's set rather than go down for breakfast. I'd decided that the less I was seen in public, the quicker people would forget about me. Charlie assured me that I wouldn't be missing much in the dining room.

Left alone for the first time, I sat in front of Frank's mirror and inspected my new appearance. My hair now curled around my ears. My neck felt strangely exposed. And my ankles. Despite being hidden in thick stockings, it felt so odd to have them on view. Indecent somehow. I experimented with some expressions. Boredom was the one I'd had most opportunity to study. Smiling was definitely out. As soon as I smiled, I became very girlie. A grimace was better.