I introduced myself quickly, hoping she would not judge me by my company. Our hostess was not quite as young nor as beautiful as Mrs Roberts, but she was a fine-looking woman and her ribbons seemed to have come loose still further since I last checked.
‘Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir.’ She had a high, girlish voice and an accent that seemed to be at war with itself: part lady, part fishwife. She poured herself a glass and looked me up and down, cheeks dimpling as she smiled. ‘Tell me, Mr Hawkins, do you like to dance?’
‘I do, madam. When the mood takes me.’
‘Well, then.’ She gazed at me wantonly over the rim of her glass. ‘You must come and find me, sir. When the mood takes you.’ She sucked a drop of punch from her bottom lip.
Fleet cleared his throat. ‘Mr Hawkins has been asking of the Common Side.’ He gestured to an empty chair. ‘Perhaps you’d like to join us? Tell us a tale of life on the other side of the wall? You must have heard a few.’ He paused, savouring the taste of the next words before he said them. ‘From your father.’
Her expression changed so fast I could scarce believe it. It was as if we were at a masquerade, and she had whipped off her mask to reveal a Medusa, cold-eyed and dangerous. Fleet – quite unruffled – flashed her a wide, triumphant grin and poured himself another glass of punch. She glared at him so hard I thought, surely he will turn to stone in front of my eyes. When he stubbornly refused to do so, she rounded on me.
‘You should choose your friends more wisely, sir,’ she hissed. Then she gathered her skirts and skipped towards the bar with a smile, the mask neatly back in its place. ‘I’ll hold you to that dance, Mr Hawkins,’ she called gaily over her shoulder, loud enough for the whole room to hear. A few of the drinkers nudged one another and laughed.
Fleet raised his glass. ‘Well. To your good health, sir. While it lasts.’
I frowned. ‘What the devil do you mean?’
‘You’ve just promised to dance with Mary Acton. The governor’s wife.’
I excused myself with a short, irritable bow. Fleet seemed unsurprised by my sudden departure, drawing the punch closer to him with the tenderness of a mother drawing her baby to her breast. I left him scribbling something in his journal with a short pencil, pipe clenched between his teeth. People shook their heads at me as I passed. I could hardly blame them.
When I reached the yard, I was relieved to find Jakes waiting for me. It was only two hours since he’d left me and yet it seemed as if a lifetime had passed. We headed back into the Lodge where he handed over the receipt for my mother’s cross and a small pile of silver and copper coins. They hardly covered my palm.
