by Lyn Gardner
Rose suddenly warmed to Lydia, seeing how touched she had been by the triumph of the magician and Effie. “It’s lovely to see Effie looking so happy after all that’s happened to her.”
“Perhaps her luck has changed. She is a most delightful magician’s assistant,” said Lydia. “Much better than…” She stopped as if censoring herself. She suddenly looked sad and wistful. “Sometimes I wish I could turn back the clock.”
Rose hesitated and then she said boldly, “If you turned it back too far, it would mean that you would never have met Edward.”
“Edward is the best thing that’s ever happened me,” said Lydia, and suddenly she looked very young and utterly defenceless. “He’s my second chance. I love him with all my heart, and I know I don’t deserve him.” She bit her lip and her eyes filled with tears again. “I’m mad with love for him. He’s a good man – I would do anything for him. Even give up my own life.” She said it so fiercely that Rose felt both touched by her passion and disconcerted by the strength of it. She felt embarrassed that Lydia, who she hardly knew, was confiding in her.
Rose squeezed Lydia’s hand. “I must go,” she said, and slipped back inside.
When she got back to the gallery, the applause was still rumbling like thunder. It was the longest standing ovation that Campion’s had ever witnessed. Rose and Thomas grinned at each other. Together, Gandini and Effie could turn out to be Campion’s most successful act ever. But Rose knew it would only happen if Gandini could overcome his stage fright sufficiently to perform regularly, and having glimpsed the crippling fear in his eyes, that was by no means certain. Rose had known plenty of performers who had become so paralysed by stage fright that they had to abandon their stage careers entirely. From what she had seen tonight, she thought that Gandini might be one of them.
It was late, very late, but nobody wanted to go home. Everyone knew that it had been a landmark evening for Campion’s and they didn’t want it to end. Only Jem was absent, slinking off as soon as his work had finished. Everyone else wanted to keep toasting the evening’s success, and in particular Gandini’s prowess and Effie’s debut. It was another hot London evening, and people were sitting outside in the yard. Gandini looked relaxed and happy. There was no sign of the terrible nerves that had afflicted him earlier.
“You were magnificent, Effie. I couldn’t have done it without you. You are the best magician’s assistant I’ve ever had.”
“Have you had lots of magician’s assistants, Mr Gandini?” asked the inspector, who once again had appeared stealthily. “Perhaps when you were in America you had others?”
Gandini gave the inspector an amused smile. “It is no secret that I have spent time in the New World, Inspector, and yes of course I have had other assistants. But none who can calm me quite like Effie. She is my saving grace.”
“Oh, Mr Gandini, America! How exciting. You might have met both Edward and Lydia while you were there. They were both in America,” said Effie eagerly.
“America is a very big place, Effie,” said Gandini with a smile, “but if I had met either Edward or Lydia I know I would remember them.” Lydia flung Gandini a cryptic look. Amy gave an odd little smile.
“I have an announcement to make,” said Inspector Cliff. The entire yard fell silent. “Our investigation into the disappearance of the Doomstone and the attempted murder of Miss Duchamps has made considerable progress. An arrest is imminent. I will provide you all with more information by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. In the meantime, if anyone has anything that they wish to tell me, or information they wish to share, I would advise them to do so now in their own interests. Or it may reflect very badly upon them.” The inspector looked serious, and his eyes flicked around everyone present. Rose watched. Some, like Gandini, met his eye. Others, like Effie and Amy, looked uncomfortable. Lydia seemed as serene as a calm sea, and gave the inspector a beatific smile, and then winked at Tobias Fraggles – an oddly flirtatious response in the circumstances, thought Rose. Billy Proctor looked as if he was feigning boredom. Lottie, Tessa and some of the other ballet girls giggled nervously. Edward and Thomas were both frowning and exchanged a quizzical glance, and lots of people simply looked as if they were trying to disguise their excitement because it would be deemed inappropriate.
Rose still found it hard to believe that somebody present could have been responsible for the theft of the Doomstone – except perhaps Billy Proctor. She wondered if Inspector Cliff really was as close to making an arrest as he implied – or was he just getting desperate at his lack of progress and trying to smoke the culprit out?
The announcement put a damper on the evening. Everyone began to gather their things and make their good nights.
“Edward,” said Rose, suddenly remembering the mysterious man from the Pall Mall who had been at Campion’s earlier, just as he had on the night of the disappearance of the Doomstone. “Who was that man with the bright-blue tie and diamond tiepin that you nodded at during the performance? He was standing by Billy Proctor.”
Aurora, who was standing by Rose, looked at her father expectantly. He glanced at her, a trace of anxiety in his gaze.
Edward shrugged and his voice was quite tight. “I didn’t nod at any man, Rose. You must be mistaken.”
“I must have been,” said Rose, but she was sure that she wasn’t and she was puzzled by Edward’s response. He was normally so open about everything.
Edward strode over to where Gandini was standing, just as a boy turned up in the yard asking for Gandini, who took a note from him, read it and frowned, and then murmured something to Edward.
Edward bit his lip, and then called, “I’ll get you a cab, Lydia. I have business with Thomas.”
“I’ll get my wrap,” said Lydia, and she disappeared through the stage door with Amy in tow. Gandini followed them.
13
The next afternoon, everyone gathered in the auditorium at the request of Inspector Cliff. There was a low-level hum of excitement. Rose, Aurora and Effie had discussed the inspector’s message and decided that it sounded much more like an order than a request.
“Maybe if you don’t turn up the inspector will know you’re the person he needs to arrest. But what if we all fail to turn up, what will he do then? Arrest all of us?” grinned Aurora.
“Well, I’m definitely going,” said Effie, looking scared. “I don’t want to be arrested and sent to prison.”
“Nobody’s going to arrest you, Effie,” said Rose soothingly. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I know I ain’t,” said Effie, nervously fingering the pearl around her neck, “but it don’t stop me feeling guilty, as if I have done something I shouldn’t and the inspector knows ’bout it.”
Rose and Rory glanced at each other. They both knew that Effie was consumed with regret and guilt about her mother having saved her from prison. But Effie couldn’t possibly have stolen the Doomstone.
“Listen, if the inspector is stupid enough to try and arrest you, Thomas and Rory and I will stop him. We promise. Even if we have to wrestle him to the ground and fling him in the trap under the stage,” said Rose.
“Well, I think the whole thing is ridiculous,” said Aurora. “If the inspector is confident he knows who stole the Doomstone, why doesn’t he just arrest them and have done with it? Why make such a performance out of it, unless all this hanging around Campion’s has given him a taste for the stage?”
“That’s what Thomas said,” said Rose. “I can never work out whether the inspector is stupider or cleverer than he’s letting on.”
They were sitting in the auditorium together, close to Gandini, who was looking gloomy, near to Lottie, Tessa, Belle Canterbury and some of the other ballet girls. He seemed as nervous as he did when he was about to go on stage. Rose looked around.
“Is anyone missing?” she asked.
“Edward’s not here,” said Aurora, “and there’s no sign of Lydia or Amy either.”
“Some of the mudlark children were at
the stage door, and they said a flock of sheep had escaped on the bridge and caused chaos. Maybe they’re held up because of it.”
“They’re not together,” said Aurora shortly. “Edward had business in the city; Lydia is at the theatre with Stratford-Mark. She’s supposed to be rehearsing the Scottish play.” Theatrical superstition meant that nobody ever said the title of Macbeth in a theatre.
“Is she any good?” asked Rose. She was curious to see Lydia act.
Rory wrinkled her nose. “She looks lovely, but I’m not sure looking lovely is the point of Lady Macbeth. But then Stratford-Mark is hardly typical casting for a brave warrior.”
Effie had been looking around. “There’s no sign of Jem either.”
“Or Billy Proctor,” said Rose thoughtfully. “Wonder whether he’s done a runner. I’ve always had my suspicions about him. Maybe the inspector has arrested him and he’s going to announce it.”
Inspector Cliff had arrived and was talking to Thomas in a lowered voice. A look of consternation crossed Thomas’s features. Then the inspector stepped on to the stage and held up a hand.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming.” He paused as Edward arrived, looking pale, flustered, and muttering apologies.
“I’m afraid that I have some bad news, which I know you will all find distressing. An accident has befallen Jem Dorries. He was found early this morning in an alleyway down Lant Street. He has been badly beaten up and is now in hospital, where his condition is a cause for concern.” A buzz went round the room. Everyone liked Jem, who was easygoing and kind, and, when he had money in his pocket, always generous. Who could want to harm him?
“Jem’s not going to die, is he?” asked Lottie, who, like several of the ballet girls, had tears in her eyes.
“He has been very badly assaulted,” said the inspector. “His condition is grave. But he may yet recover.”
Rose looked around. Everyone was talking and the ballet girls were comforting each other. Edward had his head in his hands, Thomas looked pensive and Rose saw Gandini wipe away a tear. Who would ever have thought that the magician was so soft-hearted? Although, now she thought about it, Rose realised that she had seen the magician with Jem on several occasions, often playing cards together. She saw Edward and Gandini exchange an anxious glance.
Lottie called out, “Inspector, do you think the attack on Jem could be connected with the theft of the Doomstone and the attack on Miss Duchamps?”
The inspector opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment Lydia appeared, looking distraught, her hands fluttering as she pushed back locks of hair that had escaped from her elaborately arranged coiffure.
“Amy?” she cried, peering around the room. “Amy, are you here?”
“She’s not here, Miss Duchamps,” said the inspector calmly.
“Oh,” whispered Lydia, and she suddenly looked deflated. “I hoped I would find her here safe and sound.”
“Miss Duchamps, do you have any reason to fear for Amy’s well-being?”
“She has disappeared. Little Amy is gone. She wasn’t at the theatre this morning, and that’s so unlike her that I knew at once that something was wrong. I thought maybe she was ill. So I sent a message to the address of her lodgings that she gave me. But it was most confusing because by return I had a note saying that she didn’t lodge there and they had never heard of her. I know that the address is correct. She wrote it down for me in her own hand in case I ever needed to send her a message.” She gazed into the inspector’s face, her eyes huge and troubled. “It’s so very odd. But I can’t help feeling that something terrible must have happened to her. We are so fond of each other. I know she would never leave me without good reason.”
Lydia burst into tears and rushed into Edward’s arms. Tobias frowned. Edward’s face looked shrunken, as if he had suddenly aged a decade.
“I feel so responsible for her,” Lydia cried, and she tilted her face towards Edward. Rose saw a flicker of emotion that looked like irritation, or maybe jealousy, cross Gandini’s face. Rory looked away and Edward looked preoccupied, barely seeming to notice Lydia, which was unusual, thought Rose, because he was normally so attentive to her.
“When did you last see Amy?” asked the inspector.
“Me…?” stuttered Edward, and stopped as Lydia put a finger against his lips.
“I think the inspector is asking me,” she said, a little too archly for the circumstances. “Last night. Here. Edward sent a boy to get a hansom for me soon after your announcement. He offered to get one for Amy to take her to Rotherhithe too, but she had already gone as she prefers to walk. I should never have let her go.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, in the light of these developments, I’m going to call a halt to this meeting,” said the inspector. “I am concerned about Miss Hodgson’s well-being, particularly in light of what has happened to Jem. I’d like to talk to any of you who might have any further information about either Jem Dorries or Miss Hodgson, particularly as to exactly where Miss Hodgson was lodging.”
Rose raised her hand. “Effie and Rory and I might be able to help you. We took Amy back to her lodgings on the night the Doomstone was stolen.”
“Then I’d like to talk to the three of you as a matter of urgency,” said the inspector, “and anyone else who might have any information.” He gazed around the room, as if examining the faces of everyone present. His eyes were as watchful as a cat’s.
14
Rose, Effie and Rory sat on the Devil’s Steps at Rotherhithe. Below them, a seething, sullen Thames slapped against the river wall, as if it was trying to punish it. The river was choked with boats and barges, and although it was another sweltering day, a smoggy yellow haze lay over the city, and the smell from both the river and the nearby tannery was unpleasantly pungent. The girls were hot and tired after a fruitless afternoon spent knocking on the doors of lodging houses looking for Amy.
The day before, they had gone with the inspector and several policemen to Rotherhithe and shown the inspector the alleyway where they had dropped Amy off on the night the Doomstone was stolen. The police visited all the houses in the vicinity, but they had found no trace of anybody answering to either Amy’s name or description. The inspector seemed much more interested in Jem. But Rose found it difficult to believe that Jem – easily led, betting-mad, but essentially sweet-natured – was responsible for the crime of the century. She wasn’t at all convinced that quiet little Amy was responsible either, although her vanishing act seemed to suggest otherwise.
“It’s as if she’s disappeared off the face of the earth,” said Rory, unbuttoning her new boots – handmade by the look of them – to allow the air to get to her stockinged feet.
“The question is, why?” asked Rose.
“Maybe she thought the inspector was going to arrest her for stealing the Doomstone,” said Effie.
“Or maybe she was just unhappy and wanted to get away from Lydia,” said Aurora.
Rose examined her friend beadily. “Is Lydia unkind to her?”
“Not exactly unkind. Just dismissive and demanding.” She paused. “She is always delightful to Amy in front of Edward, but when he’s not around she sometimes loses her temper, and tells Amy that she’s stupid and knows nothing.” Rory spoke fiercely and looked straight ahead, not meeting Rose’s eye. Rose wondered whether Lydia’s unkindness extended to Rory when her father was not around.
“That’s how the rich behave to the poor,” said Effie gloomily. “Me mum always said never to go into service; they buy your labour but they want to own you body an’ soul.”
“Rory, have you told your father about how Lydia behaves towards Amy?” asked Rose.
“There’s no point,” said Aurora gruffly. “Lydia can do no wrong in his eyes.”
“Maybe you should open them for him?”
Aurora sighed. “It’s hard, Rosie. Edward and I are still getting to know each other. Sometimes he still feels more like a stranger to me than my father. I know he’s fond o
f me and I am of him. But we still don’t really know each other like a father and daughter who have known each other since the day a child is born. Sometimes I see him looking at me, and I wonder if he’s thinking whether there must have been a terrible mistake, and I’m not really his daughter.”
“Oh, Rory,” said Rose, squeezing Aurora’s hand. “I’ve seen Edward looking at you too, and it’s with wonder – wonder that he’s found the daughter who he thought was dead. And there can be no doubt that you are father and daughter – you are like two peas in a pod.” But she thought how hard it must be for Aurora. Everyone said that her story was like a fairy tale. But, thought Rose darkly, fairy tales always just ended abruptly with “they lived happily ever after” and it was much harder to negotiate and navigate a real-life happy ever after.
Rose stood up. “Shall we carry on?”
“Rosie, my feet are killing me,” said Aurora, “and I said I’d meet Edward at the Pall Mall at five. Why don’t you come? You can see Hamlet again with me. We’re wasting our time here. The police have already gone door to door, and if they couldn’t find Amy, why should we do any better? She’s obviously lied about where she was living, has covered her tracks and doesn’t want to be found. Maybe she did steal the Doomstone and she’s fled with it.”
Rose was tempted to go with Rory. But she shook her head and looked at Effie, who was apologetic.
“I can’t stay much longer either, Rosie. I’ve got to get back to Campion’s. I promised Mr Gandini I’d rehearse the new act with him.”
“What is it?” asked Rory curiously. Effie put a finger to her mouth to indicate her lips were sealed.
“But it’s going to be a real crowd-pleaser when it’s ready, which won’t be for a few days. If we can get it right, Thomas will have to extend Campion’s to meet the demand for tickets. Mr Gandini’s that confident about it.”
“Effie,” asked Rose, “why do you always call Gandini Mr Gandini? Nobody else does.”
“He deserves it,” said Effie. “He’s a real gent in every way. I really like him. He’s kind.”