And then a figure in the crowd caught his eye.
It was the man from before, the man with the patched coattails. He was watching the blaze with a half-smile, and Henry sucked in a breath.
“Stop that man,” he gasped, pointing.
The man met his eye across the crowd and paled under his layer of grime. Abruptly, he turned and fled, disappearing into the throng.
“What man?” the foreman asked, frowning. “I didn’t see him.”
“A dirty-looking man with patched coattails. He’s been watching this place, I’m sure he was. If this fire wasn’t an accident. He…” Henry took a step towards the place where the man had disappeared. He could chase him down, and probably catch him.
But what about Eleanor?
Swallowing, he glanced up at the burning building.
No.
Wordlessly, he stripped off his jacket, and handed it to the foreman.
“Your lordship?”
“Hold this. I’m going to climb.”
Without waiting for a response, Henry took a run at the side of the building, jumping up to grip the edge of a window frame. He hauled himself up, already six feet off the ground.
He could hear people shouting up at him and about him.
“What are you doing, sir?”
“Somebody get him down!”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Somebody stop him!”
“Sir! Come down!”
He ignored them, diligently pulling himself up and up. He didn’t look down, not even when he passed the first floor. It was choked with smoke, but as far as he could tell, the fire was confined to the next floor up.
He made the mistake of looking down, and the cobblestones swam far below.
No, no, no,he thought, wincing.
He hauled himself up further. The window was barely ten feet above him now, smoke billowing.
A little further still, and then Henry curled his fingers around the window frame. His instinct was to call for Eleanor right away, but he didn’t have the breath for it.
The heat struck him in the face when he pulled himself into the window. The room was full of impenetrable smoke. Choking, he pressed his arm across his face.
Where was she? He couldn’t see a thing and knew instinctively that any shouts would go unanswered.
Clenching his jaw, Henry slid into the room. The heat was intense, and the door was groaning menacingly, searing heat building behind it. In a moment, the door would crack open, and the fire would come spilling through the room and out of the window.
And then they’d both be dead.
“Eleanor!” Henry called, voice cracking. Already he felt dizzy from smoke inhalation.
Not daring to take his hand away from the window in case he couldn’t find it again, he felt around for an arm or leg.
