15th July 1806 11 o’clock
“Miss Smith?”
“Mr Jones?”
That was how our first encounter began.
The situation was unusual, to say the least. We were anonymous, lest any reputations be damaged. Several intermediaries had arranged our meeting, so nobody knew all the principles. It was an odd, though not extraordinary, business, trying to arrange a buyer and seller with none the wiser—though to be honest, such cautions were far more common in the criminal classes than mine.
Anonymity was her requirement for obvious reasons. I could tell at a glance she was gently born, so I presumed her reputation was of utmost importance, for herself and any sister she might have. She was pushing her luck, but I supposed she had her reasons.
Had I been dishonest, I could have traced her intermediaries back to their source; and I was so well-known she could have worked out my identity by chance. The anonymity was not water-tight but sufficient for one meeting. We had agreed on the terms, and I would uphold my end of the bargain.
The young lady was interesting, and in that sentence, I know not whether to stressinterestingoryoung. She was obviously nervous, as she should be. She was accompanied by a fuzzy faced youth as a sort of chaperone, but he did not have the look of a servant. I have seen my share of farmer’s or labourer’s sons, and he fit the bill.
I decided to take charge of the affair, such as it was. “You look very young for this sort of activity, Miss Smith. Might I ask your age.”
She gave a mulish answer, “Fifteen—not that it is any of your business.”
That wasveryyoung to be skulking about meeting gentlemen clandestinely, but I liked the bit of impertinent fire she displayed. She was not especially tall, and had the typical adolescent problem of not having expanded evenly into her growth. Her limbs were not quite in harmony and showed the awkward gait I remembered from my time at that age, as if her reflexes had not caught up.
Naturally, I had to establishsomeauthority, so I just stared at her hard enough to intimidate a grown man. I was somewhat surprised when my worst had no real effect save proving her impertinence.
“I congratulate you, sir. Your stare is nearly as intimidating as my mother’s. Do not be cast down though; it handily beats my father.”
I could not help a chuckle, and when she gave an impertinent grin, and even a slight giggle, I decided I liked the little hellion, impertinence and all.
I softly said, “May I suggest some ground rules, young lady.”
She grimaced but nodded.
“Our anonymity is as solid as these things can be. Might we, just between us, agree to be honest until our business is complete.”
She stared at me a minute before finally blowing out a sigh. “Iwill befifteen in a fortnight.”
I chuckled, wondering what possessed me to bargain with a fourteen-year-old girl. Ordinarily I would do no such thing, but if my informant was correct, she had something I wanted.
She continued relentlessly. “I may be young sir, but do not mistake me for a fool. I bet your estate has a dozen maids younger than me, whose parents threw them to the wolves inservice without a backward glance when they got too costly to feed.”
I flinched slightly, primarily because she had a point. I did not have that many, but children entering service at twelve were not uncommon. I treated my servants very well, and more importantly, did not allow guests or other servants to do otherwise; but not every maid was so lucky. I even had second or third son ancestors who had gone to sea at twelve.
“Point to the lady,” I said to show I knew what she was about. “I should keep my hypocrisy in check.”
She did something like a very slight start of a blush, but she was no shrinking violet and came right back to it.
“Shall we proceed, sir. My uncle does not know where I am, and I prefer he remain unaware.”
“And your parents?”
“Even more so.”
“You can understand how that might make me nervous.”
“I can,” she said, then gave me a stare far too mature for her age, as if daring me to show some mettle.
“Perhaps you might tell me what brought you here.”
“Why?”
