Edgar finished the last word in the sentence he was constructing before he deigned to glance at the piece of paper she had put beside him. “Better late than never, I suppose.”
He had taken an instant dislike to her when she had arrived, probably because he did not like being outranked by a woman. Not that she had used that rank over him yet when she was trying her best to fit in among the loyal few here who were instrumental in getting the finished newspaper out.
“I wanted my first column to be perfect.” She owed that to the cause.
Edgar grunted as he picked it up, no doubt ready to find some fault with it, as he did with anything she gave him.
He scanned it and frowned. “Have you gone quite mad?” Edgar immediately turned to William. “This topic is grossly inappropriate in the current climate.” He tossed her article across the desk to their approaching editor in chief as if it carried some hideous infection. “I do not wish to be difficult, William.”Yes, he jolly well did!“But in my humble opinion”—which Edgar considered vastly superior to all others—“I think it highly likely that Portia’s column is only going torile up the local law enforcement, who, I am sure that I do not need to remind you, are looking for any excuse to shut us down.” He jabbed at her words. “This incendiary article is daring them to raid us, and Portia is playing with fire!”
William shot Portia a quick he’ll-come-around placating look, and took the sheet. “‘Is the worst form of injustice pretended justice?’” Then he chuckled. “What an attention-grabbing headline, Portia.”
“An unnecessarily provocative headline,” interrupted Edgar like a crotchety wild dog with a bone.
“Nonsense!” William waved that way. “The powers that be all think that we are naught but uneducated oiks who wouldn’t know their ancient Greek from their Roman, so a well-chosen quote from a learned tome like Plato’sRepublicwill bring up short those who are taught the classics from the cradle.” He tapped her article. “This is excellent work, Portia, and an excellent andtimelychoice of topic—inmyhumble opinion.” Then he winked at her as he gave her nemesis a comradely pat on the shoulder before he turned away. “Get it set, Edgar, so that we can go to print.”
“But this article calls the entire justice system ‘flawed and fundamentally rotten to the core!’ That’s a direct quote.” Edgar wasn’t one to take defeat graciously. “Might I remind you that Portia has already increased our risk of scrutiny from the authorities by taking a job in the house of one of the local magistrates, so attacking our legal system in this way is a reckless and unnecessary gamble.”
“Is your employer aware of your involvement inEquitas, Edgar?” She tried to say that sweetly but there was bite in her tone. “Or do you, like me, keep your political leanings discreet while you earn your living because you know that they are bound to lose you your job otherwise?” She took satisfaction in the way his thin lips flattened at that irrefutable logic. “Before I came here, I worked for three years at the League’s headquarters while also juggling my responsibilities as a governess for an active anti-reformist member of the House of Lords, and not once did I do anything that jeopardizedthe cause.” And he could stick that in his sanctimonious pipe and smoke it!
“Constable Nolley is already after our blood! Baiting him with this”—Edgar slapped her article with the back of his hand as he followed William back to the printing press—“will bring trouble to our door.” Once again, he spoke about her as if she weren’t there. “Portia is playing with fire—but it is all of us who will get burned by this recklessness.”
William sighed. “Constable Nolley would still be after our blood whether we printed Portia’s article or not. But we cannot live in fear. We must print the truth, Edgar, because only the miserable, sorry truth will help our cause. That is what we do. It is what we have always done, irrespective of the risks.” Sir William deposited the article back in the now-ranting typesetter’s hand, signaling that the matter was closed. “We print and be damned!” Their editor in chief wagged a righteous finger in the air as he walked off. “That ismyfinal decision.”
“Then expect me to say I told you so when all our property is smashed to smithereens and we’re all locked in the clink.” The muttering Edgar took that decision with all the belligerence Portia expected of him, snatching up her article and scrutinizing it again now that Sir William wasn’t in direct earshot. “Why is this signed in a different name to yours? Are you so ashamed of what you write that you have to hide behind a pseudonym?”
Portia offered the man her best go-to-hell smile. “As you’ve already pointed out, I work for a local magistrate and don’t want to give him any reason to bring trouble to our door.” As much as she wished she could print her real name and be damned, she liked the irony of calling herself Pendle after her rival for the position in the duke’s house, Miss Strictland, had called her that to put her in her place.
Irony in all its forms always amused her.
“William has already approved that pseudonym, Edgar, but do check with himagainif you don’t believe me.”
He muttered something under his breath as she sailed away but she didn’t give the childish pedant the satisfaction of responding. If he had a problem with a woman being second-in-command here, that was entirely his problem to contend with because she wasn’t going anywhere.
Or so she hoped.
A hope that was swiftly dashed not more than five minutes later.
“I meant to tell you, Portia,” said William after he and Jim finally got Bessie going again. “Headquarters are sending us another reinforcement! An upstanding and up-and-coming young chap, by all accounts, who has impressed the top brass no end. He expressly asked to work with us too and seems to have all the skills we need. I am reliably informed that he has a way with words, just like you do, and isn’t a pitchfork wielder, so I have high hopes for him.”
Her heart sank.
So much for her proving herself here. How was she supposed to do that after helping to edit just one edition if they were already sending her replacement?
“That is good news.” She managed to smile rather than stamp her feet like she wanted to. “What role do you envisage him taking?” She hoped that was a subtle enough way of asking if she was already out of the job without throwing a justified tantrum on the blatant unfairness rife within the United League for Reform as well as in the country.
“He’s quite an adaptable and affable sort, or so I’m assured, so I am sure he can turn his hand to most things. I’ll leave you to put him through his paces to see where he best fits though.”
“Me?” She hadn’t expected that. Nor fully understood what that meant.
“Of course,” said Sir William. “Seeing as I have already had to pull rank today, the power has quite gone to my head, as power always does, so I feel inclined to delegate.” He grinned before he wandered back to the printing press while flicking a dismissive hand. “I do notwant the bother of teaching him the ropes. Especially as he’ll be your assistant, Portia.” He inserted a blank page into Bessie to test that they were ready to go, and then heaved the platen down. “Although if I were you, the first job I would give him is sorting out this office. Your expressive face does a very poor job of hiding how much all the disorganized clutter annoys you.”
Chapter
EIGHT
Constable Nolley was an angry fellow at the best of times, but this evening he was positively incandescent with rage. So red and seething that it was a wonder he wasn’t already foaming at the mouth.
Oblivious of little Barkington, who, as an impeccable judge of character, was growling at him in warning, Nolley practically screamed, “They have gone too far this time!” His hands were balled into tight fists, and it was only a matter of time before one of those fists punched Leo’s desk. “We cannot allow those dangerous radicals to continue to publish treason in our city!” Sensing an imminent display of violence too, Snifferson, who hated a raised voice almost as much as Barkington hated the constable, immediately sought refuge beneath the desk, not caring that he had to roughly barge past Leo’s legs to do it.
