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Jack kissed her on the cheek. ‘Of course I will. My rooms are not far from here. You’ll be safe with me.’
Gervase squared his shoulders. ‘You’re not going anywhere with this uncouth fellow, Nancy. I don’t know how you come to be friendly with a butcher from Clare Market, but you are with me.’
‘No, Gervase. I asked you half a dozen times to take me back to the Academy and you refused. Mr Wilkins might be a butcher but he’s twice the gentleman you are.’ She turned to Jedidiah. ‘I would be most grateful for a lift in your cart, Mr Wilkins.’
Jedidiah led her through the long narrow bar to a door at the back of the building. Outside there were a number of carriages and horses being held by tired, ragged boys, who would be lucky to get a farthing for their trouble.
‘Well, miss, how come you were with such a raffish fellow? I’m sure Miss Patricia wouldn’t approve.’ Jedidiah helped her onto the driver’s seat and climbed up beside her, taking the reins from a small child. He tossed a coin to the boy. ‘Don’t give it to your old man, Sidney. He’ll spend it on liquor.’
The boy caught the penny deftly and pocketed it with a grin. ‘Ta, Jed.’
‘Mr Wilkins to you, you cheeky guttersnipe.’ Jedidiah laughed as he flicked the reins and the horse ambled forward.
‘You’re right, Jedidiah,’ Nancy said, shivering. ‘Patricia would be horrified. It was a mistake, that’s all I can say.’
‘You’re cold, miss. I’ll never know why you young ladies don’t wrap up warm.’ He reached for an old horse blanket and wrapped it around Nancy’s shoulders. ‘It’s a bit smelly but it will keep out the cold.’
Nancy nodded, trying not to wrinkle her nose. No doubt the coarse wool was full of fleas but she could feel the warmth seeping through her bones and she did not complain.
‘Well, you’re safe now, miss,’ Jedidiah said as he guided the horse through the narrow alley towards the Strand. ‘I’ve often wondered what happened to you two young ladies.’
‘Patricia married Leo Wilder, and I’ve gone back to school, in a manner of speaking.’
‘Nice chap – Leo. I got a great deal of respect for him. They was well suited, in my humble opinion. So the little nightingale ain’t singing no more?’
‘No, Patricia is a happily married lady and she’s back with the family in Rockwood. We had an adventure in Paris and nearly got arrested in a jewel robbery, but Leo saved us. It all seems so long ago now.’
‘And now they sent you back to school. Ain’t you a bit old for lessons, girl?’
Nancy laughed. ‘You could say that, but it’s not that sort of school. I’m learning to be a young lady.’
Jedidiah sniffed. ‘You are a lady already. You don’t need no schooling in it.’
‘Thank you, but my guardians think I do, and I could hardly refuse to do as they ask. They’ve been very good to me over the years.’
Jedidiah grunted and concentrated on the road ahead. Nancy huddled in the warm, if scratchy, folds of the blanket and closed her eyes.
When they arrived at the Academy, Jedidiah drove the cart round to the servants’ entrance in the mews and, as luck would have it, Watkins had waited up for Eleanora and, although she was half asleep, she unlocked the door to admit Nancy.
‘Go to bed now, Watkins,’ Nancy said gently. ‘Miss Eleanora won’t be coming back tonight.’
‘She made me promise, miss.’
‘She’s staying with friends in town. She asked me to send you to bed and to thank you for waiting up for so long.’
Watkins eyed her suspiciously. ‘Miss Eleanora never says thank you, no matter what I does for her.’
‘Well, there’s always a first time, Watkins. Go to bed and get some sleep.’
Watkins nodded and ambled off towards the back stairs, leaving Nancy to make her way through the silent building to her own room. She managed to undress and get into bed without waking Tamara, but although she was exhausted she found that sleep evaded her. It was hard to believe that she had allowed Gervase to charm her into doing something that she would normally have rejected out of hand. Eleanora might find it exciting to break all the rules but Nancy had been raised strictly, first by the women in the orphanage and then by Mrs Shaw. Even when Rosalind took her to Rockwood Castle, there had been Hester to contend with, followed by the rigours of the expensive boarding school. But Nancy was no rebel, and she longed to be back in her old room at the castle with its faded grandeur and ill-fitting windows. She fell asleep as the first grey light of dawn filtered through the window.
Eleanora returned halfway through the deportment lesson next morning. Miss Sharp sent her straight to the principal’s office, and everyone waited expectantly for the outcome of the interview. Nancy was still tired after their escapade last evening and she was surprised that no one had noticed her absence. While Miss Sharp was busy berating Eleanora, Tamara explained in whispers that a fight had broken out at the ball last night between two young gentlemen who had added a flask of brandy to the fruit punch. They had drunk deeply and then fallen out over who would ask Lady Jane for the next waltz. Lady Jane had refused them both, but they had blamed each other and punches had been exchanged. Mr Poppleton sent for a constable and the ball had come to an abrupt end.
‘William brought me back here,’ Tamara added, smiling. ‘Everyone else had to make their own way, and it was utter confusion.’
‘So no one noticed that I wasn’t there?’ Nancy glanced round the room at the young ladies who were practising rising gracefully from a chair while balancing a book on their heads.
‘No, you got away with it, and so did Eleanora until she chose to walk in this morning as if nothing was amiss.’
