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Chapter 27
A horse having once attained the fifth degree of motion goes on with blind speed, regardless of pits, ditches, and posts in his way.
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana
Nick’s heart sped as he stared up at the ivy-covered façade of the Yellow House. Dressed in so much green, you couldn’t tell the old girl was dripping with the pox and rotten as they came.
“How are you doing?” Alice whispered.
Nick nodded in a way he hoped was reassuring, not trusting his voice.
The yard was large and well maintained. A group of patients huddled against the wall with an attendant watching over them.
They were all clothed but their faces were vacant and slack-jawed.
It was indescribably sad, and Nick’s chest constricted.
Patrick and Dr. Forster had gone ahead to find Annie and bring her to safety while Coleman was occupied with Nick and Lear.
Nick strode through the door with Alice on one side and Lear on the other.
If her way didn’t work, Nick and Lear would be ready to use their fists.
A keeper stared at them, but he had his hands full with an unruly patient.
There was a smell in the baseboards that no scrubbing would remove. The smell of desperation and fear and lives curtailed.
He’d expected there to be shouting, but the eerie silence was worse. Black lines danced at the edges of his vision, but Alice slipped her hand into his, and that gave him the courage to go deeper into the cursed building.
Coleman met them as they crossed from the hallway into one of the dining halls.
“You can’t just come here as you please, Lord Hatherly,” he said loudly. “You’ve no invitation and I’ve been given no advance notice of your visit.”
“I have an invitation.” Nick thrust a paper at Coleman, hoping he didn’t examine it too closely. Patrick’s forgery had been hastily done. “A writ to visit this institution on behalf of the Duke of Harland, who plans to present the report of my observations to Parliament at the next session.”
“I’ve heard nothing of this.”
“Why don’t you want us to come in?” Alice asked in an imperious, duchesslike tone. “What are you hiding, sir?”
“Is this your wife, Lord Hatherly? You bring a lady into these walls? There are things here that are unsuitable for a lady’s eyes. Nakedness. Depravity.”
“She’s not any lady. She’s Alice,” Nick said. Was that the right thing to say? He felt confused. His breathing labored. His thoughts muddled.
“And we’re not just any visitors. We’re the ones that will make your life a living hell if you refuse to let us enter,” Lear said.
Coleman took one look at Lear, with his narrowed, dark eyes and clenched fists, and decided to comply.
“There’s no problem here, gentlemen.” Coleman held up his hands. “There’s a visiting physician here right now, in fact. A Dr. Forster. I freely allow legitimate visitations. I have nothing to hide. Follow me, please.”
The abrupt about-face didn’t fool Nick. He knew the second their backs were turned, Coleman would send a message to his keepers to sweep the worst offenses under the rug before they arrived.
Alice threaded her arm through his elbow, and it wasn’t so that he could support her.
She wanted to show him that he could count on her.
He wasn’t sure it would be enough. His mind was muzzy with panic. He knew the hideous secrets these walls his from the world.
Ringing sensation in his ears.
