Page 52 of The Laudanum Ladies' Society

She walked away from Wolf to the small park and sat on the bench. By Sunday, the weather might be better. A brass band would be playing. Children would be enjoying what little sunshine there was for an hour of freedom. Perhaps she might even bring Archibald here if he was feeling able to walk this far. And now Sunday would have another purpose for her, and she would have to decide what to do. She put herhead in her hands and tried not to think about the repercussions. Everything had become awfully difficult and the web she was tangled in felt inescapable.

She needed to speak to Jenny as a matter of urgency, so after dinner (a pair of pork chops for Archibald that he gnawed with his bare hands) Gwen plucked up the courage to break the heavy silence.

‘I need to go out.’

Archibald shrugged. ‘Do as you like.’

Gwen bit the inside of her lip. It was late, and the old Archibald would not have tolerated her leaving the house when it was growing dark without him– and he would have hadenough curiosity to ask where she was going. This was further evidence that he had apparently given up interest in life.

‘I have a meeting with the Women’s Friends Society,’ she continued.

‘Very good, Mrs Walters. I am pleased you have found some friendship to take you out of the house. That will be a comfort to me when I am gone to my grave,’ Archibald replied sarcastically.

‘Really, Archibald! You talk as if death is knocking on your door when the truth is nothing of the sort.’

He turned away abruptly, so she left him alone with his thoughts. Thanks to this discussion, though, Gwen missed the first trolley bus and did not arrive at the stop for Jenny’s house until almost eight o’clock. Her irritation worsened when she remembered that it was Thursday, the day that Jenny always had an evening engagement. It was likely Gwen had missed her. She hurried her pace, rounding the corner into the square and almost collided bodily with a tall young man who was walking along whistling to himself. They both sidestepped and murmured apologies. Gwen was about to carry on, but instead raised her head to look at her obstacle, and her heart almost gave out. The young man wore a high collar and a bowler hat that partially shaded his forehead. His neat moustache and sideburns concealed most of his face, but the eyes were a pair Gwen knew well. Her mouth dropped open in surprise.

‘Jenny?’

Chapter Sixteen

‘Pardon me, madam.’ Jenny’s heart thudded with shock. She tilted her hat forward and made to move past Gwen, but she was under no illusion that she had been recognised.

‘What on earth are you doing, Jenny?’ Gwen asked. She stepped into Jenny’s path intentionally and gestured to her clothes.

Jenny gave up her pretence and her shoulders sagged. She tilted her hat back and looked at Gwen.

‘What are you doing here at this time of night?’ she asked.

‘Never mind what I am doing, what are you doing dressed in such an outlandish manner?’ Gwen asked.

She crossed her arms and cocked her head, placing herself in the centre of the narrow pavement and Jenny saw there was no hope of avoiding the discussion. It was rotten luck that she had been discovered, but at least Gwen might be compelled to keep her secret, given that Jenny knew enough of Gwen’s. She glanced back over her shoulder. Uncle Conrad’s butler had been given an evening off to visit his sick father and would be leaving thehouse soon. Meeting Gwen was bad enough but encountering him would be disastrous.

‘Not here. It’s too close to my uncle’s house,’ she said. ‘Keep walking with me a little further and I’ll explain.’

She looped her arm through Gwen’s and they walked back in the direction Gwen had come. Someone had thoughtfully put a stone bench near the water pump, so they sat side by side. The street was busy for the time of night, but no one gave them a second glance since they looked like a couple of no particular consequence. Even though Jenny was filled with dismay at having been discovered, she still felt a twinge of pride that she passed among strangers unnoticed.

‘Is this what you do every Thursday?’ Gwen asked.

‘Not every week, but when I get the opportunity,’ Jenny admitted. ‘I go to the theatre or to public lectures. I’ve been doing it for years now and I’ve never been discovered. What terrible luck that you should call tonight.’

She sounded dejected.

‘I’m not going to let your secret out,’ Gwen huffed. She adjusted her gloves and looked Jenny up and down. ‘I think it’s rather admirable, actually, and if I hadn’t almost collided with you, I wouldn’t have given you a second glance. There’s even something different about the way you walk. More of a swagger, an increased confidence.’

‘You aren’t scandalised?’

‘A little, but less than I would have expected to be, had anyone suggested such a thing beforehand. I take it that Mr Rosewood is at home snoozing after taking his tincture. No wonder you were so keen that he didn’t run out of it.’

Gwen laughed, and Jenny beamed. The sheer relief was as intoxicating as the tincture.

‘Where should you be going tonight?’

Jenny narrowed her eyes, but apparently Gwen was being sincere.

‘To a lecture on the life of Lady Hester Stanhope and her travels in Sidon.’ She sighed. ‘Can you imagine how daring she must have been, and what sights she saw?’

‘That sounds fascinating. I’m sorry I’ve stopped you going.’