“The way you went in after him,” Tom said. “The sea was so rough that day, and you were under the water for so long. Justin and I despaired of you. But every time you came up, you went back down again—for longer and longer. Minutes at a time. It was miraculous. The most heroic thing I’ve ever seen. To this day, I still don’t know how you did it.”

“Do you want to know how I did it?” The words burst from Alex in a rush of whispered fury. “How I was able to swim so deep—to hold my breath for so long? It’s because I didn’t care whether I lived or died anymore. I was ready to drown down there. To let the sea take me. Anything to get away.”

Tom went white about the mouth. “Who was it? I want a name.”

“A friend of Crenshaw’s from Bournemouth. A man called Morley. He used to come to the shop to buy opium. Crenshaw supplied him with that, and more. Morley sold the drugs on the street for a profit. Crenshaw would have done anything to oblige him, even given him access to his apprentice.”

“Did he—?”

“No,” Alex said. “But his interest was plain. He made remarks. Little gibes about my appearance. How strapping I was. How handsome. And then one day he touched me. It was naught but a squeeze of the shoulder—and a lewd whisper in my ear. But later I saw him huddled with Crenshaw. Heard them mention my name. Crenshaw was going to give me to him. To work for Morley, he said. To live with him. I may have been just a lad, but I knew what was going to happen to me. And I knew then that I had to get out of there.”

“You should have told us.”

“Three orphan boys? What could any of you have done?” Alex scoffed at the idea. “No. There was no one to tell. No one who would have believed me. And even if they had…who on earth would have cared?”

Tom leaned across the table. “We would have cared. Justin, Neville, and I. Damnation, Alex. You could have told me. You didn’t have to break my blasted nose.”

“I was terrified. When you said we should wait—that we should talk to Justin about what to do next—I saw red. You were holding my future in the balance. My very life, to debate at your and Justin’s leisure.”

“That’s not what I—”

“That’s how it seemed.”

“You were in a frenzy.”