Only once did she pause, for a moment or two, at Reade Street, to look into the handsome windows of A. T. Stewart’s Dry Goods Store. She didn’t go past it often, but who could resist peeping at the calicos and silks, the beautiful gloves and shawls set out there? Once, she’d even dared to go in and look at some of the ladies’ underwear they kept in drawers behind the counter. Such lovely lacy things. Not that she could think of buying them, of course. But it gave her a thrill, just to look.

She paused not even a minute, and was turning to hurry on, when she felt a hand clamp upon her shoulder.

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” she cried.

“Going somewhere?” asked the devil.

“Mind your own business.”

“You said you had to work late.”

“The manager changed his mind.”

“Don’t lie to me, Mary. I always know when you’re lying. I’ve been following you all the way from Fraunces Tavern,” her brother Sean said.

“You’re the devil all right,” she said.

She couldn’t remember when she’d first given Sean his nickname. A long time ago. The devil. It suited him. She could never be sure what he was up to, and often it was better not to know. He was only sixteen when he first killed a man—or so it was rumored. For when people were killed in Five Points, their bodies usually disappeared. Anyway, his reputation had helped him in his career.

Not that he was anything but a kind brother to her—she couldn’t deny it—but he was always wanting to control her. And that she couldn’t tolerate.

“So where are you going? You may as well tell me, since I’m sure to find out.”

“Damn you to hell.”

“You’re too late for that, I should think,” he said cheerfully.

“I’m looking for a position.”

“I told you there’s a job at Lord & Taylor,” he reminded her. “It’s a good store. Doing well.”

But Lord & Taylor was in Catherine Street, which was too near to Five Points. She didn’t want to go there. Anyway, she wanted something entirely different.

“I’m going into service,” she said. “In a decent house.”

“Does Father know?”

“No,” she answered, “I haven’t told him.”

“Well,” said Sean, “I can’t blame you for that.”