But at the final exhibit – the menagerie’s pièce de résistance – even she could not look away. The sight of an elephant in the small upper chamber of a building just off the Strand was, obviously, somewhat out of the ordinary. Mary pushed with the rest of the crowd, was buffeted, bruised – at one point, lifted clear from the ground – until at last she found herself pressed to the cage. And there her eyes met with those of not only the largest, nor just the most magnificent, but also the unhappiest creature she had ever beheld.

While he thrashed with his trunk and bellowed out his frustration, Mary’s heart spilled over with a feeling of fellowship. He, too, was trapped. He, too, was the victim of a malign higher force. He, too, was destined to live in eternal—

Suddenly, Booker’s elbow dug into her ribs. ‘Quick, miss! There – over there, by the back wall! Hurry, while they’re all still occupied.’

What could it— Surely not – he could not be here? Pulse throbbing at her throat, Mary turned, pushed. The crowds parted before her. And there, indeed, leaning quite happily, as if idly waiting for no one in particular – with his feet crossed at the ankle and dear head tilted in greeting – stood Mr Knight.

‘How did you—’ she began.

‘No time for all that. We only have minutes. It has been almost insufferable – merely to glimpse you—’

She dropped her handkerchief, took a step forward and each stared at the other. Discreetly, he picked up the bait and stretched out a hand. While his eye scanned the room, he found, with his fingertip, the space on her wrist at the hem of her glove: flesh met with flesh. Mary shuddered with longing and feared she might faint.

Instead, quickly she gathered herself and spoke in a rush. ‘My aunt, Lady Banks, is happy to receive us. Together. In Portland Place. We can be alone!’

‘Then God bless the lady,’ he said, though with a look quite as sad as the elephant’s. ‘And how much do I long for it. Sadly, I must quit Town tonight. It will be mid-March, I fear, before I can come here again. My darling! ’ He bit his lip then, looked quite close to fearful. ‘I hardly dare ask, but do you still wait for me? Will you still wait for me?’

‘Oh, my dear sir!’ The idea she might not made her smile. ‘I will never—’

But her speech was interrupted. The chime of the hour brought with it a surge of incomers. The mass moved like an organ in the throes of convulsion. The boys were spewed out from their places, fetched up beside Mary.

And Ned was nowhere to be seen.

‘Honour thy father and mother;’ Sir Edward intoned, ‘which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.’