His signature upon the false certificate was such a perfect copy of the one she’d saved from his burnt letter that she doubted whether he’d have known himself he did not sign it. If the directors of the African Company wished to compare it to any document he might have signed in their offices, they’d find that it matched.

Watching while Henry now took all the papers and fastened them into a file, Lily told him, “Archie will be furious when he learns we are gone. Come with us. It would not take more than a couple of hours to draw documents for ye, or else if ye like we can just bring the paper and ink and I’ll write them tomorrow, when we’ve found a safe place to lodge.”

Henry shook his head. “I will be fine. And besides, ye will need me to aim Archie elsewhere, to buy ye the time to get free of him. Where are ye not headed?”

Lily considered this. “North. We are not going north.”

“Then I’ll tell Archie ye told Maggie tales of Inchbrakie this week,” Henry said. “That will not be a lie, but it may keep him looking in the wrong direction.”

Things moved swiftly, after that.

Henry helped to waken Maggie and he carried her downstairs because they did not dare leave any lights but one half-shuttered lamp to burn within the downstairs rooms, lest Archie see they were awake so late and wonder why. That was the thing with Archie—although he was in the Paunchmarket, his eyes and spies were everywhere, as Lily had well learned. It made her nervous. Outside in the close, a door slammed closed, and Lily held her breath until the briskly clipping footsteps had receded out of hearing.

Maggie grumbled only slightly while she dressed. “Why must I wear both of my petticoats at once?” she asked.

Lily hushed her. “It is simpler than carrying them.” She, too, wore two petticoats, and two shifts beneath that, and Barbara’s old straw hat with the brown ribbon tied securely on her head. Besides the file of papers, she carried a bundle of their clothing, neatly wrapped around their few books and belongings. When they reached a safer place, she’d buy a proper chest to store them in for traveling, but for tonight she’d have to take no more than she could carry in her arms.

Maggie had Dolly, who was also dressed for travel in her yellow gown and blue cloak, with the heart-shaped wire brooch hidden beneath it. “Is it Saturday already?” she asked, sleepily.

A floorboard creaked behind them in the passage. Lily jumped, and turned, expecting to see Archie standing there, but it was nothing. Just the old house settling.

“Almost,” she told Maggie in a low voice. “And we’ll have to walk a ways to meet the coach.” There would be time for her to share the truth with Maggie—all the truth—when they were somewhere safe. For now, a few more hours of ignorance could surely do no harm. She heard her grandmother’s approving voice say, “Let her keep her childhood.”