Not that His Lordship seemed too affected by it all. Beside me Vincent slept on, his breaths long and even. Sometimes it irked me that he slept so deeply. You could tell he’d never had to get up and flit at a moment’s notice, never had to wonder who might have blundered into his room by mistake because he shared a house with five other families all doing whatever it took to earn their bread. But it was hard to stay irritated by him when he looked as handsome as he did now. His chest rising and falling. What did it matter whether we went east or west down the river? He’d never offered to take me out like this before and, when it came down to it, that was what counted. I’d been holding him at arm’s length but it was six months now since he’d first asked me out. Maybe it was time to stop clinging to the past and see if I could love again. Not in that same heedless way I’d loved Eustace. But I liked Vincent and not just for his money.

I climbed out of bed and picked up the clothes he’d thrown on the floor. Mrs Bradley had been a laundress. It had become a force of habit to notice the degree of starch that had gone into every item of clothing, to protect all garments from unwanted creases, but as I folded his shirt I heard a voice in my ear, my mother’s. Never be a maid, she’d said, and I let the shirt fall from my hand again. Tonight Vincent had called me his Princess. If that’s how he saw me now, there was no call to play the servant. My overcoat was draped over the back of a chair. I felt in the pocket for Lucien’s card and drew it out. Winters the Grocer’s, 41 Charles II Street. I knew that road. It was a twenty-minute walk away. Less if you cut through the park. Vincent stirred and I threw a quick look over my shoulder, but thankfully he hadn’t woken. He’d have wondered what I was doing with the card and I didn’t want to explain it to him. Whatever had come over me last night talking to Lucien meant nothing. I tore the card in half, then half again, and kept going. When it had been reduced to more than twenty pieces, I threw them on the fire. For a moment I watched as the flames turned the tiny strips of paper into ash, then I made my way back to bed.