A little way behind me I heard the chimes of Big Ben. Still only eleven o’clock. Barky wouldn’t thank me if I interrupted him in the midst of rehearsals. Best to try and catch him when the performers took their break around lunchtime. That meant I had a couple of hours, and Charles II Street where Lucien kept his shop was not far from here. I could satisfy my curiosity about him and the scheme for the Black Poor in one fell swoop. A little visit couldn’t hurt if no one found out about it.

IX

A Visit to Charles II Street

Charles II Street was just off Haymarket so the walk from Crillick’s house took less than twenty minutes. Close as it was, I’d never been there. Usually, I tried to avoid this part of town. It wasn’t that it held memories as such – I’d been young and my recollections were hazy – but it felt strange knowing that I had once lived around here when my mother was in service. Maybe once I’d known the name of the road, but I didn’t now and since Mrs Bradley had died there’d been no one I could check with, even if I’d wanted to.

The house had been tall, five storeys at least. That much I could recall. I’d played a game, seeing how fast I could run up and down the back stairs before the second housekeeper shouted at me for making too much noise. We hadn’t gone out much, hadn’t been allowed to. Don’t dredge up the past, Zillah. Whatever had happened then, I was walking around freely now and in a fancy outfit no less.

I walked along past number 19, number 30. As I got closer, I slowed down. It wouldn’t do to arrive glowing and breathless. What does it matter if you’re not trying to impress him? Butcher’s, milliner’s, and there it was just as he’d said, a double-fronted shop with his name on the sign above the door in gilded letters. I’d never known a Black to have his own shop, especially in such a nice part of town. Who was this Lucien Winters, really? He certainly wasn’t one of the Black Poor that his handbill had been addressed to. But then neither was I and, though we’d shared barely a moment a week and a half ago, it felt important that he knew that. I couldn’t think of another reason for him to feel sorry for me. I set my shoulders and went in, determined to satisfy my curiosity.