‘You’re early?’ he said and then, when he noticed how I scratched at my arms, ‘Spent the night at the Rookery, did you?’

‘I’ll be back with Vincent tonight,’ I said. ‘He was here just now.’

‘You can’t take him for granted.’

‘I won’t, Barky.’

The night in St Giles had reminded me how lucky I’d been to find a way out. Only three short weeks away and I’d let myself forget what it was like there, how squalid it was, how full of memories. Vincent was my path to better things. The feelings I had for him were nothing like my love for Eustace, and would never be, but I wasn’t a foolish girl waiting for her head to be turned, I was a survivor who needed to be practical. If Crillick had a new act, I would fight to keep top billing. If some debutante was making eyes at Vincent, I’d see her off. I knew what I wanted: to carve out a life for myself away from the slums and, from now on, I wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of that.

XII

Crillick’s Surprise

Sunday rolled around, the day of Marcus Crillick’s party, and despite my best efforts, I was still no nearer to finding out what his surprise was to be. All I had gleaned was that it was to be the highpoint of the evening after drinks and a buffet dinner. The day before I had even asked Ellen, but though she knew nothing about it either she’d had quite a bit to say about the guest list.

We’d been gossiping about Crillick and Vincent as we got ready for the evening’s performance. It almost felt like old times, but she couldn’t resist putting in one of the barbs that, by now, I should have become accustomed to.

‘You know who’ll be at the party tomorrow night?’

From her tone I knew she was aiming to get a rise out of me and so I tried to head her off.

‘No one God-fearing, seeing as it’s on a Sunday.’

‘Marcus gets bored on Sunday evenings – you know his set don’t care for the conventions,’ Ellen said.

There was silence for a minute, but when she realised I wasn’t going to answer her original question in earnest she burst out, ‘Henrietta Alexander will be there.’

This was the woman Crillick had mentioned at breakfast, who Vincent had maybe had dinner with earlier in the week, but I refused to give Ellen the satisfaction of seeing that she had me worried.

‘Should I know who she is?’

‘Only one of the most beautiful women in London, and an heiress to boot. Marcus says she has her eye on Vincent.’