‘As for you …’ Frobisher caught him by the scruff of the neck. ‘You’ll answer for all this in the morning, and you’ll regret your disobedience, I promise you. Now get to bed!’

Gus lowered his head and plodded back towards the building. What punishment Frobisher had in store for him he could only guess at, but he had not forgotten the sting of the governor’s cane. Could there be worse than that? He found Murray blocking his way.

‘Got you this time, girly!’ he crowed triumphantly.

Gus looked at him. There were no words that he knew to express his feelings. ‘You … you traitor,’ he muttered eventually. Then he pushed past him and went inside.

In bed he lay rigid with fear. The events of the night had worn him out, but as soon as he closed his eyes he saw Will’s ashen face; and if he drifted into a doze he was jerked out of it by terrifying images of what might happen to him when morning came. All too soon it grew light and the boys began to rouse. Gus did not have long to wait. One of the masters opened the door and shouted, ‘Lavender?’

‘Here, sir.’

‘Governor’s office, now!’

The governor was not alone. Mr Frobisher was with him. He caught Gus by the collar and dragged him forward. ‘This is the boy, Governor.’

The governor peered at Gus. ‘You again? Did I not punish you for presuming to interfere only a day or two ago? Mr Frobisher tells me you were caught last night in the grounds with another boy. He thinks you were attempting to run away. Do you not understand what an act of disobedience and downright ingratitude that is? Explain yourself.’

‘Please, sir, we had to get away. Mr Frobisher sent Will to pick oakum. He’s got something wrong with his chest and it was making him ill. I told you that. Please, sir, how is Will? Is he all right?’

The governor and Frobisher exchanged looks, then the governor said, ‘Will is dead. He died during the night.’

‘Dead?’ Gus repeated. It was too much to take in.

‘Yes!’ Frobisher said. ‘And it is all your fault. If you had not encouraged him to attempt such a foolish escape, if you had not taken him out in the night air, when you knew already that his lungs were affected …’

‘It’s not! It’s not!’ Gus hurled himself across the room and beat at Frobisher’s chest with his fists. ‘It’s you! You made him do things! He hated it and when he refused you sent him to the oakum room.’

‘What? How dare you accuse me?’ Frobisher fended him off and the governor grabbed his arms and held him still.

‘What do you mean, boy, by “made him do things”?’ he demanded. ‘What “things”?’

‘I don’t know.’ Gus was weeping now. ‘He wouldn’t tell me. Bad things, horrible things …’