Page 34 of Enlightened

“Of course not.”

“Have some ale. I’ll be back.”

Euan led Elizabeth out of the room and into the bedchamber next door. The house was so tiny David could still hear her ragged weeping, the sound of her sorrow interspersed with the soothing rumble of Euan’s voice as he comforted her.

David sat at the little kitchen table, nursing his ale, half listening to the indistinct song of Elizabeth’s grief through the wall. The worst passed, fading first to hiccoughing sobs, then to silence. Still David waited, tracing the scars on the ancient table with his fingertips and trying his best not to think of his own troubles—of Murdo and the woman he was promised to. Of the months of silence Murdo had maintained, no hint of the truth passing his lips. And of the world that would part David from Murdo anyway, when David had to return to his own life.

At last, Euan returned. He looked weary to the very bone. He took his seat at the table beside David and poured himself another glass of ale.

“How is she?” David asked.

“She’s been waiting for the news about her father for weeks,” he said. “She knew it was coming. But it was still a shock to her to get it.”

“We never really believe it till it happens,” David agreed. They drank together, a silent toast.

“I wish I’d met him,” Euan said after a while. “I’d’ve liked to have shaken his hand, just once.”

“He was a good man,” David said. “You’d have liked him.”

“He certainly raised his daughter to be a fine woman.”

“He did that.”

David glanced at the clock. It was after ten and very dark out. “I should go.” He sighed. “I meant to be away long before now. It’s late.”

Euan frowned. “You can’t go, Davy. Stay the night. It’s far too late to be out walking on your own on these streets, especially with you being a stranger to London.”

David opened his mouth to protest, but then he remembered how long the walk here had been. He wasn’t sure he could bear it all the way back, not with his leg aching as it was now, and Euan was right about how late it was.

And then there was the fact that he didn’t want to face Murdo yet.

For a moment, he hesitated, wondering if Murdo might be concerned at him not returning, but then, he reasoned, Murdo would be far more incensed at the idea of him walking through the strange dark streets on his own.

“All right,” he conceded. “But where am I to sleep?”

“I’ll make you up a bed in the parlour,” Euan said. “Will you be all right on the floor?”

David pasted on a smile. “Of course,” he lied.

At some point in the early hours, David reflected that he had grown far too used to featherbeds. All night, he tossed and turned on the floor. The hard surface was barely cushioned by the blankets Euan had laid down to form a makeshift mattress. By the time dawn broke, he felt like he’d barely slept an hour and his hip throbbed.

He was lying on his back, willing himself back to sleep, when Euan tiptoed into the parlour.

“Sorry to disturb you,” Euan whispered. “I need my notebook. I’m going up to Regent’s Canal to speak to some of the workers there.”

“For a story?” David asked, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes.

“Yes. About the working conditions.”

“Not to praise them, I take it?”

Euan’s only answer was a derisive snort.

“How’sFlint’sdoing?” David asked.Flint’s Political Registerwas the paper Euan worked for, a radical periodical, popular amongst ordinary people and hated by the government.

“It’s selling well,” Euan said, “which has its drawbacks. We’ve not had a raid for a while, but you can’t get complacent. We’ll be moving the press again next month. We always have to try to stay a step ahead.” Anxiety clouded his eyes. “My greatest worry is that somehow my working forFlint’smay bring Lizzie to someone’s attention. Kinnell is involved in politics—in the margins, it is true, but he is a government supporter and, as you know, our little rag has attracted some unwelcome attention from that quarter.”

David sat up, frowning. “You have to be careful. You know Kinnell’s already been in London looking for Elizabeth. Have you considered moving elsewhere? There are other papers. Other cities.”