Page 35 of The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House

Gazing into the speckled glass of her hand mirror at nineteen, she accepted that she’d never marry.

What did life hold for her? And then a pinch-faced Katerina Ballard had been invited to their tiny cottage and given her father the princely sum of twenty pounds to take his daughter on the road with them.

She promised the girl would be clothed, fed and experience the most incredible sights outside her small life in the outskirts of Chesterfield.

Given the choice between her continued isolation and the opportunity to be a cog, however inconsequential, in a machine that drew crowds, made people gasp and laugh, and received rapturous rounds of applause – the decision was not so difficult, after all.

Her father didn’t kiss her the day she left and she made no promises to correspond – her literacy was basic and his was non-existent, so there was no point. And the last ten years had indeed been filled with wonder and adventure, even though her life was far from easy.

So, she absolutely understood the curiosity of the young girl sneaking about the waggon.

The child hadn’t flinched when Mallory dropped her hood. Instead, with the innocent and wondrous way that children look at the world, she pulled up her skirts and rolled down her left stocking to show a frightfully scarred shin.

‘I spilt scalding kettle water down me last year when I tripped on the kitchen tiles.’ It was as though she was playing a game of snap – one disfigurement to match another.

She shrugged and then her mind flitted back to her fascination with the circus, as though they’d merely announced a shared interest in stamp collecting.

‘Tell me what it’s like,’ she begged, pointing back to the handbill, and Mallory found her enthusiasm infectious.

‘The main tent is really something when it’s all set up for a performance,’ Mallory said, no longer conscious of her face, and allowing the weak November sun to fall across her imperfect skin.

‘It’s a gigantic waterproof canvas supported by huge pine poles, anchored down with thick ropes and long iron stakes.

The men’ll start to put it up this afternoon when the grass has dried out a little.

Inside, when we’re performing, we set out rows of wooden benches that can seat nearly two hundred people.

In the centre is an oval ring, where the shows take place, but we also have smaller tents for the fortune telling and the Living Wonders, like me.

I’m there to be looked at and have no special talents.

Although, sometimes, I help with the magic tricks and do a comedy turn.

My face rather lends itself to mockery…’

‘Who’s Rag Doll Sally? Is she really a doll?’

Mallory smiled. ‘No, she’s a woman who can twist herself into the most unnatural shapes. Her husband, the stilt walker, gets her out of a tiny box and throws her about, as if she’s a rag doll. It’s very clever.’

‘And the tightrope walker?’

‘Zella. She’s a marvel.’ Mallory’s smile stretched from ear to ear.

‘The tight wire is set twenty feet off the ground and she carries a long pole as she skips across it. Sometimes she’s paired with Cupid – he’s a dwarf and shoots targets with a bow and arrow, including firing at a red silk heart held aloft by her as she walks across the sky with a rose between her teeth.

And when all the torches are lit, the flickering light makes the whole space feel magical. ’

It was one of Mallory’s jobs to make the tiny heart-shaped cushions and stuff them with horsehair or straw – a task that would fill the long winter evenings ahead.

She also made the artificial roses from starched fabric and wire, and knew she was valued as much for her sewing skills as her bizarre looks.

‘And if she should fall?’

Mallory shrugged. It wasn’t something she wanted to contemplate.

‘I guess the danger adds to the thrill of it all. Everyone is fully aware it’s a possibility.

The Caley sisters do breathtaking somersaults and flips on the backs of our trick horses, Star and Beauty, as they trot around the ring, and any slip on their part would be just as catastrophic.

Katerina wants Zella to be part of their act next season, because she is uncommonly pretty and our leading light. ’

Samson often watched his daughter from the sidelines – his eyes shining with pride. She was his princess, so the unexpected pregnancy had been particularly hard for him. But that was thankfully behind them now.

‘I wish I could see such sights.’ The girl sighed and picked at her nails.

‘My life’s so small. I’ve never travelled further than Cromer.

The most exciting thing that ever happens about these parts is things washing up on the shore from a shipwreck – some barrels of honey turned up once – but no one does tricks or magic, and everywhere smells of fish.

’ She wrinkled up her nose and they both laughed.

‘Ah, but I’d never seen the sea until I was nearly twenty.

Imagine that. And you’ve had that pleasure all your life.

’ Mallory looked at the child’s sulky face.

‘Look, how about I sneak you in the back of the big tent when they’re all rehearsing one afternoon?

It’s not quite the same, but you’d get an idea of our performances. ’

The returned smile was almost as wide as her freckled face.

‘Truly?’

‘Truly. But you must be silent and keep out of sight or I’ll get into a great deal of trouble.’

They shook hands and arranged to meet the following day, when Mallory would show the curious little girl with the small life all the wonders of the circus in the big tent.