Page 42 of The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House

Three days later, the troupe sat down to eat their evening meal inside the tent, as it was wet and windy outside.

Mallory was feeding Esfir, who was happily perched on Hazibub’s lap.

Both Ballard girls looked upon him as a grandfather figure, partly due to his age, but partly because he’d brought Esfir into this world.

Zella had gone into labour when they were travelling between Nottingham and Derby and, as unusual as it was for a man to deliver a baby, the drama of a breech birth had left them little choice.

The troupe were seated in two rows, either side of a trestle table and were midway through their food when they heard voices outside. Harry opened up the tent and a strident voice demanded to speak to Samson Ballard.

A small group of villagers were invited to step inside and an angry-looking man, who announced he was the Reverend Marsham, appeared to be their self-appointed spokesman.

‘We want you gone,’ the vicar said, without preamble, as soon as he’d been introduced to the owner. ‘Now. Tonight. The villagers have come to me extremely concerned by your continued presence in our quiet, respectable community.’

Samson stood up and approached the group. Mallory noticed the reverend’s Adam’s apple bob up and down as he took in the size of the man he was now confronting.

‘We’re on common land. Our animals have the right to graze and we’re not obstructing any byways. Our stay is temporary, and my wife reckons we’ll be good to move on in a few days. We’re not causing you any harm so just let us be.’

‘No harm? No harm?’ the vicar repeated, incredulously. ‘You’ve been stealing and fighting. The boys in our village don’t normally get involved in physical altercations – they wouldn’t dare. Yet you arrive and I find young members of my congregation turning up to church with bruises and scrapes.’

‘Your lads started it,’ Harry said, sullenly, from down the far end of the trestle table.

‘Bollocks did we.’

‘Jacob!’ the vicar admonished. ‘Language.’

The young lad bowed his head and mumbled an apology. ‘But they were flirting with some of the girls from the village. It just ain’t right. Their snake attacked Master Felthorpe’s dog and we know they stole that pig…’

‘I have, indeed, had several concerns raised, including that yourself and Mrs Ballard are not, in fact, legally man and wife, and you’ve also been overheard in the high street proclaiming all religion is fantasy. Blasphemy of the highest order—’

‘There is no needing for this,’ Katerina interrupted. ‘A piece of paper to satisfy a God I do not care for. I have seen what your God does. Men who beat their wives in His name. Persecute those who do not believe, or are different. And the judgement… always with the judgement.’

‘You may not care for him but he’s watching and you will be found wanting.’

So much for Christian forgiveness, thought Mallory.

‘They were planning to take my Sarah!’ A woman stepped forward.

‘Your Toad Girl freak has been filling her head with tales of adventure and life on the road. My poor mite’s only a child and has been bewitched.

I found she’d packed a bag and written me a letter explaining she wanted to walk across the sky and eat fire. ’

‘You simply cannot steal other people’s children,’ the vicar stressed. ‘We’re already fully aware of your lack of religion and sexual debauchery, but to lure a child away from her loving home is wickedness beyond measure.’

‘No one’s lured anyone,’ Samson said, his face getting redder by the minute. Mallory was worried he’d snap and thump the man before him, but Katerina had her hand on his arm and was whispering calming words. ‘Who even is this Sarah?’ he asked. ‘I’ve not seen anyone at the camp. Mallory?’

‘She wanted to see the horses performing. I let her watch our rehearsals.’

Katerina clenched her teeth and Mallory knew she was in trouble.

‘Ve are not in the businesses of kidnapping. Those who join us do so from choice, but even if your daughter begged us to take her, ve vouldn’t. The only children in this circus are mine.’

Harry threw his legs over the bench and stood up, walking over to the group and squinting at the vicar, as though something had just occurred to him.

‘Hey! You’re the bloke who was peering through the tent the other night when I popped out to water the daisies.’ He studied the reverend for a moment, as a silence descended and everyone looked at the vicar. Even Katerina focused her kohl-lined eyes on him.

Mallory remembered Harry mentioning a figure in the shadows but no one paid him much mind as the things he’d been smoking made him hallucinate. She’d been trying to sleep but Cupid was blind drunk and had taken on the Caley sisters in his wild carnal pursuits – both of them.

‘I’d heard rumours of the debaucherous behaviour,’ the vicar spluttered. ‘It was my duty to investigate, for the sake of my parishioners. And I was disgusted to witness the most heinous and despicable acts.’

‘Not sure you needed to witness them for half an hour,’ Harry said. ‘Quiet as a dormouse, at the back of the tent, and still lurking when I went out later to check on the horses. I saw where you put your hand, and it wasn’t lifted up to the other one in prayer.’

There was general tittering amongst the troupe but the vicar looked positively apoplectic and Mallory half imagined she could see steam pouring from his ears.

‘You dirty bugger,’ Cupid slurred from his seat, slamming his tumbler down on the table.

‘Copping an eyeful of something that you don’t get at home?

’ He jumped down from the chair and shuffled over to the table that held the drinks.

‘Getting hard watching a little fella like me riding one of the girls? That’s closer to the truth, ain’t it, your reverendness?

’ His face twisted into a wry smile as he tipped his head back to look up at the vicar.

‘Got caught with your hand in the biscuit tin and now you gonna stand there and tell us all you don’t like biscuits?

’ He snorted, retrieved the gin bottle and hopped back up onto the chair.

The reverend was now practically spitting teeth. Mallory noticed Sarah’s mother throw the man a perplexed look, clearly unaware that the vicar had gathered his information first hand.

‘I condemn you all, every last one of you.’ He lifted his shaking hand and waved it across the tent.

‘Paul tells us in Corinthians that we must flee fornication. “Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.” May you rot in hell for your wickedness and lies.’

‘Hey, I thought you were supposed to forgive the sinners,’ Harry said, echoing Mallory’s earlier thoughts.

The tension was now palpable and Mallory slipped from her seat to stand behind little Esfir, who was happily dipping crusts into her bowl of soup, not really paying any attention to the atmosphere in the tent.

Should any fighting break out, it was important that the child was removed from the situation as quickly as possible.

Preparing to lift her from Hazibub’s lap and sneak her out the back, everyone was distracted when the young Master Felthorpe strode into the tent.

‘I say, what’s all this fuss about? Dr Appleby said there was some sort of contingent down here, trying to move the circus people on.

’ Mallory saw how he sought out Zella with his eyes, and the pair of them exchanged the briefest glance, before his attention returned to the villagers.

No one else noticed but she was looking for it, knowing of their budding romance.

The young man she now recognised as Silas spoke up. ‘We want this lot gone, sir. They broke into the outbuildings at the hall and stole a young pig.’

Christian Felthorpe batted away the accusation with a flick of his hand. ‘I was compensated for the theft and had an apology from that young man.’ He pointed at Harry, who looked as surprised as everyone felt. ‘Isn’t that right?’

Harry nodded slowly, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

‘Besides, we’ve not been very welcoming to these good people.

’ Cupid nearly choked on his mouthful of gin, finding himself being referred to in such glowing terms. ‘The Bible reminds us that welcoming strangers is akin to welcoming Him. If Jesus can forgive the prostitute, surely we can try to be more understanding of these people and their ways?’

‘But their snake nearly killed your dog. You said yourself that there’d be trouble when they first arrived.’ The vicar was clearly confused by Master Felthorpe’s change of heart.

‘It was irresponsible of me to allow Captain to wander into the camp, and I understand this dark-skinned fellow rushed to save him as soon as the accident happened. I plan to speak to Father upon his return and allow the circus to remain over the winter.’ He spun to face the village folk.

‘Where’s your Christian charity? Your compassion? ’

But the only reason the young man was prepared to tolerate them was to keep Zella nearby. Mallory noticed how her eyes shone as she looked across at Christian. How could no one else see it?

He turned to address Samson. ‘I don’t agree with your lifestyle or your morals, but I’ll pray for you all and hope you come to see the light.

Keep to the common and stay out of the Sailmaker’s and perhaps we can live alongside each other.

And now—’ he turned to the vicar ‘—we should leave these people to finish their meal in peace.’

He ushered the villagers from the tent, but as the last of them slipped through the canvas, Silas turned back and muttered a threat. ‘Watch your backs. I’m warning you,’ he snarled, and strode out into the night.

‘What the fuck was that all about?’ Samson said, turning to speak to Katerina, who had been sitting behind him, but she was no longer at the bench, at some point since the arrival of the villagers having taken herself to the back of the tent.

‘It means ve must be leaving soon,’ she said. ‘And it means ve truly must be vatching our backs.’