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‘There isn’t much time,’ the older lady said energetically.

It seemed to Amelia that she was enjoying the drama of the occasion, though for her part, she was not.

‘Her plan is for me to confront you, in the most public setting possible, in such a way to make it clear that we are on intimate terms, as a green girl like you should not be with a woman of my reputation. She made no bones about that – the fact that I’m poison to respectable people – though of course I knew it already.

She’s arranged for some of her Friends to be here – though there won’t be as many as she thinks – to witness the scandalous meeting and spread it abroad so far and so fast so that your good name would never recover from it. ’

‘Thank you, then,’ Amelia said instantly. ‘I don’t know why you’ve changed your mind and decided to warn me, but thank you for it.’

‘I’m not quite sure why I did either,’ Rosanna said frankly.

‘I suppose it’s true enough that you’ve never harmed me – how could you?

You were no more than a child. And as for your brother, the older one, I mean, not the young gudgeon, I did him wrong and no pitch hot.

He was just a greenhorn when I first met him and deserved much better from his stepmama.

I could blame your father for everything I did in those days, but…

Well, talking pays no toll. An old friend of mine came to see me unexpectedly a few days ago, and I suppose he reminded me that I was a young girl myself once.

I’ve never been what you’d call a good ’un, but I don’t need to go round spreading misery either when there’s enough in the world already.

And that Lavinia, for all she looks so prim and proper, she’s a terrible bad lot – a proper hellcat. ’

Amelia didn’t understand everything that her stepmother said – she used such queer words sometimes – but she certainly got the gist of it.

‘I know she is. But I came here to tell her that I had no intention of marrying Lord Thornfalcon, so she might as well leave me be. I can’t hand him over to her – that’s up to him, he’s not a parcel – but I won’t be in her way any more. ’

‘I’m not sure she’ll ever leave you be, whatever you do or don’t do.

She’s got her nasty cold eye fixed on you.

It’s my opinion, and my friend’s too, that she’s not quite right in the head.

She’s a woman obsessed, as you might say, and that makes her more dangerous than you know.

And that’s what I need to tell you – my friend has arranged matters so that she springs her own trap.

He seems to have taken a powerful dislike to her, and he’s not a man you’d want to get on the wrong side of, as she’s about to learn. ’

‘Who is he?’ Amelia couldn’t imagine who could possibly be interested enough in her affairs to be intervening on her behalf and yet also be a friend of her stepmother.

‘It’s only me, Lady Amelia – Ezekiel Pennyfeather.’

Amelia had been so absorbed in her intense conversation that she had not heard or seen anyone approach; perhaps too the Bow Street Runner had learned to be particularly stealthy in his movements.

For he was here now, close by, standing behind Rosanna and smiling at them both, small and crumpled and unimpressive as ever, but with a light in his eyes that bespoke his utter self-confidence and mastery of the scene.

‘Good God, Zeke, must you creep about like an area sneak at midnight and make a woman jump clean out of her skin?’ said his friend in exasperation, but Amelia didn’t think she was really angry, only wound up. ‘Is it all set up?’

‘It is, my dear, and it is time for us to go and throw the dice. Rosie, you have your part, and I am sure you will make it all come off perfectly. But Lady Amelia, I have a black domino for you – that red one is far too conspicuous, and Sugar—Lady Thornfalcon will be looking out for you impatiently by now. I think it is much better if she does not see you at all, so she has no chance to abuse you and draw unnecessary attention to your presence.’

Amelia obediently took off her cloak and put on the other that he handed to her, pulling up the hood to cover her hair so that she was, she hoped, quite unrecognisable.

She could see the sense in what he said, though she had not the least idea what was about to happen.

He bundled her own domino away under his arm and led them back down the corridor, into the huge auditorium, which had been transformed for the evening into a sort of grand assembly room.

The boxes were almost full by now and the stage was covered in whirling couples; it was a colourful scene, with candlelight reflecting off the gilded decoration and catching sparks from the gold and silver lace and sequins that adorned many of the more exotic costumes.

The orchestra was playing a country dance with vigour, those who were not dancing were making a great deal of merry noise of their own, and Amelia could not imagine how any scene, however dramatic, could unroll here that would attract a single person’s attention away from their own exuberant pursuit of pleasure.

‘There she is,’ said Mr Pennyfeather, touching their shoulders and nodding in the direction of the entranceway. ‘I’ve had my eye on her since she arrived, and I have a couple of reliable men watching her too. She thinks she’s missed you in the crowd, look, and she’s getting agitated now.’

There was no doubt that he was right. The woman was disguised in a black domino much like their own, but the tension that radiated from her slight figure was unmistakeable, and her head was in constant motion, scanning the groups of people that passed to and fro with desperate focus.

There were three or four persons present in red dominoes, but none, as it happened, who could have been Amelia herself – they were either too tall, too short, or too obviously male.

And so the anxious eyes flitted backwards and forwards in constant restless motion, seeking her victim.

Lavinia wasn’t alone. Several cloaked figures had gathered around her in a sort of anxious huddle, though she paid no attention to them at all.

Watching them, Amelia thought it was obvious that they were very young ladies, and also that most of them were exceedingly nervous now that they found themselves actually here, having presumably deceived their parents or guardians so that they might attend an event that was by no means proper, since it was open to the public with no means of control upon who attended as long as they could afford it.

They clustered together as if for protection, and shrank away if any stranger seemed to pass too close.

They had come at Lavinia’s call, but they were no means happy about it.

The dance came to an end, and there was a brief lull as the musicians prepared for the next set; the stage cleared a little as some of the dancers decided to seek rest or refreshment or new partners.

‘Let’s have some fun, Rosie,’ Mr Pennyfeather said unexpectedly, shaking out the red domino and wrapping it adroitly around himself.

Amelia realised that she and he were much of a height, and at a glance, they would be indistinguishable.

He slipped easily through the crowd, and she saw the precise moment that Lavinia spotted him – her whole posture changed, becoming triumphant, the attitude of a predator who had sighted her defenceless prey.

A ripple of excitement seemed to run through the little group around her; they saw it too, especially since they had presumably been prepared and waiting for such a sign.

‘My turn to go on stage,’ said Rosanna, grinning at her.

‘My God, there’s no better feeling!’ And she headed after her friend, the domino flung back still to show her red gown.

The crowd parted before her impressive figure, which drew admiring looks from many men and quite other sorts of stares from the women who accompanied them.

‘You – you in the red domino!’ she said in rich, carrying tones that must have served her well upon the stage. ‘Stop!’