The Trespass by Barbara Ewing Page A

things. The draper’s wife in Great Cumberland Place. The bookbinder in the same street – he has shown me the paste and the paper. And I often stop at the Oxford Street Apothecary and wave at him, not because I am ill but because I love the red and blue bottles in the windows and all the lozenges and powders and perfumes. And I took you once, remember? to see Mr Dawson, the second-hand bookseller in Oxford Street where I almost always stop. I love the smell in his shop, that wonderful smell of books. And lately – lately I have been – I have been elsewhere. I say to the servants that I must make a call on Lady Fitchings or Lady Murray. Sometimes I ask Peters to fetch me a hansom cab.’
    ‘Peters is still there?’ Harriet’s voice was tinged with distaste. Peters was a new manservant their father had hired: both girls felt that he listened at doors.
    ‘He’s still there. There is no point in saying anything to Father, you know how he absolutely insists on hiring the servants himself. Although,’ and Mary gave her quick, warm smile, ‘one of them I do like, one of the maids, a young girl called Lucy. She is so keen and earnest and she polishes things that have already been polished but when I point this out to her she says she does it “for luck”. She’s very fond of Quintus.’
    ‘Oh Quintus, I miss him so – how is Quintus?’
    ‘He is still chasing rats. And Lucy sings to him!’
    ‘ Sings to Quintus?’
    ‘She has a beautiful high, clear voice. I heard her singing to him that she dreamt she dwelt in marble halls with vassals and serfs by her side.’
    Harriet laughed.
    ‘And another time I heard her telling him about Spitalfields!’
    ‘Was he interested?’
    ‘Yes, he did seem to be so. He was wagging his tail and he appeared to be smiling. And Lucy can read a bit. She reads to him, very slowly.’
    ‘What does she read?’
    ‘Stories of suspense from penny journals: And then just as darkness fell over the moors the Lord of the Manor appeared before her in the gloom …’
    ‘Does Quintus enjoy the stories?’
    ‘He loves them, his ears prick up and he breathes heavily.’
    Harriet giggled. ‘And then what happened on the moors?’
    ‘Just as the Lord of the Manor appeared it said to be continued next week! ’
    Laughter pealed out of the bedroom and along the hall.
    ‘But darling, Peters. There is something so odd about Peters, the way he creeps about. You know, Harriet,’ Mary stopped brushing, tapped her sister’s shoulder to get her attention, ‘the other day, just before morning prayers, I looked at the servants. They never stand in a group, quite. They stand apart from each other a little as if they do not quite like, or trust, each other. And for a moment, in their black and white uniforms, they reminded me of a chess set,’ and Mary began to laugh again, ‘the white starched aprons and caps and the black jackets of the footmen and the butlers, and Peters’ white gloves. I would have liked to push them around a board, the new maids are the pawns, Peters is a thin, suspicious bishop to be continued next week …’ As the laughter subsided she added, ‘Father is the King, of course.’
    ‘Where do you go in this hansom cab that Peters orders for you?’
    Mary paused for just a moment before she answered, made several brushing strokes. ‘I go to Seven Dials.’
    There was a sudden, frightened silence in the room.
    ‘No, Harriet darling, listen to me. The cholera epidemic is worse than we suppose. People like us can perhaps be of use.’
    ‘Mary!’ Harriet turned right round, looked at her sister. ‘Have you been going into poor people’s houses right where the cholera is found?’ Her voice rose wildly in alarm, she saw again the hovel in the town and the small voice coming from the pile of blankets. ‘Mary, how could you be so foolish, what are you thinking of? You could put yourself in danger,’ and she threw her arms around her sister and held her, almost weeping.