Maybe she loved this man enough to run away with him and be happy. But she also would be sad on a deeper level, a level she wouldn’t let anybody see. It would break her heart to disappoint her aunt, silly, compassionate soul that my little sister was. This solution would make Edmund happy - but it would save Ella from one misery only to plunge her into another.
Unless, that is, I could prevent it.
Full of purpose I jumped out of bed. This was no time to dawdle! My sister’s happiness was at stake, and I only had one day to take action before I had to go back to slave for Mr Ambrose. Quickly, I dressed - or as quickly as I could, considering the multitude of petticoats I had to put on - and slipped out of the house without anybody noticing. It was Sunday, and after the tiring dance the other night, the household was sure to sleep long and not notice my absence.
As I ran down the street, the beginnings of various plans were already forming in my mind. Somehow I had to get rid of Wilkins. That was the heart of the matter. No Wilkins meant no threat of marriage, no threat of marriage meant no elopement, no elopement meant no unhappy Ella.
For a moment I considered carrying out Edmund’s plan - getting hold of a pistol and just shooting the blasted Wilkins. Yet I discounted that for various reasons. Firstly, wanting to marry my sister was, according to the laws of England, not yet a crime that deserved the death penalty; secondly, I didn’t have money for a gun; and thirdly, even if I did, I would most likely miss.
Hmm… That last bit will have to be rectified in the not-too-distant future. Now that you are regularly running around in men’s clothes you might as well claim male privileges, such as shooting anybody whose face you didn’t like.
Back to planning… how to get rid of Wilkins without shooting him?
By the time I had reached Green Park I had hit on quite a promising idea.
I needed only to find out something, something strange or disreputable or otherwise horrible about Wilkins, which could be revealed to my aunt. With her snobbish ways, she would cut off the connection faster than you could say Jack Robinson. I had no doubt there was something to Sir Philip’s detriment that could be discovered. An over-romanticised, flower-fanatical guffin like he was bound to have some skeletons hidden in his closet.
And I knew exactly who could help me find some of those.
I raced through Green Park, people right and left throwing me disapproving looks. I was running far faster than was seemly for a young lady; that was clear for all the world to read on their faces. But in the distance I could see three figures who did not look disapproving. On the contrary, they looked delighted to see me, waving at me energetically. One of them nearly brained a passing gentleman with her parasol.
Unable to stifle a grin in spite of how worried I was, I picked up my pace. It had been ages since I last saw all my friends together, and now I needed them more than ever. They would be my company of spies, who would help me find a chink in Sir Philip’s armour. They would help me save Ella.
And in spite of my private troubles, I had not forgotten the original reason because of which I had called them together: the anti-suffragist meeting which was soon to take place here in London. With these two topics, we were sure to have more than enough to talk about.
I came to a stop only a few yards away from them, gasping for breath.
‘Listen,’ I said. ‘I… I have something really important to tell you. I have-’
‘So it’s true?’ Eve demanded, skipping forward eagerly. ‘You do have a lover?’
I blinked at her, taken aback.
‘What?’
‘I knew it I knew it I knew it I knew it!’ Eve started a little dance around me that would have been more fitting for a Cherokee medicine man than for a proper young English lady. Some part of my mind wondered how the heck she was managing those acrobatics with a hoop skirt on. Most of my mind, however, was wondering what the heck she had been talking about.
‘I knew it was true the minute Patsy told us what Ella had told her,’ she babbled, and it all became clear to me.
The ball. Patsy grilling Ella for information, and Ella spouting out the ridiculous excuses I had told her.
No. Oh please, God, no! Don’t let Patsy have told everyone!
As usual, God didn’t listen.
‘Flora didn’t believe it, but I knew right away it was true. You were away all the time last week and not one of us had the slightest idea where you had disappeared to and oh isn’t this exciting, girls? Lilly has found herself a man! You must tell us all about him!’
‘Well, really I came to talk about something el-’ I began, but that was about as far as I got.
‘Is he tall?’ Eve demanded. She had stopped dancing around me and was now bobbing up and down in front of me like an overexcited puppy. ‘Is he handsome? Is he rich? Will you marry him and go live on a vast estate in the country somewhere?’
‘Eve!’ I said, shocked. ‘Where’s your pride as an independent woman?’
‘Right here,’ she said, indicating her head. ‘Now will you tell me whether he’s rich and handsome?’
‘Look,’ I said, crossing my arms defiantly, ‘this isn’t what I came here to talk about!’
‘Too bad.’ Patsy grinned at me over tiny Eve’s head. ‘Because it’s apparently what you’re going to have to talk about.’
‘But-’
‘What’s his name?’ Eve interrupted me eagerly. ‘Does he live in London? Well of course he does, or you wouldn’t have been gone all that time. You were with him, weren’t you? Were you two up to anything, you know… special?’
She winked, and then winked a couple of times more in case I hadn’t gotten it. I had, and so apparently had everybody else in the vicinity. The looks from passers-by had become a good deal more disapproving.
I would have to stop this. Ella I could deal with, but these three were of another calibre entirely. I would have to placate them somehow. Inspiration struck me!
‘I haven’t got a lover, all right?’ I hissed. ‘Now stop it, you’re making people stare.’
‘Oh.’ Eve stopped bobbing up and down, obviously deflated. ‘But… but Patsy said…’
‘Patsy said what Ella told her.’
‘And what you told Ella wasn’t one hundred per cent true?’ Patsy guessed, her grin having widened after a momentary flicker.