Notorious Pleasures Read online

  They made the room as bright as day.

  ST. GILES WAS a veritable hellhole, especially after the bucolic beauty of the Lancashire countryside, Griffin mused early—very early—that morning. He guided Rambler, his bay gelding, through the darkness and across the stinking channel running down the middle of the lane. He couldn’t take the shortest route to his destination, because some of the alleys that way were too narrow to accommodate a man riding a horse. And he’d be damned if he left Rambler anywhere here. The horse would be stolen before his master was out of sight.

  Griffin ducked his head as he rode under a swinging sign advertising a chandler’s shop. No lantern hung by the door of the shop as it would in the better parts of London. In fact, the only light he traveled by was the moon’s pale face. Thank God it was a clear night at least.

  Up ahead, a low door burst open and two toughs staggered out. Griffin laid his right hand on the loaded pistol stuck in his saddle, but the men paid him no mind. Pausing only for one of them to cast up his accounts into the channel, they wandered off away from him.

  Griffin let out his breath and moved his hand from the pistol’s grip to Rambler’s neck, patting the horse. “Not much farther now, boy.”

  He rode down the lane and then turned into a slightly larger street, lined with brick and plaster buildings, some with overhanging upper stories. A nondescript door stood in a tall brick wall, hiding a courtyard beyond. Griffin pulled Rambler to a halt by the door. Taking the pistol from the saddle holster, he used the butt to knock upon the wooden door.

  Almost immediately a gruff male voice called, “ ’Oo’s without?”

  “Reading. Let me in.”

  “ ’Ow’m I sure ’tis you, m’lord?”

  Griffin raised his eyebrows at the door. “Because I’m the only one who knows about that night at the Lame Black Cockerel when you drank a dozen pints of ale and—”

  The door flew open, revealing shifty black eyes in the ugliest face Griffin had ever known, in London or without. The nose was mashed nearly flat, causing the lipless mouth to always be parted so the man could breathe. Stubble perpetually dotted the lined cheeks and chin, like some spreading mildew, broken by old pox marks and scars far less benign. The man was of average height, but his arms and shoulders were disproportionately large, ending with hands that hung like great slabs of ham by his side. Most who saw him assumed he was either a professional boxer or a murderer for hire.

  They’d be right on both counts.

  “I’m that glad to see you, m’lord,” Nick Barnes said. “Me and the boys ’ave been staking out the place, but we could sure use your ’elp.”

  “Have there been any more attacks?” Griffin swung down from Rambler but kept the gun in his hand and his eyes sharp as he led the horse through the door. Inside, the small courtyard was paved with cobblestones. Buildings rose up on three sides. Griffin had purchased the buildings to either side just last year as a precaution. Now he was grateful for the forethought.

  “Some lads tried to come in night afore last, but we beat ’em back right smart,” Nick said, heaving a solid oak bar across the courtyard door.

  Griffin led Rambler to an ancient stone water trough to let him drink. “Do you think he’s given up?”

  “The Vicar won’t give up until ’e’s dead, and that’s a fact, m’lord,” Nick said soberly.

  Griffin grunted. He’d not held high hopes that Charlie Grady, otherwise known rather blasphemously as the Vicar of Whitechapel, would give up so easily. The Vicar had a dirty finger in most of the illegal trades east of Bishopsgate, but recently he’d begun expanding his empire west into the Seven Dials area of St. Giles.

  And that had impinged on Griffin’s interests.

  Griffin gave a last pat to the gelding and turned to Nick. “You’d better show me, then.”

  The other man nodded and led the way into the building directly across from the courtyard wall.

  He opened a stout wooden door reinforced with iron and shouted, “Oy, Willis! You and Tim come ’ere and guard the courtyard.”

  Two men lumbered out of the building, touching their hats as they passed Griffin. One held a cudgel, the other a long knife that looked suspiciously like a saber.

  Nick watched as they took up positions by the courtyard door and then nodded at Griffin. “This way, m’lord.”

  The lower floor of the building was one large, cavernous room, broken here and there by massive brick pillars, holding up the upper floors. Four large hearths smoldered under great covered copper kettles nearly as large as a man. Various copper pipes sprouted from the kettles, leading to slightly smaller copper pots, which were in turn connected to oaken barrels. The smells of smoke, fermentation, juniper berries, and turpentine were heavy in the humid air. A dozen more men were in the warehouse, a few tending the fires or the contents of the kettles, but most stood about, hired merely for their muscle.

  “I’ve brought in all the other operations,” Nick said, gesturing to the copper kettles. “All but the one that the Vicar’s boys blew up on Abbott Street.”

  Griffin nodded. “You’ve done well, Nick. One position is more easily guarded than many.”

  Nick spat at the stone floor. “Aye, that it is, but we’ll ’ave another problem when the ’arvest grain comes in.”

  “What’s that?”

  Nick tilted his head in the direction of the courtyard. “The outer door. It’s too small to bring in a wagon full of grain. We’ll have to toss the bags over the wall, and while we do, the cart, the boys, and the blasted grain’ll be sitting like pullets awaitin’ pluckin’ for Sunday supper.”

  Griffin grimaced, not bothering to reply to Nick’s succinct analysis of their position. He watched the men stoking the fires beneath the huge copper kettles. Most of his—their—capital was sunk into this operation, and the bloody Vicar was set to destroy it all. For the Vicar had declared that he would smash all other gin distillers and make himself king of gin in London.

  And as it happened, Griffin was the biggest gin distiller in St. Giles.

  SILENCE HOLLINGBROOK WOKE to little baby fingers poking at her eyelids. She groaned and opened her eyes. Big brown eyes framed by an extravagance of lashes met her own. Mary Darling—the owner of the eyes and the baby in question—sat up and clapped pudgy hands, crowing her delight in having woken Silence.

  “Mamoo!”

  Silence grinned back at her tiny bedmate—it was quite impossible not to, really. “How many times have I told you not to poke at Mamoo’s eyes, you little imp?”

  Mary Darling giggled. At little over a year old, she had but three words to her vocabulary: “Mamoo,” an emphatic “no!” and “Soo” for Soot the cat—who was not nearly as fond of Mary Darling as she was of him.

  Silence glanced at the tiny window to their attic bedroom and sat up in horror. The sun was shining brightly. “Oh, no. You should’ve poked me in the eye earlier. I’ve overslept again.”

  Hurriedly she did her morning ablutions, feeling a vague sense that she was forgetting something important. She changed Mary Darling’s diaper and dressed them both—and only just in time. A firm knock came at the door. Silence pulled it open breathlessly and looked into the worn face of her elder brother, Winter.

  “Good morning, sister,” Winter said gravely. He rarely smiled, but there was a twinkle in his eyes as he looked at the baby in Silence’s arms. “And to you, too, Miss Mary Darling.”

  The baby chortled and made a grab for Winter’s plain black hat.

  “I’m so sorry,” Silence said breathlessly as she gently plucked Mary Darling’s fingers from Winter’s flat hat brim. “I did mean to be down earlier, but, well, I overslept.”

  “Ah,” Winter said, and somehow his very lack of condemnation only made Silence feel worse.

  She’d started working at the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children over six months ago, but she still felt like she was learning. Running a foundling home that housed nine and twenty children and infants w
as no small task, even with the aid of Winter and three servants.

  Her self-doubts were not helped by the fact that her predecessor had been her elder sister, Temperance. Silence loved Temperance dearly, but sometimes she wondered darkly if Temperance had to be such a paragon. In all the years that Silence had visited the home when Temperance had been in charge, she’d found her sister busy, flurried, and sometimes tired beyond bearing, but Temperance had always been in control.

  Lately Silence had begun to wonder if she’d ever feel in control—of the home, of her life, or of anything else.

  “Nell has taken the children down for breakfast,” Winter said now.

  “Oh! Oh, yes,” Silence muttered, shifting Mary Darling to her other hip and trying to extricate a ribbon from the baby’s mouth. “No, dearest, it really isn’t for eating. I’ll go help, shall I?” she said to her brother.

  “That might be a good idea,” Winter murmured. “I’ll see you at luncheon.”

  Silence bit her lip, remembering how poor Winter had had to dine on cold bread and cheese yesterday because she’d forgotten to put the soup on in time. “I’ll be sure and have it ready today, really I will.”

  A corner of Winter’s stern mouth kicked up. “Don’t worry so—I wasn’t chastising you. And besides, I like cheese.” He brushed a finger across her cheek. “Now I’m away to work. If I’m not at the school before the boys, Lord only knows what mischief they’d get up to in my absence.”

  Winter turned and clattered down the stairs. She didn’t know how he found such energy when he not only helped run the home, but also taught in a day school for boys.

  Silence sighed and followed more slowly, careful of her footing on the rickety stairs. The Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children had once been housed in an aging but sturdy building, but that had been before it had burned at the beginning of the year. Now, thanks to the generosity of the home’s patronesses, the elder Lady Caire and Lady Hero, a beautiful new home was being built. It would have plenty of rooms, a big kitchen, and a garden for the children to take fresh air in. Unfortunately, the new home wasn’t yet built.

  In the interim, Winter, Silence, the home’s three servants, Soot the cat, and all the home’s children—save for two infants boarded out with wet nurses—lived in one too-small, dilapidated building in St. Giles. Silence could have lived in the rooms she shared with her husband, William, but William was the captain of the merchant ship Finch and was away most of the time at sea. It had seemed silly to live by herself in the rooms in Wapping and then travel every day all the way to the home in St. Giles.

  And there had been Mary Darling.

  Silence kissed the little girl’s soft cheek as she descended the stairs. Mary Darling had been left on her doorstep nearly seven months ago. It had been a hard time for Silence—William had been at sea, and their parting had been chilly. Mary Darling had been like the first rays of a bright new day. She’d warmed Silence’s life, and Silence had hated to part with her, even for as short a time as a night at the home. Silence heard the voices of the children even before she and Mary Darling reached the main floor. A dark, crooked passage led back to the home’s kitchen—a big room with blackened beams in the ceiling. Two long trestle tables took up the middle of the room, one for the boys, one for the girls. Mary Darling began bouncing at the sight of the other children.

  “All right, sweetheart.” Silence picked up a bowl of porridge and a spoon and slid into a space at the girls’ table with Mary Darling on her lap. “Good morning, everyone.”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Hollingbrook!” the girls—and some of the boys—chorused. Even Soot glanced up, chin dripping, from his morning saucer of milk by the fire.

  Mary Evening, the girl sitting next to them, leaned close. “Good morning, Mary Darling.”

  Mary Darling, mouth full of porridge, waved her spoon in greeting, nearly hitting Mary Evening’s nose.

  “Be careful, Mary Evening,” Nell Jones said as she draped a big cloth across Silence’s lap and front.

  Nell was a merry-faced blond woman, the most senior of the servants and a former actress in a traveling theater. She might be only a bit over thirty years of age, but she knew how to wield an iron hand, and Silence had come to rely on her good sense since taking over the home’s management.

  “Thank you, Nell,” Silence said. Eating breakfast with a baby in one’s lap could be a very messy task—as she’d found out in the last months.

  “You’re welcome, ma’am. And you”—Nell bent and mock-scowled into the baby’s eyes—“careful with that great big spoon.”

  Mary Darling laughed up into Nell’s face, splattering porridge down the front of her chemise. Silence sighed and wiped at the spill, taking a spoonful of porridge herself. Breakfast was almost over, and if she didn’t eat now, she’d not have another chance until luncheon.

  Hurriedly, she ate the thick porridge, taking sips of the hot tea that Nell thrust in front of her. In between her own bites, she fed spoonfuls to Mary Darling, keeping both the hot teacup and the tempting bowl of porridge out of the baby’s reach. Mary Darling was old enough to feed herself with her spoon, but the result tended to be incredibly messy.

  Around them the children ate cheerfully, aided by Nell and the other maidservant, Alice. The home also employed a manservant, Tommy, who helped with the heavier tasks and ran errands.

  Nell suddenly clapped her hands. “Time to clean up, children. We have a busy day ahead of us, for we have a very important visitor coming today.”

  Silence nearly choked on her last spoonful of porridge. Oh, dear Lord! She’d completely forgotten. Lady Hero was to tour the home today—and not only was Lady Hero their patroness, but she was also the daughter of a duke. Silence pushed her bowl away, feeling slightly queasy. Would she ever be comfortable in her position as manageress of the home?

  HERO STEPPED GINGERLY from her carriage that afternoon—gingerly because she’d learned very quickly to watch where she placed her feet in the St. Giles streets. To the side, a man lay in the gutter. Hero made a wide circle around him, her nose wrinkling as she caught the stink of gin. Here was yet another victim of that terrible drink, sadly not that uncommon a sight. What misery would be relieved in London if only gin could be eradicated!

  Once past the drunkard, Hero made her way down a little lane to where the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children was housed temporarily in a rather ramshackle building. Hero sighed silently. As the patroness of the home, she felt guilty whenever she saw the wretched condition of the house the children lived in.

  Mrs. Hollingbrook, the home’s manageress, bobbed a nervous curtsy as she neared. “Good afternoon, Lady Hero.”

  Hero nodded, smiling—she hoped—graciously. The fact was that she’d originally become a patroness of the home when Temperance Dews, now the younger Lady Caire, was in charge. Hero had felt an instant friendship with the then Mrs. Dews and had rather enjoyed her interactions with the woman. She’d not found the same rapport with Mrs. Hollingbrook—at least not yet.

  Mrs. Hollingbrook was younger and less poised than her elder sister. Her face reminded Hero of a medieval saint—all pale oval solemnity—and like one of those painted martyrs, she seemed to hold a resigned melancholy close to her heart.

  “Won’t you come in and have a dish of tea?” Mrs. Hollingbrook asked formally as she always did.

  She stood aside, letting Hero precede her into the home. Hero stepped over the threshold, trying not to wince at the cracked plaster on the entryway walls. A cramped room lay at the back of the house, and Hero entered it, familiar now with the rhythm of her visits to the foundling home. Inside, four chairs, a low table, and a desk had been crammed into the small space. Hero took one of the chairs, drawing off her hat as Mrs. Hollingbrook fluttered about, supervising the tea.

  Finally the other woman settled to pour the tea. “No sugar, is that correct, my lady?”

  Hero smiled. “Yes.”

  “Now where have I put the
spoons?” Mrs. Hollingbrook held the full teacup in one hand, the hot liquid sloshing perilously near the rim as she searched the crowded tea tray. “But if you don’t take sugar, perhaps you won’t need a spoon anyway?”

  “I don’t think so.” Hero took the cup before Mrs. Hollingbrook burned herself. “Thank you.”

  Mrs. Hollingbrook smiled uneasily and sipped at her own tea. Hero looked down at her teacup. People were often awkward or shy about her, she knew. Her rank awed them. It was a perpetual problem—how to put others at ease.

  She inhaled and looked up. “I understand the home has new residents?”

  “Oh! Oh, yes.” Mrs. Hollingbrook straightened and placed her teacup down carefully on the low table. She clasped her hands in her lap as if about to recite a memorized poem. “Since we saw you last month, my lady, we’ve taken on two infants—a boy and a girl—and a little boy of four years. The boy, Henry Putman, is—”

  Mrs. Hollingbrook stopped here because Hero had coughed. “I beg your pardon, but I thought all the boys were named Joseph at the home?”

  “Well, yes, they usually are, but since Henry Putman already had a name—which, as it happens, he was quite adamant about—we thought it best to let him keep it.”

  “Ah.” Hero nodded. “Please continue.”

  Mrs. Hollingbrook leaned forward. “I’ve never understood why Winter and Temperance chose to name all the boys Joseph and all the girls Mary. It’s incredibly confusing at times.”

  “I should think so,” Hero replied gravely.

  Mrs. Hollingbrook smiled quickly and suddenly, the expression lightening her pale face and making her rather beautiful. “Ahem. We also placed two of our girls in apprenticeships this last month. And, with the monies you and the senior Lady Caire gave us, we were able to outfit both girls with new clothes, shoes, stays, a prayer book, a comb, and a thick winter cloak.”

  “Very good.” Hero nodded approvingly. Some of her help was working at least. “Perhaps you’d like to show me the home now?”

  “Of course, my lady.” Mrs. Hollingbrook jumped up. “If you’ll step this way, the children have been practicing all week for you.”