She screamed with all the force of her lungs.
Jack was sprawled on the pavement and the figure towered above him.
Emily had no weapon, nothing at all with which to defend Jack or herself; not that she even thought of herself.
The figure raised his arms high in the air.
Jack rolled over onto his back and shot out his legs, kicking hard. One foot caught the assailant on the shin just above the ankle, sending him off balance. He staggered backwards.
Emily screamed again and again. For God’s sake, somebody must hear!
The assailant was regaining himself, starting forward.
Jack was still not on his feet.
The assailant lifted the great blade.
Jack launched himself from his hands and knees and charged, catching the assailant in the solar plexus with his head. The man gasped, choked, and went backwards into the wall, hitting it hard with his shoulders. There was a clatter as the weapon fell to the ground.
Jack clambered shakily to his feet.
Farther along the pavement someone else was coming, calling out, footsteps loud on the stones.
The assailant turned and fled, limping raggedly, but with a startling speed, until he was around the corner and swallowed up in the darkness.
An elderly gentleman in a dressing robe came running up the pavement, his white nightshirt showing beneath his skirts.
“Oh dear! Oh my goodness!” he gasped. “What on earth …? Madam! Sir—are you injured? Here!” He knelt down beside Jack, where he was again sprawled on the pavement, having overbalanced with the weight of his charge. “Sir! Are you injured? Who was it? Thieves? Have you been robbed?”
“No, no, I don’t think so.” Jack answered both questions at once. Then with the man’s assistance he scrambled up again and turned immediately to Emily.
“Ma’am?” the man said urgently. “Are you hurt? Did he …?”
“No—no. I am unhurt,” Emily said hastily. “Thank you for coming so swiftly, sir, and at such inconvenience. I fear if you had not—”
“We should indeed have been robbed,” Jack interrupted.
Another man came running up and stopped abruptly.
“What’s going on?” he demanded. “Who’s hurt? Are you all right, ma’am? Were these men …” He looked at Jack, then at his helper. “Oh—are you sure?”
“Yes, thank you, sir,” Emily assured him breathlessly. “My husband was attacked—but he saw the man off, and with this gentleman’s prompt arrival the assailant fled.”
“Thank God for that. I don’t know what the country is coming to.” The man’s voice was choked with emotion. “There is evidence everywhere. Would you like to come to my house? It is a mere hundred yards, and my staff would be happy to get you some restorative….”
“No thank you,” Jack said a little shakily. “Our own home is not much farther. But it is most civil of you.”
“Are you quite sure? Are you, madam?”
“Indeed. Thank you.” Jack took Emily by the arm. She felt him awkward, his body shaking.
“Yes, thank you,” she agreed quickly. “It was very good of you to come out. You have most certainly saved us from a terrible experience.”
“If you are quite sure …? Well, as you wish, of course. Good night, sir. Good night, ma’am.”
Jack and Emily thanked them again and hurried away, their feet loud on the pavement, eager to escape.
“It wasn’t a robber,” Emily said huskily.
“I know,” Jack replied, his breath catching in his throat “He was trying to kill me!”
“He had an ax,” Emily went on. “Jack—it was the Headsman! It was the Hyde Park Headsman!”
8
T
“What are you going to do about it?” she demanded. “It’s monstrous! A member of Parliament attacked in the street by a homicidal lunatic!”
He sat down carefully, as if any twisting or jolting might cause him pain. “I am not a member of Parliament,” he said slowly, his brow furrowed as if he had to search for the words. “And there is no reason why I should be exempt …”
“Of course there is,” Emily rejoined. “You have nothing to do with Captain Winthrop or Mr. Arledge, or the bus conductor, and we weren’t even in Hyde Park.”
“That is what I was thinking.” Jack stared at his plate. Beyond the door came the sound of footsteps as one of
