‘Yes!’ he cries. ‘What have we here?’
He grabs a knife from the kitchen table, and you recoil as he plunges it towards your leg – but instead of stabbing you, he slits open the hem of your apron, and out roll two sapphire earrings and a pair of familiar cufflinks: the very ones Elsie showed you when she asked you to join her thieving scheme.
You can’t believe what’s happening. Your first crushing disappointment is the thought that Jeremy will now never have the chance to teach you to ride Minty. Your second is seeing Mrs MacIntosh shake her head sorrowfully as the master forcibly ejects you and your few worldly belongings from the house – your debt to her and her kind husband will never be repaid. The third and final blow is the constable who arrives to take you away, saying smugly, ‘Well, missy, you’ll most likely hang for this.’
You still have the bracelet in the hem of your petticoat, but it seems unlikely that it can save you now.
In this matter you have no choice. Go to scene 12.
‘All right,’ you say, feeling a thrill of fear, ‘I’ll do it.’
Elsie gives a tiny squeal and squeezes your hand. ‘We’ll start with these cufflinks, then,’ she says, dropping them into the scraps bucket beside you.
It’s so easy. You merely pop down to the garden to feed the scraps to the chickens as usual, only now there is a grinning, freckled face on the other side of the fence every now and again – that of the brave and daring Jack, who you must admit is rather good fun. You can see why Elsie is attracted to him, even if his ears do stick out.
The scheme works well for the first week – very well. You have enough to repay your debt to the MacIntoshes – though you’ll give it to them bit by bit, so they don’t get suspicious. Between your wages and the money Elsie gives you, you’ve even saved a little extra money to put towards your planned journey to find Da. The jewelled bracelet is still sewn securely inside your hem, as well.
Sometimes you question whether you’re doing the wrong thing by stealing from the master – but then a little more money will arrive from some sales Jack has made, and you’ll squirrel it away, feeling like you’re another golden step closer to seeing your da again, and decide that it’s worth it.
As the week has progressed, though, Elsie has started to get bolder. One day a pocket watch as large as a biscuit slips out of her sleeve and into the vegetable peelings … and once that’s been successfully passed over the fence, the next day it’s an ornate drinking goblet so large it hits the side of the scraps bucket with a clang. As she hurriedly buries it in potato peelings, Elsie gets the giggles and can’t stop – but you are growing ever more apprehensive.
At the end of that second week at the mansion, something amazing happens – Jeremy the stableboy promises to let you ride one of the six gorgeous horses who wait for you every day, hoping for an apple core when you come to visit them and rub their gleaming necks.
You can’t think of anything better. ‘Won’t the master be angry, though?’ you ask Jeremy.
‘Naw,’ he replies. ‘It was mostly the missus who rode them, before she passed away, and the master hasn’t the heart to let them go. They need to be ridden regularly or they’ll get stiff and ill.’
You’ve never thought of the master having a heart before now. Your secret guilt about the thefts grows stronger.
Later that day, you finish washing the kitchen pans and turn to see Mrs MacIntosh holding a pair of sapphire earrings in her big, red hand, staring from the earrings to the scraps bucket and back in disbelief. Your heart stops in its tracks.
Elsie comes into the room and takes in the scene. Her face turns the colour of cold porridge.
‘The master’s coming!’ she gasps. She glances wildly around the room, like a trapped animal, and then, to your utter horror, she whips two silk hankies from under her apron and thrusts them down the neck of your shirt, hissing, ‘He mustn’t find these on me!’
Mrs MacIntosh drops the earrings back into the scraps bucket like they are burning coals.
As the master steps into the room, he sees you trying to throttle Elsie with one hand, pulling his dead wife’s handkerchiefs out of your shirt with the other. And you know, then and there, that there’s no excuse in the world that will save you now.
You are right. Jack gets away scot-free. Elsie lies, sacrificing you to save herself, ashen-faced. Mrs MacIntosh sadly shakes her head and remains silent as the master shouts furiously at you. Jeremy is sent to find a constable to come and take you away.
You realise, too late, that perhaps the master did have a heart, for he only paid any attention to the things he had lost when Elsie started to steal his wife’s jewellery and hankies. His own things, it seems, meant nothing to him, but every possession of his dead wife’s was a treasure … including the six fine horses down in the stables, which you will now never ride.
In this matter you have no choice. Go to scene 12.
Today is the first day of your new life as a pickpocket – Earl’s apprentice. Miriam scrubbed you down with hot water and brushed your hair last night, and now you are wearing a forget-me-not-blue dress, lovely red coat and real leather shoes. The reflection that greeted you in the mirror this morning was that of a well-loved, privileged child. If only that were true.
The marketplace is bustling. You see the barrow-lady with her roses and
