Joshua pulled his hand back. “Lizzie, he hasn’t…touched you yet, has he?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. ’E says I’m worth waiting for.”
Joshua fisted his hands, crumpling the ribbon he still held. “I hate him. I wish I could take you away from this.”
“And where would we go? Ye think there’s anywhere in London ’e couldn’t find us? Besides, ye need to worry about yerself. I ’eard Ferryman talking about yer sister.”
He straightened. “What was he saying about Vi?”
“Something about a fight at yer tavern and ’ow it was like to ruin ’er. Then she’d ’ave no choice but to come to ’im on ’er ’ands and knees, and wot ’e would like ’er to do on them ’ands and knees.”
Joshua could feel his face heating, knew his cheeks were red. “If he dares touch her, if he even looks at her—”
“Ye’ll do wot? ’E’ll kill you without a thought. ’E won’t even bother to do it ’isself. ’E’ll have one of the gang slit yer throat and toss ye in the river.” She must have seen something on his face, because she reached out and put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Joshua. I know ye mean well. And—well, thank ye for the ribbon. Even if I can’t take it, it means a lot that ye thought of me. But it might be better if ye didn’t.”
His gaze had fixed on the hand she’d placed on his arm. It was small and red, raw from hot water and lye. “If I didn’t what?” he asked.
“If ye didn’t think of me,” she said.
Joshua wanted to say that was impossible. He wanted to say that Lizzie was all he thought about some days—most days. But it wouldn’t help her to hear that. It wouldn’t help Vi if he said it, and he now realized Lizzie was right. He should be home helping Vi. “I’d better go,” he said, turning abruptly. “Vi needs me.”
Lizzie nodded. “Be careful.”
Joshua put a foot out the window and reached over to grab the ledge he could use to hoist himself back up to the roof. He grabbed on to the ledge, and Lizzie poked a head out of the window. “Goodbye, Joshua,” she said.
It sounded final.
“You’ll see me again,” he said.
“No, I won’t.” She closed the window with a final bang.
I won’t give up that easily,he told himself as he climbed to the roof and started on the winding path back to Clover Lane. He always wondered why it was called Clover Lane. He’d once asked Vi what clover was, and she told him it was a small green plant. There wasn’t anything green and growing on Clover Lane in Seven Dials.
Twenty minutes later he entered the Silver Unicorn through the back door and pushed into the public room. From the piles of debris in the rubbish bin out back, Vi had made good progress. She looked up now, her face streaked with grime, and the hair she’d piled on her head coming out of its pins. Her eyes narrowed. “Where have you been? I thought you were upstairs.” She nodded at the wrapped pies he carried.
“I bought us something to eat.” He gave one meat pie to Vi and the other to Peggy, who gave Vi a pleading look.
“Go ahead and eat it, Peggy. We’ll start again in a quarter hour.”
“I have another for me and one for Georgie.”
Vi put her hands on her hips. “Where did you come by the money for those? Don’t tell me you were running a game of thimblerig.”
“I won’t tell you, then.”
“Joshua!”
“I was careful, Vi. I promise.”
The back door opened again, and this time Georgie came tumbling through. “Meat pie!” he sang out. “I thought I smelled food!”
Joshua handed him a wrapped pie. “You must be starving.”
“Not really,” Georgie said, his mouth full of pie already. “The markiss and me had bread.”
“Who?” Joshua asked at the same time Vi screeched, “What?”
Georgie took another large bite of pie.
