The Cockney Angel by Dilly Court

Author:Dilly Court
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409035817
Publisher: Random House

Chapter Thirteen

HALF AN HOUR later, Irene crept barefoot down the back stairs with Jim’s boots clutched in her hands. She had discarded her unaccustomed finery for her brother’s cast-off clothing, and with her hair tucked up in the peaked cap she was satisfied that she would not excite anyone’s curiosity on the city streets. She was confident now that she could stroll along, hands in pockets, and melt into the crowd as she had done before; but first she had to get past Cook and Jessie and anyone else who happened to be slaving away in Josiah’s kitchen. She stopped at the foot of the stairs to put on the boots and lace them up. Having done this she crept along the flagstone passage hardly daring to breathe.

She passed closed doors conveniently labelled Broom Cupboard, Flower Room and Larder, but the door at the end of the passage had been left ajar and clouds of steam gusted out into the cold air. The mixed aromas of frying onions and roasting meat made her mouth water, but she put aside her hunger and peeked round the door. She could see a thin woman enveloped in a mobcap and a large white apron standing at the table chopping herbs. Luckily she had her back to the door and Jessie was too busy stoking the range to pay attention to anything that was going on around her. Irene slipped past unnoticed and she smothered a sigh of relief when she found that the half-glassed door leading into the area was not locked. Luckily the kitchen window was steamed up on the inside, enabling her to ascend the steep area steps unseen and escape through the wrought-iron gate onto the pavement.

She took a deep breath of frosty air, ignoring the stench of boiled cabbage that wafted from the basement kitchen of the adjoining house and the unmistakeable odour of cat’s piss that made her eyes water. Nothing could spoil this moment. It had been all too easy. She was free and it felt wonderful, but as she stepped out with long masculine strides she remembered that there were some drawbacks to wearing breeches: the coarse material chafed the soft skin of her inner thighs, but it was a small price to pay for regaining her liberty, even if it was only temporary. Her first stop was to be Newgate prison, and she cut through a narrow passage between the houses which led from the mews into Love Lane. She walked at a brisk pace, adding a slight swagger to her gait just for the fun of it. She went unrecognised by those in Wood Street who would have known and greeted Irene Angel, and she made her way to Cheapside. No one seemed to be interested in a shabbily dressed youth; she might as well have been invisible. It was most encouraging.

She hurried along Newgate Street, which was little more than a lane that ran beneath the grim smoke-blackened walls of the prison, and

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