She couldn’t have cared less, and I was in complete agreement.
The play was a complete success and Templeton invited us to join her for a late supper at the Savoy afterward.
Sir James accepted. He had been most attentive to my aunt throughout the evening. She laughed and flirted a bit, something surprising as she was not usually given to such things. However, I supposed at her age, she was allowed to do just about anything. I declined the invitation, much to my sister’s disappointment.
“The recent changes at the Savoy are said to be quite spectacular,” she said in an effort to persuade me to attend.
“Everyone has been talking about how difficult it is to get a table. You must go.”
I must not, I thought. I wasn’t impressed by elaborate dining rooms or exclusive table reservations. I would much rather have shared a late supper with Brodie at the Strand. And then, of course, a dram afterward.
That surprised me and I wondered when that had happened.
“I don’t want to go,” Lily whispered to me. “I don’t like him.”
Since Sir James was the only male present, it seemed obvious who she was referring to.
“You don’t know him,” I pointed out.
“I know others like him,” she replied. “They put on fine clothes and speak fancy words. But underneath all the finery that’s not who they really are. I seen a lot of that.”
I supposed that came from the past several years working in a brothel in Edinburgh. We had both seen a great deal in our escape the night of the fire.
She looked up at me. “I want to go with ye.”
I had planned to return to the office once more after the theater, in the event that Brodie might have returned. There was certainly no reason that she couldn’t accompany me there on our way to Mayfair. I congratulated Templeton on a splendid opening night and we departed.
Outside the theater, Drury Lane and the adjacent streets were jammed with coaches, those who had attended the play, and late evening street vendors that also included a young man selling ice cream from a cart.
“I ain’t never… I never had such,” Lily corrected herself. “The best we ever had at Madame’s was pudding if it was left over once the gents left the morning after their visit.”
She did have a colorful way of describing things. The vendor was quite obviously Italian by his accent and his compliments to Lily.
“Bellissima,” he praised her as he handed her frozen raspberry ice cream in a wafer cup.
Her eyes were like two saucers on her face. It was worth two pennies to see the reaction.
“Crivvens!” she exclaimed. “This is better than day old pudding.”
I certainly agreed with her as I ordered one as well, and we walked about the lane with bright lights and ice cream, Lily chattering on about the play, Templeton, and Ziggy.
It had been quite an evening for her, and a bit of an adventure for me as well.
Late as it was, we found a cab, and Lily returned with me to Mayfair after stopping briefly at the office. She was still chattering about the play when Mrs. Ryan met us at the door.
“Are there any messages?” I asked as I removed my coat and hat.
There weren’t any.
The only other time there was no contact from Brodie, he had taken himself off to Edinburgh. At the time, I had been prepared for it to be several days or more considering the reason.
I was to go to Oxford the next day and meet with Dr. Pennington. Granted, Brodie would have found Oxford, with thirty schools spread across the entire campus, to be tedious in the least.
I would carry on, on behalf of Mrs. Bennett, on my own as I had the last several days.
I did hope that Dr. Pennington might be able to provide some insight into Dr. Bennett’s habits, and where he might have taken himself off to.
I followed Lily into the parlor where Mrs. Ryan had a fire going upon the hearth. She was finally winding down much like a top that had spun itself out, as my aunt had once said of me.
