“You have an extremely cutting tongue, Ellen. I wonder when that happened. I’m sure you were once quite sweet-natured,” Leo said.
“I was an excellent actress. Now I don’t have to be.”
Both brothers sighed.
It took them half an hour, but they arrived at the docks. Rigging clanged, and hulls creaked as they stood looking around them. It was busy, sailors and people lugging cargo on and off ships. Hackneys rolled along, and the air had a tang of salt and refuse.
“Gah.” She pressed a sleeve to her nose. “That stench is horrid.”
“Perhaps your stomach is not as strong as you think it is.” Alex looked smug. “Leo, Mungo, and I aren’t worried about a few smells.”
Nightingales never missed an opportunity to poke at each other.
“Where is your umbrella, Ellen?” Leo demanded.
“Bud made me a loop to hang it on. She said, and I quote, ‘not sure why you need to lug that bleedin’ thing about even on fine days, but a woman needs her hands free, so I put loops on your skirts.’”
Ellen opened her coat.
Her brothers moved to Ellen’s right to inspect the loop and umbrella hanging from it.
“That’s handy,” Alex said.
“Very,” Ellen agreed.
“Unhook it then,” Leo said. He carried his cane, and she knew Alex would have his sticks.
“Please,” Ellen said.
“Cease,” Mungo demanded. “You three are always at each other. I’ll bang your bloody heads together if you don’t stop.”
“It really is not the done thing to bang a lord’s head with the empty caverns of his siblings’ heads.” Leo smirked. “Come along.”
“I see the window and the lamp from the vision,” Ellen whispered as they drew closer to the Hope and Anchor.
“Excellent,” Alex said.
“You stay out here with Mungo, Ellen. We’ll find him,” Leo said.
“I’m coming inside too.”
Her brothers looked at her. Mungo sighed.
“You will stand out.”
“I’m wearing a black wool coat. How will I stand out?”
“The Hope and Anchor is a drinking establishment for sailors who want a good time. The women inside will want to give them that,” Mungo said in a cold, hard voice.
“What he said,” Leo agreed.
Ellen untied her bonnet.
“What are you doing?” Alex asked.
“Unpinning my hair. That should help me blend.”
“Unpinned hair will not achieve that.” Leo grabbed her hands. “You are a gently bred lady to your toes no matter that you act like a hoyden. Now stay here. We’ll be back.”
