“Jerome is the only one he has legal power over,” argued Ernest.
Cornelius snorted. “When has the law meant anything to the marquess?”
Mel kicked something. A stone, perhaps. It shot away from her foot and collided with the nearest wall. She froze.
“Shush,” commanded Jerome. “I thought I heard something behind us.”
The brothers all paused. Mel closed her eyelids so that the light could not catch the whites of her eyes. Through the slits, she could see the pale ovals of faces looking in her direction.
After a moment, Lord Kemble said, “I don’t hear anything. Come on. The boats should be waiting for us by now.”
They walked off, with Mel following. A corner in the tunnel brought them within sight of a large arch closed off by bars. Kemble produced something that proved to be a set of keys, for he opened the gate in the bars, and the Sheppard brothers crowded through.
With them out of the way, Mel could see they were on the bank of the Thames, that watermen waited with their boats, and that the brothers were already greeting them and clamberingaboard. Kemble shut the gate but didn’t bother to lock it again, and Mel was able to escape the tunnel without attracting anyone’s attention.
Now what? If she joined one of the boats, she’d be seen. But she was in luck. There were four boats, but the brothers filled the first three, and as each boat was loaded, its waterman pushed off into the current.
Mel stopped the last waterman just before he started after them. “Wait! Do you see those gentlemen?” she said. “Follow them.” And moments later they were floating down the Thames.
