Cat Among the Pigeons Read Free Page B

up.
    â€˜Thank you, sir, but I prefer to take my chance here. I can’t run forever.’
    Mr Kemble sighed.
    â€˜Good boy,’ he said approvingly. ‘For what it’s worth, I think you’ve made the right choice. Drury Lane’s behind you.’ He got to his feet to move to his dressing table. ‘You know, I think the best strategy might be to brazen it out in public.’ He picked up his make-up stick and began darkening his eyebrows. ‘You’re a popular performer – the London crowd won’t want one of their favourite stars dragged off to waste his talents on a Jamaican sugar plantation. Mr Hawkins may just find that he’s taken on more than he bargained for when he came to claim you . . . Off you go now.’
    â€˜â€™Ave a care, Pedro,’ called Signor Angelini after us. ‘Stay with your friends. ’E may think to make snatch of you, willing or no.’
    After the rehearsal Pedro and I retired to my home in the Sparrow’s Nest – the vast costume store that occupied the attic on one side of the theatre. It was dark up here: the costumes glimmered half-seen in the shadows, like a headless army waiting for the command to march downstairs and on to the stage. I lit a candle. Pedro wasn’t called for the performance tonight so he had an evening off duty.
    â€˜What a day!’ I exclaimed, throwing myself on the old sofa that served as my bed. I saw with a groan that Mrs Reid had left a pile of mending for me with a note complaining about my prolonged absence from her side. Resigned to the inevitable, I picked up my needle and began to work. Pedro barely seemed to notice what I was doing, but stood at the window listening to the hubbub of the audience gathering below as itwaited for the doors to open. He stared out over the smoking rooftops at the stars.
    â€˜These are the same,’ he said, finally breaking the hush that had fallen between us.
    I put aside a badly darned stocking and came to stand beside him. The night sky was untouched by the glitter of lights spilling out from the gin palaces and taverns on the streets below. Up here, at the top of one of the tallest buildings in town, Pedro and I occupied a strange borderland. Look down and you saw Drury Lane spreading her tricks out before you with all the flash showmanship of a pavement magician. London’s a city of false prophecies and illusions where the streets are only paved with gold on a wet night with the lamps lit. Look up and all that tawdriness is left behind, for above the rooftops is where the true-silver magic of the starlight takes over.
    â€˜What’s the same?’ I asked softly, caught in the spell with him.
    â€˜The stars. They’ve stayed with me, thougheverything else has changed. I remember them shining over my village. My father used to tell me stories about them.’
    â€˜What stories?’
    â€˜I can’t remember. I was too young.’ Pedro rarely spoke of his family. He’d lost so much: his home, his family – even his memories.
    â€˜You miss them, don’t you? Your family, I mean.’
    â€˜Every day. My mother’s smile. My sisters’ bickering – you would’ve liked them. My grandmother – she wasn’t taken – too old, they said. My father – proud and strong. Did I ever tell you he was a king among our people?’ I shook my head. ‘Funny that Syd’s gang call me “Prince” now, isn’t it?’
    It was a very sad kind of funny, I thought.
    â€˜I can also remember the stars at sea. When I got out of the hold of the ship they crammed us aboard, I can remember thinking that the stars were the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen – so high, so free.’
    â€˜Was it so very bad in the ship?’ I ventured. Pedro had hinted as much before but the events of the day seemed to have unlocked a door to those memories.
    â€˜I can’t tell you how bad it was,