Fallen Grace - Mary Hooper [48]
‘Perhaps she’s being deliberately difficult,’ Charlotte said. ‘Maybe a couple of nights of being shut in the cellar would cure her.’
‘I doubt it,’ said Mrs Unwin. ‘Nothing like that works with servants these days. Mrs Ormsby tried it and her maid just walked out as soon as she was released and began spreading dreadful tales about her.’
‘Disgraceful!’ Charlotte sat on the sofa and drummed her heels on the floor. She knew she was being childish but she was really quite desperate to have that gig. ‘I’ve tried everything!’
Mrs Unwin carried the swatch to the window to look at it in a better light. ‘Did you even find out the name of the house they lived in?’
‘No, because she can’t remember it,’ Charlotte said petulantly. ‘I know everything there is to know about watercress, though. I could scream at the amount I know about watercress!’
Mrs Unwin, unable to concentrate on colours, reluctantly put aside the fabric. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘we must think of another way of persuading her. I’ll speak to your father.’
Mr George Unwin was first at the usual meeting place in Barker’s the following Saturday afternoon. Having been told of Lily’s stubbornness but being unable to think of a solution, he greeted his cousin with a deep frown and a double whisky.
‘We’re in trouble, Sly,’ he said as soon as the other sat down. ‘The girl is being difficult.’
‘What girl?’
‘The pigeon!’
‘I thought she was in the cage, learning her lines.’
‘Oh, she’s safe enough – but she’s too simple to play the part we’ve allocated her. Or not simple enough,’ he added as an afterthought.
‘How d’you mean?’
‘She won’t play ball. We keep telling her we adopted her years ago but she just denies it. I tell you, the whole scheme is in jeopardy.’
‘Hmmm.’ Sylvester Unwin knocked back his whisky and sat for a moment, thinking deeply.
‘You know, I think we ought to move this on as quickly as we can,’ George Unwin continued. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that some other villains were planning the damn same thing.’
‘Ah, but they wouldn’t have the girl, would they?’
‘For all the good she is,’ said George Unwin in a dispirited voice.
‘No, they wouldn’t have the girl,’ Sylvester Unwin murmured thoughtfully, ‘so they’d have a stand-in.’
George Unwin looked at him.
‘Someone to play her part,’ Sylvester Unwin elaborated. ‘And we could do the same. Why not?’
‘But what would we do with the real one?’
‘Lock her away somewhere.’ He gave a guffaw of laughter. ‘Tell you what, we’ll put the two sisters together – we might get a cheap rate.’
‘But we can hardly just go sending off people willy-nilly.’
‘The simple one can go first – we’ll put it about that she’s run off. Servants do that all the time. And after a decent interval the other one can go, too.’
‘Hmm,’ said George Unwin thoughtfully. ‘Might work. But where do we get our little impersonator from? We want someone the same age, a girl who is absolutely reliable.’
Sylvester Unwin grinned. ‘My dear cousin, you need look no further than your own home.’
George Unwin gaped at him. ‘You mean . . . ?’
‘I do indeed. But we’ll need as much information from Lily as possible: descriptions, dates, details of Ma and Pa – all that stuff.’
‘On its way!’ said George Unwin. As usual, his cousin had come up with the solution, although Charlotte would have to be bribed with something else, of course.
‘So what else has been happening?’ Sylvester Unwin wanted to know.
‘I’ve got you a feathered tricorne!’
‘Why ever should I need one of those?’
‘As if you didn’t know! As if you hadn’t been told you’d be Lord Mayor of London within five years!’
‘Lord Mayor of London! I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ said Sylvester Unwin roguishly. ‘Whatever have I done to be made mayor?’
‘A leader in business, but with a caring and compassionate side,’ said George Unwin, ‘that’s how you present yourself, isn’t it?’ He winked. ‘And especially caring to fallen women, eh?’
The other ignored this. ‘Anyway, I know whose feathered