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landing. The whole house seemed to be humming with noise. Footsteps on bare floorboards beat out a tattoo; raised voices, screams and cries of small children and babies echoed off the walls. Her first thought was for Peckham. She forgot her hunger and thirst in her concern for the animal who had touched her heart. She crept down the stairs to the entrance hall and opened the front door. Sitting on the step, shivering in the moonlight, the dog leapt to his feet and wagged his tail. She bent down and picked him up. ‘You’re frozen, you poor thing.’ He licked her face and she closed the door carefully so as not to alert the fearsome Mrs Wicks. She carried him upstairs to the attic room and they curled up together on one of the palliasses. His small body was warm despite the fact that he had been locked out in the cold for several hours, and Lucy was comforted by the nearness of a living creature.
    Daylight was streaming through the window when she opened her eyes. It took her a moment or two to remember that she was not in the room in Cat’s Hole, and when Peckham stirred and yawned she sat up with a guilty start. It was only then that she realised they had been covered with a thick boat cloak and that her grandmother was lying on the palliasse at her side, snoring gently. She too had slept beneath a mound of clothes, all of which were apparently second hand, and smelled accordingly.
    Eva stirred and opened her eyes. ‘What time is it?’
    â€˜I dunno, Granny. The bailiffs took our clock.’
    â€˜We got work to do.’ Eva raised herself on her elbow, shaking out her halo of guinea-gold curls. ‘I could murder a cup of tea.’ She reached beneath the palliasse and took out her purse. ‘There’s a stall on the corner of Brown Bear Alley. Get us something to eat too.’
    â€˜We haven’t got any cups, Granny.’
    â€˜Yes, we have. I thought ahead and bought two tin mugs on my way home last evening.’ Eva pointed to a paper bag lying by her bed. ‘Your granny thinks of everything.’
    â€˜Where did you go last night?’ Lucy took the purse, weighing it in her hand. ‘You got more money than you had yesterday.’
    â€˜Don’t ask, dear. Just go out like a good girl and get us something to eat and drink.’
    With Peckham at her side, Lucy set off for Brown Bear Alley, and found the coffee stall set up and doing a brisk trade. She handed over the mugs and waited while the man filled them with tea, adding a dash of milk and a generous spoonful of sugar. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation. ‘And two ham rolls, please,’ she added, eyeing them hungrily. Peckham growled and she looked down at him, but he was standing with his ears cocked and his whole body alert, staring across the street. She followed his gaze and her heart lurched in her chest as she spotted the familiar lozenge and coat of arms on the side of the carriage, and the pale face of the old gentleman gazing out of the window.

Chapter Three
    SHE TURNED HER back on him, concentrating instead on the stall keeper. ‘Have you got any scraps for me dog, mister?’
    He glanced at Peckham, who seemed to know that he was on show and raised a paw. ‘I might have a few scraps,’ the man said, scraping bits of ham fat onto a crust of bread. ‘Take that, but don’t come back for more. I ain’t a charity.’
    â€˜Ta, mister.’ Lucy treated him to a smile. She looked down at the dog. ‘Say thank you to the kind gent.’
    Peckham obliged with a sharp bark and she tossed the food to him. He fell on it and gobbled it up. Lucy tucked the ham rolls into her pocket and picked up the mugs, but she could not resist a quick glance over her shoulder. The gentleman met her startled gaze with a steady look and she turned away, walking as fast as she could without spilling too much of the hot tea. She dodged into the maze of alleyways, which would be