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her soup?” I asked. “It would
be difficult to choke on broth.”
    She shook her head. “You would think. But
Frances sputtered and coughed the entire time they spooned it into
her.”
    “Perhaps it’s not in her head. Perhaps she
has some unseen malady that does not allow her to swallow
properly.”
    Emily squeezed my hand and directed me to a
bench in front of a large window. “Perhaps. But I think it is more
likely that she is deranged.”
    Sunlight streamed in through the window and
onto Emily’s face. We were twins, but we looked nothing alike. She
was the fair-haired beauty, and I was the dark-haired exotic, a
phrase my father drummed up for me so I would not feel left out
when people marveled at Emily’s appearance. The bench we sat on
reminded me of the park bench we rested on the day she told me she
could no longer function outside of the hospital walls. “Deranged?
Is that the category you’ve placed yourself in now?”
    “Not deranged, just inappropriately suited
for normal life.”
    I laughed. “If you are referring to life
outside these walls as normal, you’ve been holed up here too
long.”
    The large door at the end of the hall swung
open and a young man walked through carrying a small table. Emily
released my hand and smoothed a few stray hairs back from her
forehead. A grin erupted at the side of her mouth. The man
approached us.
    “Will this do, Miss?” he asked.
    “That is perfect, Samuel,” Emily answered in
an uncharacteristically soft tone.
    He smiled. “I’ll put it in your room.”
    Emily stared up at him with her disarming,
blue gaze, and Samuel nearly fell backwards with the table. “Under
the window would be perfect.”
    “Right away, Miss.” He hurried off.
    “What was that about?” I asked.
    “Oh, that. I needed a table to work on.” The
blush diffused from her cheeks.
    “Em, I’m not talking about the table. I’m
talking about the man.”
    She shrugged. “I see no need to live a
completely solitary existence. Besides, Samuel brings me anything I
ask for.”
    I jumped to my feet. “At what price? Emily,
I’m shocked.”
    “Really? Don’t be.” She stood and wrapped her
arm through mine, and we walked toward her room.

     
     

Chapter 5
     
    It was only October but autumn was scooting
away on brisk breezes. I opted for trousers again since they
provided more protection from the cold and because I’d be traveling
to the East End alone. I reached for my lucky hat, the John Bull
topper I’d found in Hyde Park, and pulled it low over my brow. It
was a look that would have made Emily cringe. The visit yesterday
with my sister had stirred my thoughts all day. I told myself I
should be happy about her rather unseemly relationship with the
hospital worker. But envy left a bitter taste in my mouth. She’d
been concealed within the walls of Bethlem, rarely even stirring
out of doors, and she’d formed an attachment. While her beauty
could have afforded her a much better suitor in the outside world,
she’d managed to find affection within the limited population
around her.
    Dr. Bennett met me at the front door and
handed me his coin purse. “I saw the men unpacking boxes of oranges
and winter pears yesterday at Covent Garden. Maybe you should stop
for some. Fresh fruit might make a tasty lure for a hungry boy. And
buy a few for home.”
    I nodded and tucked the coin purse into my
trouser pocket. “A bejeweled corpse would make a better lure, but I
don’t suppose you have one of those.” I bounced up to my tiptoes
and kissed him on the cheek.
    “Be careful, Cami. You know the rule.”
    “If anything smells the slightest bit sour,
then leave off right away.” I turned to go. I only hoped I could
smell something sour beneath the rotten stenches of the lower East
End.
    Ribbons of yellow, red, and green vegetables
stretched across the long line of grocers’ carts at Covent Garden.
The flower girls were hard at work tempting shoppers with their
tiny clusters of