work boots. I had worn my good suit for the Glee Club’s performance, but my mother had warned me not to race in those clothes.
No one was waiting for me in front of the shop. I looked up the street, then back the other way. “Jenny?” I called. “Joseph?”
No one answered. The street was deserted; everyone in town was watching the events taking place on the main road.
Not knowing what to do, I called again, louder. “Jenny? Miss Jenny?”
The door opened a few inches, and a voice whispered, “In here, Ted. Inside.” I pushed the door wide and stepped in, blinking in the dim light.
Bridget stood in the middle of the shop, hands on hips, face flushed. “Were you part of this disgraceful business, Ted? Are you responsible for this?”
“For what?” I asked. “What are you doing here, Bridget? Where’s Jenny? Where’s Joseph?”
“Take a good look at your Joseph,” Bridget said, pointing at the rear wall. A small figure stood there, his back to me, his head bowed. He wore overalls, rolled up several inches, work boots, and a large cap pulled firmly down almost to the back of his neck. Joseph was shorter and much thinner than I had imagined him to be. Well, I would have to take smaller strides when we raced. We would manage.
“Joseph?” I said, relieved he was there. “We must hurry. The race will begin soon.”
He turned around, and I could see he had been crying. But what was more important than his tears was the fact that he wasn’t Joseph. “He” was Jenny.
“Jenny!”
“Yes, this ‘boy’ is my idiot cousin,” Bridget said. “I hope you had no part in this scheme of hers, Ted. If I hadn’t been late for the opening ceremonies, I wouldn’t have seen her skulking about as she made her way to your father’s shop and wouldn’t have found out about this until it was too late. We would all have been disgraced.”
“Jenny?” I said again, scarcely hearing Bridget.
Jenny lifted her head. The cap was low over her ears and forehead, but a few tendrils of blond hair had escaped. In truth, she looked nothing at all like a boy. She looked nothing at all like a man, either, even though a very black moustache was crookedly painted on her face.
“Oh, Jenny!” I said.
“Can you say naught but ‘Jenny’ then?” she said, bursting into tears.
“Crying will do you no good, girl,” Bridget said. “Although you’d be crying harder if I hadn’t found out about this in time to stop you and Ted from racing together.”
“But I wouldn’t have—” I began, then wisely closed my mouth. Jenny was so obviously herself, even in men’s clothes and with that ridiculous paint on her face, that I would have discovered her deception immediately. I would never have allowed her to race with me. But now didn’t seem the right time to mention that.
Bridget paid no attention to me. She spoke only to Jenny, her voice loud and angry. “It’s one thing for you to dash around town with the little twin boys, tearing about like a wild thing, though some people have been horrified by that behaviour. But Mrs. Fraser says you tend well to her children and will hear no complaints about you, so I’ve said nothing. But to appear in public in men’s clothes, to enter a man’s race—that is shameful. Even Mrs. Fraser couldn’t forgive that. You would have been sent back to Scotland, you silly girl.”
“But Mrs. Fraser helped me,” Jenny said through her tears. “She lent me the clothes—they’re Mr. Fraser’s—and used bootblack to disguise my face. She said she wished she could—”
“Then Mrs. Fraser is as silly as you are. She might have wild ideas about what women can do, but her husband is not so forgiving. Believe me, you would have lost your job once he found out.”
“He wouldn’t have found out,” Jenny said defiantly, her tears forgotten.
“You think not? Your disguise wouldn’t fool a single person. Within minutes word would be all over town. Didn’t you think about how Ted’s parents would be shamed? Or me? People would blame me for your recklessness, for I try to look after you.”
“But it was nae so serious a thing to do, Bridget.” Two large tears rolled from Jenny’s eyes, sliding down her cheeks and lodging in the thick “moustache.”
“You think not? You know I have a responsible position managing the Hotel de France. Didn’t you think about me, about how I could lose my job, as well? About how I could be hurt by your stupid behaviour?”
Jenny’s lower lip trembled when she answered. “Nae one would have blamed you, Bridget.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. The women of this town could be unforgiving, and it was possible that many of them would hold Bridget accountable for Jenny’s unladylike behaviour.
Bridget turned to me. “Please, Ted, tell me you knew nothing about this. I suspect you didn’t, but I need to hear it from your own lips.”
If I told Bridget that Jenny’s disguise had been my plan, then perhaps she wouldn’t be so cross with her young cousin. If I took the blame, then...
But before I could open my mouth, Jenny spoke up. “Of course, it was nae his idea, Bridget. Don’t listen to him if he tells you it was.”
“Well, Ted?” asked Bridget. “Did you know what she intended to do?”
“Ah...well...I...”
“I shall nae speak to you ever again if you don’t tell her you knew nothing,” Jenny said. “You won’t take the blame for what I did.”
“Well, did you know?” Bridget demanded.
I looked to my right. Jenny scowled, her black “moustache” drooping unevenly down the sides of her mouth. I glanced to my left. Bridget glared at me.
“Tell me the truth,” Bridget said.
“Don’t you dare lie,” Jenny said. “I don’t need you to protect me.”
“I...I...”
I don’t like to tell untruths, but I couldn’t bear to see Jenny in trouble. Surely Bridget wouldn’t be as angry if she thought Jenny entering the race was my idea. But if I did that, if I tried to help, I would lose Jenny’s friendship. I knew she meant what she said, that she would never speak to me again if I didn’t tell Bridget the truth.
“I’m waiting for your answer,” Bridget said.
“I’m waiting, too,” Jenny said. “Say something, you glaikit boy.”
I tried. But all that came out was “I...uh...I...”
Then Bridget took a deep breath and sighed. “No, Ted, it’s all right. You don’t need to answer. I know you’re fond of my silly cousin and will try to take the blame for this even though that will anger Jenny greatly.”
“It will indeed,” Jenny said.
“I
