can do it, you know you can,’ he went on, unperturbed. ‘It’s only like playing charades.’
She was almost angry enough to slap him. ‘Who did you make this outrageous bet with?’
‘Douglas Fincham. I have either to give him five hundred guineas by the end of the month or you have to become a man for an evening.’
She stared up at him. ‘Oh, Tom, Tom, what have you done?’
‘It was your idea in the first place, or I would never have thought of it.’
‘It was a cork-brained idea. I changed my mind almost at once and decided to pay you the twenty pounds and forget the whole thing.’
‘But Lydia, you can’t,’ he said in anguish. ‘It will ruin me. I shall never hear the last of it. I shall be ostracised.’
‘Serve you right.’
‘Oh, Lydia, you can’t mean that. I’ve got you out of any number of scrapes in the past…’
‘Childish pranks,’ she said with asperity. ‘They were not like this at all.’ She paused as the implication of what he had done came to her. How could she face everyone if it became public knowledge that she fancied herself as a man? She would lose what friends she had and the Marquis of Longham would be confirmed in his belief that she was the most outrageous hoyden in the country. She would never be able to look into those searching eyes again. ‘Did you enter it in the betting book for all the world to see?’
‘No, for it would not do for it to become public or Lady Thornton might hear of it. It was a private bet.’ He stood looking down at her, unable to believe that she was prepared to renege on a wager; such a thing was unheard of, either for her or for him or anyone else who valued their reputation. ‘That don’t mean it don’t have to be honoured,’ he said. ‘Besides, Fincham…’
‘You could not have chosen a worse person to gamble with,’ she put in sharply. ‘He will never keep his tongue between his teeth if you do not pay up.’
‘Do you think I don’t know that?’ he said miserably.
‘We can’t let it come to that.’
He brightened considerably. ‘You’ll do it?’
‘I have only to deceive Lady Thornton?’ she queried, her heart sinking. ‘I may take Miss Thornton into my confidence?’
‘No, you have to convince everyone and that includes Miss Thornton,’ he said. ‘And you have to complete the dance and leave undiscovered.’
‘Supposing I cannot do it?’
‘Oh, you can, you know you can. Oh, Lydia, do this for me, I beg you.’
‘I don’t see why I should make a fool of myself so that you may not make a fool of yourself,’ she said. ‘You must tell Papa.’
‘Lydia, I’ll die sooner than do that. Please…’
‘How many other people know of this wager?’
‘Only Frank Burford and a steward at the club.’
‘Frank?’ she queried. ‘Is he in it too?’
‘Well, you know old Frank. He must needs put his stake in.’ He smiled suddenly. ‘He has already seen you in disguise, don’t forget.’
‘In the schoolroom! That hardly counts and, besides, I had costumes and make-up there.’
‘What costumes and make-up do you want? I’ll undertake to obtain them for you. It would not do for you to be seen buying such things.’
‘I don’t know, I shall have to think about it. How am I to disguise curves I should not have and fill out those places where I am lacking…?’
‘A tight waistcoat, padded shoulders and a little more fullness in the breeches. I am sure you can contrive.’
‘Does it have to be a ball or will a small supper dance suffice?’
‘It was not stipulated.’
‘Then we will aim for a quiet evening where the lighting is likely to be more subdued than at a grand affair and the fashions need not be so up to the mark.’
‘Then you will do it!’ It was surprising how his weariness left him and his face came alight at the prospect of this burden being lifted from his shoulders. ‘Oh, Sis, I knew you would. You’ve saved my bacon.’
‘Only if I succeed.’ It was madness to contemplate it, she knew, but if she could pull it off and the young Comte de Clancy was afterwards to disappear never to be seen again no harm would be done and Papa need never know what a young fool his son had been. ‘I ought to have a rehearsal,’ she said. ‘Somewhere where we are not known.’
‘I heard there is a fair on the Heath; what say you to that, two young men out for a lark?’
‘Oh, very well,’ she agreed, entering into the spirit of it now the die was cast. ‘But how shall we get out of the house?’
In the event it was not difficult, because Mrs Wenthorpe decided to retire early after the exertions of the previous evening and as soon as she was safely in her room with a late-night drink of chocolate Lydia hurried to Tom’s room, where she borrowed one of his suits of clothes and took it back to her own bedchamber.
There was very little difference in their height although he was broader than she was. A little padding in the shoulders of the frockcoat and a sash, half hidden by the waistcoat, to pull in the waist of the pantaloons soon put that right. That done, she surveyed herself in the long glass and then began on her face. Lampblack was used to emphasise her brows and make them thicker and the dregs from her coffee-cup used to darken her complexion. Pads of cotton stuffed into her cheeks made her face seem rounder and would also help to change her voice. Then she pushed her hair up under a wide-brimmed felt hat and decided she might do in a poor light, but in daylight or in the bright lights of a ballroom she would have to improve the make-up. She would not be able to change her hair colouring with dye, which she would have liked to do as an extra precaution against being recognised, because she would afterwards have to reappear as Lydia Wenthorpe, so she would have to wear a wig.
Tom called to her from the other side of her bedroom door and she ran to open it, standing before him, quizzing glass in hand. ‘How do I look?’
‘Bang-up,’ he whispered in admiration. ‘Not even Aunt Aggie would recognise you.’
‘I hope she may not see me. Are you ready?’
‘Yes. We’ll hire a rumbler down the road.’
The night was dark and the gas lamps shed a poor light, which suited Lydia, and they took care not to linger when they came under their yellow glow. A hackney was found and in a very short time they were deposited on the outskirts of the fair and were soon swallowed up by the mělée of people, old and young, male and female, gentry and artisan, who had come to enjoy themselves.
They attracted no attention as they wandered between stalls which offered a huge variety of goods
