Heirs of Acadia - 02 - The Innocent Libertine by T. Davis Bunn Page B

attempt to pierce the shadows cast by Lillian’s hood. Then he turned his attention to Jack. “Have I seen you round these parts before?”
    Lillian halted Jack’s response with an upraised hand. “I have a magistrate’s order for you to discharge a prisoner brought here falsely.”
    “False arrest, is it?” The keeper was not impressed. “Walk these lanes, you’ll find not a one of these vermin deserve to be here. They’re all innocent. Every one.”
    “I am concerned with a young lady. Brought here earlier this very same evening.”
    “Ah.” His eyes gleamed. “A proper looker, highborn and haughty. That the one?”
    Lillian handed over the parchment. From the way the keeper frowned over the paper, it was evident the man could not read.
    “Abigail Aldridge is the young woman’s name,” she said.
    “That’s as may be. But like I said, the prison’s shut until—”
    “I can pay.”
    The keeper examined the coarse dark robe covering Lillian’s form. “Going against orders, that carries too dear a charge for the likes—”
    Lillian slipped her fingers into the sleeve and drew out a single coin. “In gold.”
    The keeper licked his lips. “Let’s be having it, then.”
    Lillian let the candlelight flicker over its gleaming surface. “Tell me the girl is all right.”
    “I let her stay in the association room, didn’t I.” He kept his eyes on the coin. “Didn’t send her off to the cells, where anybody might trap her in the night.”
    “You thought there was a chance someone would come and offer good coin for such as her,” Lillian interpreted. She pressed the coin into his hand. “Take me to her.”
    “A gold guinea won’t take you far in these parts.”
    “Five more when we pass back through these gates.”
    “Aye, well . . .” He glared at Jack. “Your man stays back here. Can’t be letting just anyone walk these halls.”
    Jack started to protest. Lillian cut him off. “Very well. Let us go.”
    The keeper hefted his lantern, grabbed the billy club from its place above the door, and set off across the press yard. He tapped the cobblestones as he walked, a hammering tone that marked his speech. Lillian knew the man was talking to her, but she could not make out the words. She pressed a handkerchief to her mouth to keep out the worst of the stench. If only she could hold off the memories as well.
    They passed down a long stone hall lit only by the keeper’s lantern. He used one of his jangling keys to open a stout oak door, which he slammed back on its hinges. “Here we are, then,” he declared. “Right as rain, she is too. Get up there, lass. There’s someone come to take you back to the land of the living.” The keeper laughed anew at his own joke.
    “Y-you’re here for me?”
    Lillian forced herself back to the present moment. A young woman was rising from her crouched position in the far corner, between the side wall and the unlit fireplace. But the shadows were so deep it was impossible to see more than a vague form. “Are you Abigail Aldridge?” she asked.
    “Thank God,” the young woman moaned as she rushed forward. “Thank the good Lord above.”
    In her haste to flee the chamber, Abigail struck the central table hard and almost went down. But she managed to stay aloft and rushed over. Her eyes apparently were adjusted to the gloom, and she came in close enough to peer under the hood. Her gaze widened in surprise. “Why, you are Coun—”
    Lillian placed a hand upon the young woman’s lips. “Your mother has sent me.”
    “Aye, it’s a good thing the woman’s come for you. There’s every manner of disease and danger awaiting those who step on the wrong side of the law.”
    Abigail clenched Lillian fiercely as she cried, “I did nothing wrong!”
    The keeper found that most humorous. “What did I tell you. There ain’t a guilty one among ’em.”
    Quietly Lillian said, “Let us be rid of this place while we are able.”
    But Abigail held Lillian closer