Page 72 of The Last Necromancer
"Why were you fighting in a bare knuckle boxing match?" I asked Seth. "It's not the sort of thing a toff does." Attending the illegal matches was, but I'd never heard of one actually getting his hands dirty.
"I like to fight," Seth said with a shrug.
"He were desperate, and the pay were good. Everyone in the city came to see the toff in the ring. Including me, and maybe Death. That's probably where Fitzroy first saw him." Gus threw his apple, not at a trunk but into the middle distance.
Seth picked off another and threw it in the same direction. It passed Gus's. He gave his friend a smirk. Gus took that as a challenge and got another apple. He threw it hard, and it traveled so far I couldn't see where it landed.
"Ha! Beat that," he said.
Seth's next apple also disappeared from sight.
"Wait a moment." I hiked up my skirts and climbed the nearest apple tree. It felt like an age since I'd scrambled over a fence or wall. It was something I used to do several times a day. That and run, usually away from my pickpocket victim or the police.
"Charlie! What you doin' up there?" Gus cried, tilting his head back.
"Seeing who won. I think it was Seth."
"Get down before you hurt yourself," Seth called up.
"I'm not going to fall."
"If you get hurt, Death'll kill us," Gus said. "Come down now or we'll come up and get you."
I sighed and began to descend. "I was just having some fun. Turn away so you can't see up my skirt."
Both men dutifully turned their backs. I took the opportunity to pluck two apples and drop them on their heads.
"Oi!" Gus cried, rubbing his head.
I landed on both feet beside him and grinned. He frowned, but Seth laughed. "You're unlike any girl I know," he said.
"That's because I'm not used to behaving like a girl."
"That be true," Gus muttered. "You shouldn't be climbing trees. Lady Harcourt would have a fit."
"I don't care what Lady Harcourt thinks. Or anyone, for that matter. If I want to climb a tree, I'll climb a tree. Girls should be allowed to."
"Ain't proper," Gus grumbled, striding off. "Besides, you ain't a girl, you're a woman."
I stared at his retreating back, as rigid as a plank of wood. Why had my behavior upset him so much?
"Don't mind him," Seth said as we followed at a slower pace. "He's still not sure what to make of you. Sometimes he thinks of you as a lad, and other times he becomes aware of your femininity and he gets embarrassed."
"Why?"
"Because he doesn't know how to act around females. They scare him."
"Why do we scare him?"
"I'm not sure. Why don't you ask him?"
Perhaps I would, but another time. Gus didn't look in the mood to talk to me.
We headed back inside the house, where I spent a dull afternoon waiting for Fitzroy to return. The day stretched into the evening, and Seth, Gus and I dined in the kitchen with Cook. Afterward we played cards and I learned some new games from the men. If we'd been playing for real money instead of dried broad beans, I would have lost a fortune. I couldn't concentrate. Every creak of the house made me glance at the door. Every chime of the long case clock in the entrance hall set my teeth on edge. When it finally chimed ten, I couldn't stand it any longer.
"Where is he?" I tossed my cards down on the table and got up.
The others watched me pace back and forth with bemused expressions. "There's no need to worry," Seth said. "He'll be fine. He always is."
