Free Shadow of the Hangman by Edward Marston

performance onstage, she’d fought off her admirers, gone back to the house and waited for him. The moment he came back, they fell into bed together and everything else was put aside. It was only now that he chose to tell her the truth about his activities in Upper Brook Street.
    ‘How often do you do this sort of thing?’ she asked.
    ‘I skip across the rooftops every night,’ he joked.
    ‘This is no laughing matter, Paul. I had no idea that you diced with death so recklessly. Did you have no concern for me at all?’
    ‘Yes – that’s why I didn’t tell you beforehand. I didn’t want you to worry.’
    ‘My anxiety is all the more intense now that I know what you kept from me. I
care
for you. These past few days have been heavenly. I have felt true happiness at last.’ Her tone hardened. ‘Now I learn that my happiness could be snatched away any moment because you tempt Fate so wilfully.’
    ‘Hear the full story and you’ll not fret quite so much,’ he told her.
    ‘I’m not fretting, Paul – I am driven to distraction.’
    Getting up from his chair, he bent down beside her and took her hand between his. He then gave her an attenuated account of the plot devised by Micah Yeomans, explaining how it had been discovered and frustrated. Paul pointed out that he and his brother were well able to perform difficult feats and had done so many times before.
    ‘We took a coil of rope with us, you see. That later became thestaircase that allowed us to descend to the ground. All that Peter and I had to do was to tie it around a chimney and climb down it.’
    ‘What if you had fallen?’
    ‘Then we would not be having this conversation.’
    ‘No,’ she said, tartly, ‘I’d be talking to the undertaker instead.’
    She got up abruptly, walked to the window, pretended to be looking through it and took out a handkerchief to dab at her eyes. Paul went after her and put both hands on her shoulders. He whispered endearments in her ear but they were met with a cold silence. He eased her around to face him.
    ‘If you knew how many times Peter and I have done this sort of thing,’ he said, airily, ‘you wouldn’t have a moment’s disquiet. We were
born
to it, Hannah. We are natural acrobats.’
    ‘You’ve frightened me.’
    ‘I hoped that you’d be impressed, my darling.’
    ‘What is impressive about someone falling to his death?’
    He spread his arms. ‘But I
didn’t
fall. The evidence stands before you.’
    ‘Stop taking this so lightly,’ she reproached. ‘I’m serious, Paul.’
    ‘I know.’
    When he tried to hug her, she stiffened and pushed him away. He offered her an apology but she was well beyond its reach. Hannah was fully roused.
    ‘You told me that your brother is married,’ she said.
    ‘That’s true – to a dear lady named Charlotte.’
    ‘Did he tell
her
what he was intending to do last night?’
    ‘Probably not,’ he replied. ‘Why upset her when there was no need? Peter would have told her afterwards when the danger was past and she could see that he was unharmed.’
    ‘
You
were not unharmed by that tussle in the warehouse. I sawthe marks on your body. They were hideous.’
    ‘I explained that, Hannah. I had an accidental fall.’
    ‘You might well have had another last night and I would have been left alone to mourn you. It’s possible that Charlotte would have been mourning your brother as well. I didn’t realise that the pair of you were such madcaps.’
    ‘Some women might find that appealing,’ he contended.
    ‘Well, I am not one of them, Paul.’
    When he tried to embrace her again, she stepped back out of his reach. He was perturbed. After the intimacy they’d shared, rejection was painful. Every time they’d been alone together before, she’d been warm and receptive. In the hope of winning her over, he offered a compromise.
    ‘You are right, Hannah,’ he admitted. ‘I should have told you.’
    ‘I’m glad you accept that.’
    ‘In future, I promise,