Manservant

15

"Something's going on out there!" the cry came from one of Detective Bromley's men – a man named Officer Loeb – as Mother, Felicity and I came rushing downstairs a few nights later.

We'd heard pounding on the door and a loud commotion, and I began to dread that finally, Frank Vanderbilt's men had come to collect. "Dear God," I murmured to myself.

"What is it?" Mother demanded, speaking to the two officers.

"It's ... some kind of riot ... "

"Riot?" I repeated, taken aback. That was not what I had been expecting. All of us crowded around the windows at the front of the house, peering out.

We could see what appeared to be the glow of moving fires in the distance. If we listened carefully, we could hear muffled yelling and screaming coming from the center of town.

"What on earth is going on out there?" Mother said, her face going pale.

We heard a door slam somewhere, and everyone jumped. Someone came marching up, and we turned around to look.

It was Theo – this was the first time I'd laid eyes on him since that fateful night – and he had a strange look on his face. "It's an uprising," he announced, sounding grave. I noticed he wouldn't look directly at me.

"Uprising?" Officer Loeb repeated. "Who ... ?"

"Slaves."

Silence dropped like a rock. It was a few moments before Mother said, a little nervously, "Slaves are rioting?"

"That's right."

"How do you know?"

"I ... heard rumors."

The other officer, Officer Gillan, walked up, meeting him in the eye. He was just as big as Theo was, with a face as a mean as a bulldog's. "Did you have something to do with this? Because if you did – "

"No. I never wanted this." This time, his gaze went over to me, lingering for a second.

"Enough," Mother said, putting herself between the two men. "We need to keep our heads here."

"What should we do?" Felicity asked worriedly.

"Perhaps we should barricade the house, in case they decide to come here," I suggested.

"Don't worry. We'll continue to stand guard," Officer Loeb stated.

"So will I," Theo volunteered.

"No, no, no," Officer Gillan was quick to dismiss the idea. "My recommendation is that this rat be put in the basement where he can't do any harm."

"Officer Gillan," Mother snapped at him. "This man is one of my staff, and my staff are as good as my family."

"Do you think he feels the same way? Or any of them?" he returned, gesturing at Maia and the other girls.

"For your information, this is our home too," Giulia piped up.

"Listen, if those rioters come here, we're going to need all the help we can get," Officer Loeb informed his partner sternly.

Officer Gillan rolled his eyes, not saying anything for a moment. "Fine. Let's just have him where I can keep an eye on him."

"Girls," Mother said to the rest of us. "Come on. We need to get to work."

I started after them, but Theo paused next to me, the two of us sharing a look. "Be careful," I told him.

I didn't even care that just in front of us, Maia overheard and turned to look at us.