Read Online Jack Lark: Rogue by Paul Fraser Collard - Free Book Online

about the Roundheads against the Cavaliers? The Cavaliers were on the side of Good King Charles.’
    ‘Who won?’
    ‘Well, the Roundheads won. But they were only in power for a short while. Then Charles’s son came back and retook the throne.’
    ‘Why can’t I be a Roundhead, then? If they won?’
    ‘No one dresses as a Roundhead. It isn’t the done thing!’
    ‘Why?’
    ‘It just isn’t.’ Edmund scowled at the idea.
    ‘I still don’t get it.’ Jack winced. For once, he was not feigning. ‘You’re sitting on my foot.’
    ‘Sorry, old fellow.’ Edmund moved quickly. ‘What part do you not get?’
    ‘So even if I am dressed up in the fancy rig of some loser, how is your father not going to realise I’m not you?’
    ‘You will be wearing a mask. It wouldn’t be much of a fancy-dress ball without them!’
    ‘So these Cavalier fellows wore masks then, did they?’
    ‘No. Not that I know of, anyway.’
    Jack shook his head as he considered the daftness of the rich. He thought about Edmund’s plan. The lure of a guinea for a night’s work was strong. ‘Sounds all right to me, that does. What do I have to do once I’m there?’
    ‘Just be seen. Loiter around. There will be food and drink, dancing too.’
    ‘Dancing! You never said anything about any fucking dancing.’
    ‘You don’t have to dance, you dolt. So long as my father knows you are there, that is all that matters. You can slip away before it ends. I shall leave you a note in my hand. You can give that to a servant and ask them to deliver it to my father.’
    ‘You’ve got it all planned.’ Jack was impressed.
    ‘I like to think I have thought it through. Nothing can go wrong.’
    ‘And I won’t have to talk to anyone?’ Jack bit his lip. Edmund’s declaration that nothing could go wrong was not reassuring for the man who would be standing in his shoes.
    ‘No. Keep yourself to yourself. Hide away if you must. Just be seen at regular intervals. You can leave at nine or ten. No one will think much of it.’
    ‘But I’ll have to say something.’ Jack was worried.
    ‘Perhaps a little.’
    ‘Don’t you think someone will hear my voice and know straight off I ain’t a toff?’
    ‘You will just have to pretend. You can do that, can’t you?’ Edmund was deaf to Jack’s concerns.
    ‘I suppose.’ Jack was less sure. He wondered what the punishment would be for forcing his way into a ball. It could hardly be worse than a beating from Lampkin. The notion cheered him up. He looked hard at Edmund. He could see the eagerness in his friend’s face. The lure of Mary’s body was clearly strong. The spark of jealousy threatened to flare up again, so he made himself think about the money.
    ‘I ain’t doing it.’ He eased himself back down under the sheets.
    ‘I beg your pardon?’ Edmund looked genuinely shocked at the sudden change.
    ‘I ain’t doing it. I’ll be risking my neck so you can get your cock away. Doesn’t seem fair to me.’
    ‘You are not risking anything. If you are discovered, you will be thrown out but no worse than that. It will be as nothing to what
I
shall face.’
    ‘Two guineas.’
    ‘I’m sorry?’
    Jack pushed himself on to his elbows and fixed Edmund with a smile. ‘I’ll do it for two guineas.’ He tried to hold back the laugh that was fighting to be free. He was gambling.
    ‘Why, you damned blackguard.’
    ‘Just think of Mary and those sweet little tits of hers. I don’t see you getting her any other way. You can’t keep slipping out without your guv’nor becoming suspicious. Way I see it, this might be your last chance to get a hold of her.’
    ‘Damn your eyes. Two guineas, then.’
    Jack laughed. Then he sat up and bellowed at the mildewed ceiling, barely able to credit his luck. Two guineas was a fortune. All for dressing up like a plum pudding and filling his face on free food. It was the easiest money he would ever earn.

Chapter 7
    Jack loitered in the entrance to the garden in