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.The footman looked abashed.‘But if I’m meant to look after Dunn, who’s going to look after Miss Foster?’ he said, in an effort to make amends for losing her earlier.‘Miss Foster,’ said Joshua curtly, ‘is coming with me.’Rebecca opened her mouth to speak but in fact she would be very glad to leave the maze of narrow streets behind.She could tell he was angry but their argument could wait until they were somewhere more respectable.They walked in frosty silence, traversing the maze of dark streets and then emerging into a more respectable area, where they arrived at an impressive residence.‘Thank you for your assistance,’ said Rebecca.‘I believe I can find my own way from here.’‘Your carriage has gone on without you,’ he said.‘You can wait inside.This is my house.’‘I can’t go in without a chaperon,’ Rebecca remarked.‘Indeed you can,’ he said.She knew how difficult it would be to find a hansom and so she preceded him into the house.He waved away the lackeys who would otherwise have greeted him and guided Rebecca through into the sitting-room.It was furnished in a simple and masculine style.There were no floral curtains or cushions scattered around.Everything was of good quality, but plain.‘Now, why don’t you tell me what you were doing, putting yourself in danger like that,’ he said, glaring at her as he closed the door.‘Thank you,’ retorted Rebecca, annoyed by his high-handed attitude.‘I would like some refreshment.How kind of you to offer it.’She glared right back at him.‘What were you doing in the back streets of Manchester on your own?’ demanded Joshua, ignoring her remarks and going straight to the heart of the matter.‘I might well ask you the same question,’ she returned.‘I was looking at a number of properties.There are some houses there for sale at a reasonable price, and although squalid at the moment they could be made clean and comfortable for the mill workers.I was going to tell you about them later, and ask if you thought we should invest in them.’‘Ah! I see,’ said Rebecca.‘I have answered your question, now you answer mine.You know how dangerous the back streets are, Rebecca, you are not a fool.Even in ordinary times it is dangerous to go too far from the main streets, and when there has already been an unexplained attack on the mill it is madness.’‘I didn’t go into the back streets on my own,’ returned Rebecca.‘I went with one of the footmen you gave me.’‘If that’s the case, then how is it he wasn’t with you when I found you?’ he demanded.‘Because he couldn’t keep up with me.I had to leave the carriage in a hurry,’ she explained.‘It was stuck behind an overturned cart, and as I passed the time by looking out of the windows I saw a man I recognized loping through the back streets.It was the man who daubed LONG LIVE NED LUDD on the wall at the mill.’Joshua’s eyebrows shot up.‘I assumed he was just a common thug intent on stealing your reticule,’ he said.‘But now I begin to understand.Are you sure? You didn’t get a good look at him, and you can only have seen him from a distance when you were in the carriage.’‘I am.It wasn’t his looks I recognized, but the way he moved.He has a curious loping gait, as I told you at the time.I jumped out of the carriage in order to follow him and called to the footman to accompany me.I looked over my shoulder to make sure he had done so, but he must have lost me shortly afterwards.I had to keep Dunn in sight, and it entailed making a number of quick turns.’Joshua’s face relaxed.‘So you see, I wasn’t putting myself in danger,’ explained Rebecca.‘Of course you were,’ said Joshua, not so easily mollified.‘As soon as you got out of the carriage you were in danger.And when I think of you following a man you knew to be a criminal.’ His face darkened and his eyes became turbulent.‘How else was I going to catch him?’ she demanded.‘At least now we have something to go on.As soon as we’ve questioned him —’‘We?’‘You seem to forget that I’m involved in this just as much as you are,’ she returned.‘No.I don’t forget.But if you think I’m going to let you anywhere near a man like that you’re mistaken,’ he said.‘It isn’t up to you to tell me what to do,’ she returned.He glared at her.Then said, apparently reasonably, ‘You’re right.It isn’t.’ His reasonableness suddenly vanished.‘But I’m going to do it anyway.’Rebecca gave a sigh.It was no use arguing with him.He could be extremely stubborn when he chose – as stubborn as she was.Besides, she had to admit, if only to herself, that she was actually relieved
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