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Her uncle was waiting for her in the anteroom just where they had met before and for one heart-stopping moment she wondered if he had never left and the whole thing had been a trick. ‘You have courage, I will give you that,’ he said. ‘I was afraid you would persuade Drymore to leave at once.’
‘And leave my brother behind? You do not know me very well, if you thought that, sir.’
‘Then he means more to you than your husband.’
She let that pass. It was her deep love of both that was the driving force behind what she did now. ‘You have permission for me to see Michel?’
‘Yes.’ He handed her a sheet of paper signed by Danton. ‘The list?’
‘It has been left with the concierge at the Embassy with instructions to give it to you after we have left.’
‘You do not trust me.’
‘I am simply being cautious.’
He laughed. ‘Touché. Come with me, then.’
He led the way across The floor and through a door on the far side, along a series of corridors and down two flights of stairs. The grandeur of the upper rooms was left behind and there was nothing but bare stone walls and worn stone steps, lit only by lamps in brackets at intervals which only made a small pool of light in their immediate vicinity. The deeper they went the colder it became and Lisette shivered.
At the bottom they were stopped by an armed guard in front of a barred gate. From beyond it a babble of voices reached them and the stench of putrid food and unwashed bodies. ‘The citoyenne has permission to see and speak to the prisoner Giradet,’ Wentworth said in poor French.
Whether the man could read or not, Lisette did not know, but he certainly recognised Danton’s signature on the paper she showed him. ‘Come with me,’ he said, taking a bunch of keys from his belt and unlocking the gate.
‘You will forgive me if I do not come with you,’ Wentworth said, putting his handkerchief to his nose. ‘Urgent business elsewhere.’ To the guard he said, ‘She may have ten minutes alone with him, then send her back up to me. I shall be waiting in the foyer.’ And with that he scuttled away.
Lisette smiled, glad she did not have to suggest he might prefer not to go any further. She followed the guard along a corridor and down more steps, and with each step the noise grew louder and the stench stronger. She was more convinced than ever that no one could ever be rescued from there. She found herself in a long room lined with cages, each of which was filled with humanity, men, women and even little children. Some who had been there the longest were filthy and dressed in rags; the more recent arrivals still wore the finery they had on when brought there. As the warder and Lisette passed them hands reached out to her, some in supplication, others to grab at her cloak. Some to swear, some to moan. She had eyes for none of them, being more concerned with searching out her brother.
‘Giradet!’ The turnkey shouted. ‘Giradet, come forwards.’
There was a general movement in the far cell as people made way for a ragged skeleton to come to the front. The turnkey unlocked the cage and pushed Lisette inside. She turned back to him in consternation. ‘I am not to be locked in here and I am to speak to the prisoner privately.’
‘You may make what privacy you can there,’ he said. ‘When you have had enough, let me know and I will escort you back.’
Lisette turned to face her brother. She hardly recognised him. He was thin, his face grey, his eyes lifeless and his hair matted. Her heart sank; this was not going to be as easy as she had thought. Michel was staring at her in disbelief. ‘You too, Lissie,’ he murmured.
‘No, I am not a prisoner and you will not be for much longer, but you must listen to me.’ She took his arm and almost dragged him into a corner. ‘Can these people be trusted?’
‘Depends what you have in mind.’
She turned to a woman in a faded pink dress and a girl of about thirteen whom she supposed to be the woman’s daughter. She did not think they had been incarcerated long; neither was as thin or ill kempt as the rest. She held out a handful of assignats, knowing the money could buy extra food and comforts and perhaps even a good lawyer. ‘Will you stand guard?’
The woman snatched the money and stuffed it in the top of her stays and took up a stance between Lisette and the rest of the cell’s occupants. Lisette took off her burnous and handed it to the woman, who beckoned to the girl to hold one side of it to make a screen. Everyone else began to laugh, imagining what might be going on behind the cloak. Well, let them laugh, she did not mind that.
Michel was standing with his back to the wall in a kind of daze. Lisette smiled at him and reached over to kiss his cheek. ‘We are going to change places, you and I,’ she whispered. ‘Take off your coat.’ She began undoing the bodice of her gown as she spoke. ‘Remember the games we played as children when we pretended to be each other to deceive our friends? You are going out of here as me.’
