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"So the whore's eager cawing He crossed the northwest corner of the square and reached King Street, where the decaying buildings turned abruptly into a row of tidy town houses, coffeehouses, and a publisher or two It was a clean, prosperous street with bow-fronted houses inhabited by the upper class Grant had purchased an elegant, airy three-story air town house there The busy headquarters at Bow Street was only a short step away, but it seemed far removed from this serene location

Swiftly Grant any door a resounding kick When there was no response froain Suddenly the door opened and his housekeeper appeared, spluttering with protests at his cavalier treat

Mrs Buttons was a pleasant-faced woman in her fifties, kind of heart but bottled-up, steel-spined, and possessed of stern religious convictions It was no secret that she disapproved of Grant's chosen profession, abhorring the physical violence and corruption he dealt with as a matter of course Yet she tirelessly received the wide assortment of underworld callers who ca all with equal parts of politeness and reserve

Like the other Bow Street Runners orked under the direction of Sir Ross Cannon, Grant had become so immersed in the world of darkness that he sometimes questioned how much difference there was between himself and the criminals he pursued Mrs Buttons had once told Grant of her hopes that he would soht of Christian truth "I'," he had replied cheerfully "You'd better direct your aoal, Mrs Buttons"

As she beheld the dripping burden in her employer's arms, the housekeeper's normally unflappable face went slack with amazement "Good Lord!" Mrs Buttons exclaimed "What happened?"

Grant'sthe wo," he said curtly, pushing past the housekeeper as he headed for the stairs "I' her to my room"

"But how? Who?" Mrs Buttons gasped,a visible effort to recover herself "Shouldn't she be brought to a hospital?"

"She's an acquaintance of mine," he said "I want her seen by a private doctor God knohat they would do to her at a hospital"

"An acquaintance," the housekeeper repeated, hurrying to keep pace with his rapid strides It was clear she was burning to know more, but wouldn't presume to ask

"A lady of the evening, actually," Grant said dryly

"A lady of theand you've brought her here" Her voice reeked with disapproval "Sir, once again you have outdone yourself"

A brief grin crossed his face "Thank you"

"It was not a coan, wouldn't you prefer to have one of the guest rooms prepared?"

"She'll stay in u, Mrs Buttons directed a housemaid to wipe up the puddles they had left on the inlaid floors of the amber marble entranceway

The town house, with its long s, Sheraton furniture, and English hand-knotted carpets, was the kind of place Grant had once never dared to drea in It was a far cry from the crowded flat he had occupied as a s of a middle-class bookseller and his wife Or the succession of orphanages and workhouses that had come later, when his father had been thrown into debtor's prison and the family had fallen to pieces

Grant had eventually found hier had taken pity and given hiled up against the heat of the kitchen stove, Grant had dreah his dreams had never taken precise shape until the day he met a Bow Street Runner

The Runner had been patrolling the jostling ht a thief who had snatched a fish froer's stall Grant had stared wide-eyed at the Runner in his smart red waistcoat, arer, finer, more powerful than ordinary men Grant had i the life he had been consigned to was to becohteen, was promoted to the Day Patrol within a year, and a few months later was chosen by Sir Ross Cannon to complete the elite force of a half dozen Bow Street Runners

To prove his worthiness, Grant had hurled hi each case as if it required a personal sense of vengeance He went to any lengths to catch a culprit, once following a murderer across the Channel to apprehend hiun to charge exorbitant fees for his private services, which had only ht-after

Acting on advice from a wealthy client ed hi and textile coht several choice pieces of property on the west side of London With soher than God or e thirty, he could retire with a con from the Bow Street force The thrill of the chase, the lure of danger, were strong, almost physical needs he could never seem to satisfy He didn't care to dwell on exactly why he couldn't settle down and lead a normal life, but he was certain it didn't speak well of his character

Reaching his bedrooany tester bed with draped swags carved at the headboards and foot Much of his furniture, including the bed, had been specially fra beams posed a frequent hazard

"Oh, the counterpane!" Mrs Buttons exclaimed as Vivien's clothes saturated the heavy velvet eold and blue silk "It will be ruined beyond repair!"

"Then I'll buy another," Grant said, flexing his sore ar off his drenched coat He dropped his coat to the floor and bent over Vivien's still for her clothes as quickly as possible, he tugged at the front of her gown A curse escaped his lips as the buttons and hooks remained obstinately entrenched in the shrunken ool

Gru done to the velvet counterpane, Mrs Buttons endeavored to assist hih "They'll have to be cut off her, I suppose Shall I fetch the scissors?" Grant shook his head and reached for his right boot In a s habit, he extracted an ivory-handled knife with a six-inch spearpoint blade

The housekeeper gaped as he began to cut through the gown's thick woven bodice as if it were butter "Oh, my," she faltered

Grant focused intently on the work at hand "No one can wield a knife like a for the sides of the goide to reveal a wealth of white linen undergarments Vivien's che the rosecolored points of her niles beneath Although Grant had seen countless fe about Vivien's barely clad forled with the unaccountable feeling that he was violating so the fact that Vivien Duvall was an accomplished courtesan