“I don’t think he meant “dancers”,” soothed Captain Heron. “I fancy that’s a cant word.”
“Oh, that’s it, is it,” said Sir Roland, relieved. “It’s a pity he don’t speak English. Don’t follow him at all, you know.”
Mr Hawkins’s dancers proved to be a flight of rickety stairs, up which he led them to a malodorous bedroom. Sir Roland recoiled on the threshold, raising his scented handkerchief to his nose. “Pel—no, really Pel!” he said faintly.
“Smells a bit of onions,” remarked the Viscount. He picked up a battered tricorne from a chair, and casting aside his rakish chapeau a la Valaque, clapped it over his fair, unpowdered locks. He surveyed the effect in the cracked mirror, and chuckled. “How d’you like it, Pom?”
Sir Roland shook his head. “It ain’t a hat, Pel. You couldn’t call it a hat.”
Mr Hawkins gave a guffaw. “It’s a rare shap, that one. Better nor yours.”
He handed the Viscount a muffler, and showed him how to tie it to conceal every vestige of his lace cravat. The Viscount’s shining top-boots made him purse his lips. “You could see your face in them stampers,” he said. “Hows’ever, it can’t be helped.” He watched Sir Roland struggle into a large triple-caped overcoat, and handed him a hat more battered than the Viscount’s. He eyed Sir Roland’s elegant gauntlets disparagingly. “Properly speaking, you don’t want no famstrings,” he said. “But I dunno. Maybe you’d best keep them white dabblers o’ yours covered. Now, you gen’lemen, stow these here masks away till I gives the word to put ’em on. Not till we gets to the Heath that won’t be.”
Captain Heron pulled his muffler tight and jammed his beaver well over his eyes. “Well, at all events, Pelham, I defy my own wife to recognize me in these clothes,” he remarked. “I could only wish that the coat were not so tight round the chest. Are we ready?”
Mr Hawkins was pulling a wooden case from under the bed. This he opened, and displayed three horse pistols. “I got two myself, but I couldn’t come by no more,” he said.
The Viscount lifted one of these weapons, and grimaced. “Clumsy. You can have it, Pom. I brought my own.”