Love Disguised Read Online Free Page A

belltower in the yard of St. Paul’s. There they scraped off the pigeon dung with a knife and dropped it on the heads of passersby, whose outrage left the trio weak with laughter. Butwhen a rival band of roisterers moved into the churchyard, Davy and Peter decided to seek out a new haunt across the city. What drew them to the Boar’s Head Inn were the people crowding into the front gate. Whether the entertainment was a cockfight or a troupe of jugglers, a crowd meant an opportunity for thieves to ply their trade.
    They paid a penny each to enter the innyard. The benches and galleries overlooking the wooden stage were nearly filled.
    â€œI expect to be many times repaid,” murmured Davy, rubbing his hands together.
    â€œTo it, Mack. Spy out a gull,” said Peter.
    Meg nodded toward an old man with his purse dangling in full view.
    â€œI’ll greet him now,” said Davy. “Follow me, Peter; stay close, Mack.”
    But Meg’s eye was caught by the movement on the stage. Two soldiers charged each other, their swords clashing. One groaned and blood seemed to spurt from him as he fell down dead. The very timbers of the stage shook.
    â€œNo, let’s watch this action,” said Meg. “I’ve never seen a play.”
    The victor began to deliver a lofty speech, whereupon the dead soldier sat up and thrust his sword into him. Meg gasped and stood on her toes, trying to see the wound.
    â€œCome, Mack!” Peter’s horn-thumb tapped the underside of his palm.
    â€œGo snare him yourselves,” she said in vexation.
    Onstage the players ranted, fought, embraced their queens, fought again, and died a second time. Meg clapped until herpalms hurt. She forgot about Davy and Peter, her petty crimes, her lost parents, everything but the present moment. The hostess of the inn passed before her carrying a pitcher of ale in each hand, her teeth as big as a horse’s as she laughed at the stableboy trying to juggle oranges. One bright, round fruit fell to the ground. A woman seated beside Meg grabbed it and tossed the boy a penny. The players uttered words such as Meg had never heard before, words that fell on her ears like the measured beat of a drum. The woman with the fragrant orange leaned against Meg, called her “sweet boy,” and offered her a slice of the fruit. Here was a new world of comfort and good cheer, and Meg’s heart stirred with longing to be in it.
    â€œHeigh-ho! Seize those scoundrels!”
    Meg looked aside to see Peter and Davy pushing their way through the crowd. They leaped onto the stage and off again, pulling down the curtain on the startled actors. Two men pursued them across the stage. The audience roared with laughter, thinking this was a part of the play, until the actors began to curse.
    My friends are in trouble
, thought Meg, jumping to her feet and running after them.
    â€œThere goes a third one!” Meg heard the man’s voice behind her and felt someone grab her cloak.
    â€œI’ll make you pay, thief!” The man’s stinking breath assaulted Meg. He twisted the fabric at her neck, choking her.
    She screamed. “Peter! Davy! Help me!”
    They glanced over their shoulders at her but did not stop or even slow down.
    Meg struggled against her captor. She managed to untiethe cloak, leaving it in the man’s hand as she fled. She ran until the cries and footsteps behind her faded into silence. Peter and Davy were nowhere to be seen. She turned right and left, calling their names in a low voice. She was in a maze of narrow lanes, where she wandered until she emerged on the riverbank. Before her the swift-moving water glimmered in the twilight; the bridge was only a short distance away.
    As long as she could see the river, Meg was not lost.
    On her right hand loomed the Tower, a fortress where the worst criminals in all of England were kept. Meg imagined their moans and the clanking of chains. How close she had come to