She was so annoyed had with herself for letting the churchman escape that at first she barely noticed the hansom and the coach coming up Drury Lane from the direction of the Strand. The hansom cab trotted straight on past her but the coach travelled more slowly, as if the passenger were looking for something – or someone. Definitely trade, Mary decided, and opened her shawl again to show off her breasts.
Further down the street, another girl she slightly knew, Dolly Knapp, who normally worked the backstreets and alleys behind Covent Garden and the Strand, tried to catch the attention of the coach. The coach slowed momentarily and for one horrid moment Mary thought she had lost another customer, then the driver flicked his whip and the coach glided on past Dolly.
Dolly, old before her tim
