Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken

moonshine, harmless as a kettle on a guinea pig's tail. Why trouble about them when they trouble nobody?"
    Simon wondered whether Mr. Cobb would think them so harmless if he were to see the contents of the Twites' cellar. But, just as he was opening his mouth to speak of this the Chelsea Church clock boomed out the hour of nine and he had to hurry off to Battersea Castle.
    He took the main way over Chelsea Bridge and through the great gates beyond it. A tree-bordered avenue led to the castle, which rose like some fabulous pink flower among the encircling gas flares.
    "Oo the devil are you and where the devil d'you think you're going?" growled a voice ahead of him. A burly man came out of a porter's lodge halfway along the avenue and halted Simon by pressing a button which caused two crossed lances to rise out of the ground, barring the road.

    "The Duke has invited me to play chess with him," Simon said.
    "Play chess with a ragged young tyke like you? A likely story," the gatekeeper sneered. As a matter of fact it
was
a likely story, since the Duke made friends with all kinds of odd characters, and this the man knew quite well, but he hoped to wring some gate money out of Simon.
    "I'm not ragged and the Duke is expecting me," Simon said calmly. "Let me in, please."
    "
Ho,
no! I'm not so green as to let riffraff and flash coves in, to prig whatever they can mill! I'm not lowering that barricade for you, no, not if you was to go down on your benders to me. Not if you was to offer me so much as half a guinea!"
    Simon remained silent and the man said angrily, "Not if you was to offer me a
whole
guinea, I wouldn't open it."
    "I shan't do that," Simon said.
    "Oh? And why not, my young shaver?"
    "Because you'll have to open it anyway. The Duchess's carriage is just behind you."
    The gatekeeper swung around with an oath. True enough, the carriage, which Simon had observed leaving the castle as he reached the lodge, was pulling up smoothly just behind the man, and the coachman was
crying impatiently "Jump to it, there, Daggett, d'you think her Grace wants to wait all night?"

    Red with suppressed emotion, Daggett hastened to obey.
    Sophie, who was sitting in the carriage opposite her Grace, holding a reticule, a telescope, and a mah-jongg set, dimpled a smile at Simon, and the Duchess inquired, "Is that your young friend, Sophie? He looks a very personable lad."
    "Yes, ma'am," said Sophie.
    The Duchess addressed Simon. "So you're the young man who is kindly coming to play chess with William and keep him amused while I go to the opera? It is very obliging of you. William detests opera—and I only find it tolerable if I play mah-jongg with Sophie while the singing is going on. But of course one has one's box and must attend regularly."
    "I hope you have a pleasant evening, ma'am," Simon said politely.
    "Thank you, my dear boy. We shall meet again, I trust. A delightful face," the Duchess went on, speaking to Sophie as the carriage rolled away. "You have excellent taste, Sophie dear."
    "Thank you, your Grace."
    The main entrance to the castle lay up a tremendous flight of curving steps. At the top stood two haughty bewigged footmen in cream-and-gold livery with rose-colored buttons.
    "Good evening," Simon said civilly. "I've come to play chess with the Duke."
    Evidently they had been told to expect him. One of them led him in through a lofty hall, up another flight of stairs, and across a great black-and-white-tiled anteroom to a pair of doors which he threw open, announcing, "The young person, your Grace."

    The room Simon entered was a large library with fireplaces on either side. The Duke jumped from a chair by one fireside and came hurrying forward. He was elegantly dressed tonight in satin knee breeches and a velvet jacket, but still looked absent-minded and untidy—the old-fashioned wig he wore was twisted askew, so was his cravat, and one of his velvet cuffs was covered in ash.
    "Ah, this is a pleasure!" he exclaimed. "I have