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And did the ladies agree to go along with our plan?
Aye, they did; in fact, they are anxious to help out.
WILLIAM M. CULLEN 119
Excellent, she said, hugging me, allowing me to bend down to
kiss her, which she accepted willingly. It was a good kiss, an affectionate
one; and after a moment we let go of each other. Wait here, she said,
smiling, indicating for me to hold my place while she walked over to
the doorway. I stood firmly, waiting, as she had asked. Now, she said
from the doorway, making a presentation of it all. It tis my pleasure
to introduce to you . . . , gesturing just beyond the open doorway for
Wygate to come in. Wymina!
Wymina? I uttered, wondering who? (Wygate said, later on, it was
a combination of his name and that of his cousin, Wilhelmina, that he
and Vyola had come up with.) Then he/she walked into the room. My
God! was all I could say when I first saw him dressed up as a woman. I
was simply stunned. He looked beautiful; too beautiful in fact. He looked
as if he were going to a formal grand ball. His eyebrows had been plucked
and darkened. The whole of his face had been powered. He had rouge on
his cheekbones as well as his lips; plus, he had the French mole on his
left cheek. His blonde hair was done up with strands of curls dangling
about his neck as if he were an aristocrat s wife; or mistress. His dress
was an opened-robe made of shiny blue silk with white trim, one that
Vyola had worn when she was younger. She said she had to modify his
bosom a bit with paper, which I felt had been overly modified for a
fourteen year old; but, all-in-all, he looked really good, to say the least
Dear Reader. Vyola had literally taken our young man and made him into
a lovely young woman; and I was impressed, quite impressed, indeed.
Wygate took a step towards me, nearly stumbling into my arms.
Sorry, he said, I m still trying to walk in these shoes, bracing himself
against my out-reached arm. Wygate had just begun practicing in his new
shoes, which had thick heels.
Yeah, said Vyola, looking Wygate over, we re still working on a few
things.
Yeah, I said. He looks great; but . . . , isn t he a little overdone?
I know he is, she said. But I wanted to show you what I could do.
Yeah; all right, admiring her work. And that is how we spent the
rest of the evening, teaching Wygate how to walk in heels as well as how
to act and sound like a working-class lady , without having to do the
actual work . And good ol Henry had been kind enough to bring us
something to eat while we continued working with Wygate. He, too, was
amused by the site of him. And after about an hour s practice Wygate was
finally getting the hang of his new personality. Then, when it came time
120 THE PRINTER S VAMPYR
to bring him back to normal, it took Vyola all of twenty minutes. Not
bad, altogether; but it still needed work, which we would do on morrow
evening. And with that I took Wygate home after giving Vyola a pleasant
kiss goodnight while listening to Nyx snarl at us.
On our way to Wygate s I had thought to ask him what Vyola s
bedchamber was like, but I thought better of it, asking him instead of
what he thought of her work, of his becoming a woman; and he said, and
I quote, Do women really go through that every day?
I had to laugh, and say, Aye, they do. And from there we regaled
each other, all the way over to his house, about how women could be
such vain creatures.
Once I got back to my room, I went over my ideas and what I
knew about this man, wanting to be absolutely sure that we were doing
everything we could do in order to capture him while protecting Wygate
in the process; and, as far as I could tell, we were. Needless to say, I did
not sleep all that well, that night.
CHAPTER SIX
Our First Night Out
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1725
From the moment I awoke that morning I knew I needed to talk to
Mr. Watt about putting out another flier, that very day, concerning what
we knew about our killer and what he has done; and when I had asked
him, advising him of what I wanted it to say, he gave his approval with
limited editorial telling me to have Mr. Crook to begin the job right
away; and by mid-day Mr. Crook had nearly twelve hundred fliers ready
to go. He then sent a few of his lads, including Wygate this time, out
into the streets, shouting the alert: Man Kidnapping and Killing London s
Children for their Blood!
It was a bold move on our part but it had its intended affect for it
sent a cold shiver throughout the city just as we had hoped it would
for we told our readers everything, albeit briefly, about what we had
learned up to that time about the killings and who we suspected, holding
back certain clues as promised. We told our readers how all four girls had
been killed, and how and where they were found. We told them, briefly,
what the girl s had looked like and what they had been wearing when
found. Furthermore, we gave our opinion as to who this man might be,
telling all of London we believed him to be an upper-class, West-End,
professional (we actually withheld stating a specific occupation out of
liability concerns) who has the ability to detain children in secrecy while
operating on them; and if anyone should know of this man they were
to inform either us, or the King s Guards, immediately; then we told
them more details were to come in tomorrow s edition meaning we had
121
122 THE PRINTER S VAMPYR
to update typesets and print anew, with many of us working diligently
through our mid-day break and on into the afternoon.
Throughout this hectic day people came to see us seeking more
information, mainly wanting to know if we were offering a reward to
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