Shattered Dreams (10 page)

Although
Dandridge didn’t know it, Harry had taken a moment to change the
code on the safe as soon as he had moved in, and took the added
precaution of changing it each week. Harry was the only person who
knew what the code was and, although he knew the contents of the
safe were out of Dandridge’s clutches, it irked him greatly to see
the subterfuge and deceit of the man he had in his
employ.

While he
watched Dandridge fiddle with the lock on the safe, he thought over
the description of the Bolsworthy woman who had recommended the
fake job to Tilly. It didn’t seem feasible that she was moving
amongst aristocracy, yet working with the Dandridges’ at the same
time. However, Harry knew that it was foolish to discount any
possibility without having all of the facts. No matter how
implausible things seemed at first, nothing was impossible and
there was nothing in life as strange, and unpredictable, as
people.

With
that in mind, he thought about what had happened so far that he
knew about. There was no conceivable way that Mrs Bolsworthy had
been to the Rectory and helped herself to his seal; that just
didn’t make sense. No, he was certain that one, if not both of the
Dandridges’ were involved in luring Tilly to the false job.
However, they were working for someone, most probably the Mrs
Bolsworthy woman, who was located in town somewhere because neither
Charles, nor Roberta Dandridge appeared to have the intelligence,
or the energy, to do something like this themselves.

Now that
Tilly was in Tooting Mallow though, Harry needed to find out why
they had then allowed her to leave the Rectory, and go to the poor
house. As far as he was aware, since Tilly had left, neither
Dandridge had left the house, and so couldn’t have followed
her.

Was
someone else watching the house?

Harry
turned his attention back to Dandridge when the man’s low curse
broke the silence. It was immensely satisfying to witness the man’s
frustration when he couldn’t open the safe. Low curses broke the
silence as the butler tried, time and again, to get the door to
open, only to give up in defeat several minutes later.

Harry
was already hidden in a back room of the servant’s quarters by the
time Dandridge finished his search of the house, and watched the
butler stomp back to bed in disgust.

When the
house had once again settled into silence, he checked everywhere
was secure, and quietly made his own way back to bed.

It was
futile to check again, but he had to do it anyway, and made his way
over to the window. Sure enough, the space beneath the tree on the
front lawn was empty.

Was it
an omen of events yet to come? Was it a warning to his conscience
that he should have done right by the young woman who had
unwittingly entered into this bizarre game of cat and
mouse?

Or were
the emotions that plagued him something deeper, and far more
lasting?

Was it
his burgeoning affection for her that refused to be ignored and
drove him to help her as quickly as possible, or guilt because he
should have offered protection to a beautiful young woman in her
hour of need; and hadn’t?

CHAPTER
SIX

Tilly
had never been so cold in her life. She was frozen; from the very
top of her head to the tips of her toes. The thin, coarse blanket
that lay over her made her itch, but did very little to provide her
with any warmth. Her stomach rumbled hungrily, but she felt sick
more than anything else.

Sleep
? Her mind scoffed.
You can forget that now you are here.

She
battled tears as she threw the blanket off, folded it up, and
placed it at the end of the uncomfortable mattress she had just
spent the worst night of her life on. Apart from a single shelf on
the wall above the bed, there was nothing else in the room except
for the small candle stub Zack had given her. Unfortunately, she
had been forced to extinguish that last night, and now had no way
of relighting it again so that she could see what she was
doing.

She
fumbled about in the gloom and, luckily, found one of her thickest
shawls which she hurriedly drew over her shoulders. When cold
continued to bite into her fingers, she cupped her hands over her
mouth and blew into them in an attempt to ease the painful
ache.

At least
she didn’t have much to repack this morning, but took a moment to
re-straighten the bedding, and stash her bag safely under her bed
where she couldn’t fall over it. She then turned to study what she
could see of the room.

“
What now?”

Although
it was still dark out, the wardens had told everyone to get up. She
peered out of the small square about two thirds of the way up the
door, but couldn’t see anything through the bars apart from another
door directly opposite, which had an equally small, barred window
in it.

She
sighed and realised that she had no choice but to wait until her
door was opened by the warden. However, she promised herself that,
as soon as he was there, she could ask to be released, or taken to
the governor so that she could ask him to let her out.

Hopefully, she would be gone before breakfast because the
scent of milk, and something else, hung heavily in the air, but was
far from appetising. It had been hours since she had last eaten,
but she didn’t feel hungry at all. Right now, she was so cold that
she wasn’t sure she could stop shaking long enough to get anything
to her mouth without throwing it all over herself.

The
sudden sound of people moving in the corridor outside drew her
attention. She hurried to the door and peered into the gloom. The
sight of the warden was a blessed relief but, unfortunately, the
speed in which he turned the lock to her door and walked off didn’t
leave her with enough time to even open the door, much less speak
to him. To her consternation, by the time she did get out into the
hallway, he was already several feet away.

At the
far end of the long hallway, she saw the only familiar face: Zack,
and opened her mouth to call out to him, only for an elderly woman
to nudge her sharply in the ribs.

“
Mustn’t do that ducky, they’ll tell you off. No shouting
around here.” She smiled a toothless grin at Tilly, and began to
walk past.

“
Please, I arrived last night,” Tilly replied hesitantly. “I
don’t know what to do.”

“
Aye, happen you did,” the woman replied morosely, as though
she was about to offer her deepest condolences. After a moment of
quiet contemplation, the woman nodded down the corridor to a
matronly woman who was turned out in starched grey dress covered by
a pristine white apron. The authoritative air about her warned
everyone that she was in charge, and was going to stay that
way.

“
Mrs Taylor. She is a right one, that one, so don’t you cross
her.” The only woman nodded toward the female warden. “Don’t speak
to her unless she speaks to you. If she gives you a job, stick at
it until she fetches you, and don’t leave no stone unturned.
Somewhere in life she lost any trace of a soul, that
one.”

“
But I am leaving today,” Tilly protested, but froze when the
woman merely looked morosely at her. “What?”

“
Nobody leaves here, sweetheart,” another woman behind her
replied in a voice that was barely a whisper.

“
Nobody?” Tilly asked doubtfully as she looked from one to the
other. “Never?”

They
shook their heads, and gave her warning looks that urged her to
remain silent before they motioned down the corridor in a plea for
her to get a move on. Tilly felt the dark gaze of the female
warden, Taylor, on her keenly as she followed the rest of the
ladies down the hall to the stairs.

“
You are new here, aren’t you?” The cold arrogance in the
female warden’s hard eyes was enough to warn Tilly that Mrs Taylor
would be a ruthless adversary.

“
I arrived last night,” she replied quietly.

“
See that you do as you are told, and work hard,” Mrs Taylor
informed her briskly.

“
I am leaving today. I need to sign myself out.” Tilly watched
the older woman’s brows lift. She waited for the woman to speak,
but it appeared that she had been dismissed because the warden had
turned her attention to someone who was several feet
away.

When a
hand on her back pushed her firmly toward the stairs, Tilly was
left with little choice but to follow the other residents down the
stairs. She turned around to glare at the woman who had moved her
on, only for the stranger to shake her head slowly.

“
Don’t,” the woman whispered. “If she cuts you off like that,
leave it. She can be real nasty that one. Don’t interrupt her if
she is in one of her moods.”

Tilly
was carried along by the veritable tide of people and entered what
appeared to be a large dinner hall. She followed everyone around
the outskirts of the room and collected a bowl of what looked like
watered down porridge, a spoon that had seen better days, and a
stale chunk of bread. For a moment, she was confused about what
kind of broth she had been given, because it smelled like boiled
potatoes, however it had bits in that were of the consistency of
porridge.

She sat
at a long table and took a tentative spoonful, and wrinkled her
nose up in disgust. It really was worse than it looked.

“
Don’t waste it, they will make you work twice as hard if you
throw good food away,” a young girl warned from across the
table.

There
was very little in the way of conversation amongst the fifty or so
women present in the room. Almost nothing was said. Even the
handful of children seated at one end of the table had little to
say to each other. Tilly couldn’t help but wonder why everyone was
so quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were the dull thuds
of crockery hitting the bowls as everyone ate. It was unnerving
given how many people were there.

Still,
determined not to be thwarted, Tilly glanced at the young girl
across the table. She looked about the same age as herself; if a
year or so younger. Tilly glanced furtively around the room.
Thankfully, there was nobody around them except for the other
residents, so she took advantage of the opportunity to
speak.

“
Is it always like this?”

“
What are you expecting?” the young girl gasped, and cast a
furtive glance up and down the table in case anyone had seen her
talking when she should have been eating.

People
around them were busy scoffing their breakfast down as fast as they
could, and appeared totally oblivious to the total disregard of the
rules. It was rather surreal because they were eating their repast
as though it was a wonderful feast fit for a king. Tilly wondered
if even the rats would turn their noses up at it, and rather
suspected that they would.

When the
young girl appeared to have forgotten Tilly was there and so, with
nothing else available to eat and no idea of when her next meal was
likely, Tilly began to spoon the food into her mouth. With each
mouthful she took, her stomach began to protest more and more
until, half way down the bowl, she just couldn’t take another
sip.

She
looked up and noticed the girl staring avidly at her bowl. Tilly
quickly shoved the remains of her mop-water broth across the
table.

“
Please, help yourself.” She took the young girl’s now empty
bowl off her, and smiled at the grateful look the young girl gave
her. Then sat back in disbelief, and watched her new friend
practically devour the extra food. When she was nearly done, the
young girl glanced around the table and looked at Tilly.

“
What’s your name?”

“
Tilly,” she replied quickly, a little relieved that someone
was prepared to talk to her. “Yours?”

There
was a faint touch of almost ridiculous secrecy about what they were
doing, and they both smiled conspiratorially at each
other.

“
Suzanna.”

“
Don’t let Taylor catch you talking,” the woman beside Tilly
warned them both without taking her eyes off her bowl.

Tilly
immediately lapsed into silence, and sat back to watch the way the
women around her scraped every morsel out of their bowls. She
turned her attention back to Suzanna. Her heart wept at the thought
that anyone could be so hungry that they would eat someone else’s
leftovers; in particular the fetid muck the likes of which they had
just been served.

“
Hungry, were you?” Mrs Taylor suddenly drawled in her
ear.

Tilly
jumped because she hadn’t even been aware that anyone else was
close by. When she turned to look at the warden, her stomach
dropped to her toes. Before she could say anything, the warden
leaned forward until her nose almost touched Tilly’s.

“
Well good, because you will be able to work hard, won’t you?”
The steely menace hidden in the words made Tilly shiver, and it was
all she could do to nod. “Now that you are done, come with
me.”

Tilly
stared at her for a moment, but didn’t move.

“
What are you waiting for?” The warden demanded.

“
I am leaving today. I am afraid there has been some mistake.
I am not supposed to be here, and I am going to leave. I need to
see the governor.”