Denied (Episode 22 - The Further Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid))

Continued from Episode 21 - Lofted

The story so far:  Gwladys and Aefelthrith have started a new life, running a pawn shop, formerly owned by 'Anty Marj', who they managed to convince they were distantly related to.  'Anty Marj', after some typical twists and turns, was persuaded to sell by receiving Aefelthrith's precious ring and went away a happy woman.  Meanwhile, Gwladys engaged a young urchin, 'Arry, to help clear the back garden of weeds, as a means of giving him a bit of income to support his poorly mother and avoid him either going down the pit or up the chimney, much to Aefelthrith's displeasure. Unfortunately, his digging produced a skull, about which  Gwladys swore him to secrecy and quiickly buried the evidence, which gave them a breathing space, until Sergeant Argent of the Watch appeared in the shop.  Fortunately, he was not pursuing his enquiries but was, to her extreme shock and horror, pursuing Aefelthrith, romantically.  Meanwhile, 'Arry revealed that his Mam said the place had always been a shop BUT Anty Marj had originally had a partner, thought to be her sister, whose name was Sarah, who had disappeared.  Coincidentally, Sarah was the name that Gwladys had told Anty Marj was the name of their shared relative.  With this news, Gwladys tried  to persuade Aefelthrith to go out with Sergeant Argent so that they could find out more, to which she eventually agreed but only with the proviso that Gwladys should serve as chaperone.  On their 'date', Sergeant Argent regaled Aefelthrith with tales of the town, much to Gwladys's frustration but he knew nothing about the history of the shop, then Constable John confirmed that there had been a 'Sarah' but that she had disappeared.  Eager to show off his skills of detection, Sergeant Argent insisted on mounting an investigation.  The following day, the Sergeant and his Constable began their search of the premises and were only diverted from digging up the garden by some quick thinking on the part of Aefelthrith.  Meanwhile, Gwladys was surprised to find a rather familiar, and flamboyant, 'sea captain' in the shop, just at the same time that Aefelthrith was dealing with a street urchin with a message for the 'sossij', which turned out to be the Sergeant.  The message revealed that the Watch were needed to apprehend ' a fraud, a trickster and a mountebank', so it was perhaps just as well the the 'Captain' had made himself scarce!  Aefelthrith and Gwladys fell out about the 'Captain' and the torch that Aefelthrith obviously still held for him.  Would he come back, that evening?  When a beggar turned up at the back door, it turned out he had. 'John Thomas' explained that things had not gone well for him, since they left.  Dolly had run off with the Squire's son, the pub had shut as it wasn't commercially viable and their son was now being raised by Dolly's parents, leaving 'John Thomas' to try his hand at fraud again, albeit on his own this time.  And then, just as he was telling them all of this, there came a knock at the door.  It turned out to be the Watch, acting on a tip-off that a beggar had been seen going into the building.  As Gwladys tried to stall them, Aefelthrith tried to get 'John Thomas' to leave but, on discovering he had nowhere to go, smuggled him up to the loft just as the Watch made their entrance:

Sergeant Argent and Constable John set about inspecting the premises.

“Constable?” The Sergeant said.

“Yeah?”

“Yes sir!” The Sergeant responded, testily.

“Oh, right, yeah sir”

“Why are you looking under cushions?”

“Just tryin’ to be thorough, ain’t I?”

“Ain’t I, what?”  The Sergeant snapped.

“Ain’t you what, what?”  Constable John looked baffled.

“Oh, give me strength!” Sergeant Argent took a deep breath and managed to control his temper, “Constable, it is highly unlikely that you will find a full grown man lurking underneath a seat cushion, would you not agree?”

“No stone unturned, eh?” Constable John replied, cheerily and then, spotting the icy glare, quickly added, “Sir!”

“Check the shop, Constable” Sergeant Argent snapped, “I will check upstairs”

He made to go through the hall, to the stairs, but Gwladys stepped in his way.

“No!” She said, firmly.

“No?” Sergeant Argent looked puzzled.

“No!”

“I don’t understand” Sergeant Argent bleated, “Ma’am, you do appreciate that I have to search the entire building?”

“Not upstairs” Gwladys shook her head.

“Yes, upstairs!” Sergeant Argent insisted.

“Sergeant, do yer really think Aefelthrith and myeself are in the ‘abit of inviting beggars to share our boodwars?”

“Well, I…no, of course not”

“Then why do yer wanter go upstairs?”

“Erm…” Sergeant Argent finding himself in a logical dilemma, decided to change the subject. “Actually, you mentioned my lady Aefelthrith, but I haven’t seen her”

“She ‘ad to retire to ‘er rooms with an ‘eadache” Which, in Gwladys’s opinion, was a pretty good description of ‘John Thomas’. “An’ that’s another reason why yer ain’t goin’ up there.  Any road, I give you me word, as a businesswoman, there ain’t no beggars up there”

“Well, erm…” Sergeant Argent looked around, hopelessly, to see Constable John ambling back from the shop.  “Anything, Constable?”

“Nah, nuffin” Constable John shook his head.

“Right, in that case…” Sergeant Argent drew himself up to his full height, took a deep breath and said, “We can leave you to the rest of your evening, ma’am”

“Yer done upstairs then?” Constable John asked, brightly.

“Constable, ladies of this standing would hardly be harbouring beggars in their private apartments, now would they?”

“Wouldn’t they?” Constable John did not look entirely convinced.

“Of course not!” The Sergeant brushed the notion aside, with some relief.

“Right, so we can knock off then, eh?”

“I think we have done as much as we can for one evening, yes, Constable” Sergeant Argent led his troops, well, troop out into the hall and through the door, into the waiting street.

“Good evening, ma’am and thank you for your co-operation” Sergeant Argent tipped his hat to Gwladys, who glowered at them from the doorstep.

As the two law enforcement officers proceeded along the highway, Sergeant Argent mused:

“That could have been a little awkward, Constable”

“’Ow’s that then?”

“I was thinking in terms of our initial engagement, when I…lost my footing, which was…somewhat embarrassing”

“Oh yeah, hur!” Constable John chuckled, “Yer sure it were alright not checkin’ upstairs?”

“Constable!  We are searching for a beggar, a thing of rags and filth, how could you imagine that someone such as the lady Aefelthrith would entertain such a creature in her private rooms?”

“Werl…” Constable John looked less than convinced.

“I trust my intuition on this, Constable.  I expect you to do so, too” Sergeant Argent sniffed.

“Still ain’t got ‘im, though, ‘ave we?”  Constable John observed.

“We’ll knock him off before the day’s out, tomorrow, you mark my word, Constable” The Sergeant said, confidently, “after all, where can he go?”

“Upstairs, back at that shop” Constable John remarked, with a smirk.

“Constable!” Sergeant Argent snapped.

“Just sayin’” Constable John shrugged, “there’s one thing, sarge…”

“Unt!”

“Yer what?”

“Sarj..UNT!”

“Oh, yeah, right” Constable John nodded.

“So?”

“So what?”

“You said there was one thing…” Sergeant Argent sighed.

“Oh yeah!” Constable John brightened up, “I were goin’ to say, next time we’re doin’’ a search…”

“Yes, Constable?”

“Can I do the knockin’?” Constable John asked, hopefully.

 

* * * *

 

“Have they gone?” Aefelthrith peeked around the door at the top of the stairs.

“Yeah, they’ve ‘opped it” Gwladys nodded, shutting the street door.

“Thank goodness!” Aefelthrith sighed.

“So, yer can bring ‘im back down”

“Erm, well yes, eventually” Aefelthrith squirmed a little.

“Wotjer mean?” Gwladys looked at her suspiciously.

“Well…” Aefelthrith edged down the stairs, “He’s in the loft”

“In the loft?  What’s ‘e doin’ up there?”

“Erm, settling in” Aefelthrith glanced at Gwladys guiltily.

“SETTLING IN?  What do you mean ‘settling in’?” Gwladys folded her arms and scowled.

“He was living under the stars”  Aefelthrith said, in a small voice.

“Boo-bloody-hoo!” Gwladys frowned, “He got ‘imself in this mess, ‘e should get ‘imself out of it!”

“I cannot leave him like that”

“Tell me yer ‘aven’t said ‘e can stop ‘ere!”

“It is only the loft”

“’Ave yer lost yer senses?” Gwladys snapped, “What if the Watch come back, eh?”

“Sorry, Gwladys!”

“Sorry?  I should think yer are ‘sorry’” Gwladys fumed

“I am sure he will not be any trouble” Aefelthrith stuck her chin out.

“It dunner matter whether ‘e’s any trouble or if ‘e ain’t!” Gwladys flapped her arms in exasperation, “Yer do remember we’ve got an unknown skellington in our back garden, don’tcher?”

“Well, yes” Aefelthrith nodded.

“An’ now yer’ve stuffed a wanted criminal in our loft…”

“Well, I would hardly say…”

“The Watch are lookin’ fer ‘im, ‘cause ‘’e’s a…what did they call it, oh ar, ‘a fraud, a trickster and a mountebank’”

“I think that is a little harsh”

“No, it ain’t!  ‘E’s a crook, even if yer can’t see it” Gwladys shook her head, “An’ yer want ‘’im ter be nice an’ cosy in our bloody loft!  What with the skellington out there and ‘im up in the loft in here, we might as well paint a ruddy target on our door an’ ‘ave done with it!”

Gwladys stomped back into the kitchen and slumped over the kitchen table.

“I think you are being somewhat overly gloomy” Aefelthrith said, hopefully.

“Ha!” Gwladys scoffed.

“You could try looking on the bright side, for a change”

“There’s a bright side?” Gwladys looked at her, sideways.

“Well, yes” Aefelthrith gave a bright little smile, “I have my Lord back”

“On the ‘ole” Gwladys said, with her head in her hands, “I think I’d rather ‘ave dysentery!”

You can find the previous adventures of Gwladys and Aefelthrith in both Kindle and paperback formats at The Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid (link is external)