Sharing (Episode 27 - The Further Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid))

Continued from Episode 26 - Fraud

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.  Gwladys managed to restrict their search to downstairs, by sheer force of character, but she was dumbstruck to learn that Aefelthrith had offered to shelter 'John Thomas' in their loft!  As Aefelthrith was only going to spend her time sulking at Gwladys's reaction, Gwladys decided to train her on valuing items, which was going as well as you might expect, until, out of the blue, Dolly showed up, trying to pawn a jet necklace.  It soon became apparent that her version of events was somewhat different to that of 'John Thomas', who seemed to have run away from the loft when he heard Dolly's voice.  Gwladys, much to Aefelthrith's annoyance, decides to offer Dolly and her child a room.  Aefelthrith could not believe that 'John Thomas' had abandoned Dolly and his son and was even more annoyed when Sergeant Argent turned up and asked her and Dolly to go out for a walk.  Whilst Gwladys was trying to amuse young Henry, the baby, she was surprised to hear a voice yelling "YER'VE CHEATED ME!", which was Anty Marj, returned (with Constable John in tow) to accuse Gwladys and Aefelthrith of fraud.  Fortunately, Sergeant Argent arrived on the scene and decreed that Gwladys had no case to answer, which didn't satisfy Anty Marj, who vowed revenge:

 

The only light in the bedroom was that provided by a full moon, fumbling its way through the gap in the curtains.  Of the two occupants of the room, one was sitting up, fidgeting with the bedclothes, whilst the other was breathing heavily and clearly on the downward slope toward restful sleep.

“Remind me again…” The upright one began.

“Oh, bugger” The recumbent one complained, “I were just gettin’ off then!”

“Remind me, why are we sharing a bed, again?”  The upright one persisted, twisting the blanket again and again.

“Yer know why” The tired voice replied, wearily, “I ain’t lettin’ Dolly and the babby stay in the loft, it ain’t right”

“But it’s ok for me to be shoved out?”

“Yer a grown woman, it wunner ‘urt yer” Gwladys shuffled down in the bed, in an effort to get back to sleep, “Any road, it’s me what gets the worst of it, yer’ve got cold feet!”

“Yes, he used to say…” Aefelthrith stopped in her tracks.

“Did ‘e now?” Gwladys chuckled, “Tsk, tsk.  And you not even churched!”

“We were going to…you know” Aefelthrith mumbled, “we were as good as…”

All she could hear was Gwladys giggling, until the giggles became steady breathing again, which edged closer to a snore until;

“She was all over him, you know!”  Aefelthrith said, bitterly.

“Wha’? Who? When?” Gwladys spluttered.

“Dolly!  All over him”

“Who?” Gwladys was hanging on to consciousness by a thin thread.

“Sergeant Argent!  Who did you think I was talking about?”

“Oh, right” Gwladys turned over, again, and tried to settle down.

“What do you mean ‘oh, right’?”  Aefelthrith snapped.,

“I mean, she would” Gwladys sighed.

“Who?  Dolly?”

“Yeah, who else?”

“Why would she?”

“Oh strewth!” Gwladys chuntered, turning over again, “I mean, she’s got a way with men, hasn’t she?”

“A way with men?” Aefelthrith said, incredulously.

“Yeah, yer must ‘ave noticed”

“Well…” More twisting of bedclothes, “well, so have I!” Aefelthrith said, defiantly.

The bed shook with Gwladys’s laughter.

“I have!”  Aefelthrith insisted.

“Do me a favour!” Gwladys sniggered.  “Yer ‘aven’t got a clue”

“Of course I have!” 

“Nah” Gwladys shook her head, “dunner get me wrong, yer a pretty lass, yer’ll turn ‘eads but when it comes to blokes…”

“I can handle myself”

“Look…” Gwladys began, hauling herself upright and sitting next to her colleague, “there’s them as ‘as got a way with men and them that ain’t.  Dolly ‘as”

“If you mean throwing herself…”

“Well, that’s part of it” Gwladys nodded, “but it ain’t all of it.  Yer’ve gotta understand men, know ‘ow they tick, type of thing”

“I understand them” Aefelthrith sniffed.

“Nah, yer don’t!” Gwladys shook her head, “I ain’t really sure as ‘ow I do, neither, but Dolly does.  She likes ‘em, an’ all, an’ that’s important too”

“I like men!”

“Nah, yer don’t, not really” Gwladys frowned, “Yer put ‘em on a pedestal, adore ‘em from afar an’ all that.  It ain’t the same thing”

“Well, when it comes to my L…Clarence, of course I admired him”

“Yer didn’t even know ‘e were called Clarence!” Gwladys pointed out, “Dolly ‘ad to tell yer”

“It just never…cropped up” Aefelthrith squirmed.

“Werl, there y’are” Gwladys nodded, “that’s wha’ I mean.  She’d ‘ave ‘ad ‘is name out of ‘im five minutes after she’d met ‘im.  ‘Ow long were yer with ‘im?”

“A couple of years” Aefelthrith mumbled.

“See!  She gets on with ‘em, you put ‘em on a pedestal an’ get treated like a doormat.  That’s what it boils down to, d’yer see?”

“Humph!”

“It’s one of them things!  Yer’ve even got it, or yer ain’t” Gwladys shrugged.

“I suppose you are the expert!”  Aefelthrith sneered.

“I’ve ‘ad me moments” Gwladys sniffed.

“Not since I have known you”

“Werl, I’ve ‘ad me ‘ands full, enni?  With you, mostly!”

“Have you never wanted a beau?  A lifelong companion?”

“I seem to ‘ave got you, instead” Gwladys pointed out.

“Yes, but, I mean, do you think there will ever be a…Mr. Gwladys?”

“I dunner know” Gwladys shrugged, “Mebbe”

“And children?” Aefelthrith raised an eyebrow.

“Kiddies?  Me?  I’m getting’ a bit long in the tooth fer that” Gwladys snorted.

“I want children” Aefelthrith said, firmly.

“Do yer?”  Gwladys looked at her, quizzically.

“Oh yes!”

“Yer know, it ain’t just about wantin’ ‘em” Gwladys said.

“I do not know what you mean?”

“Look, if yer gonna ‘ave kiddies, yer’ve gotta do more than just want ‘em” Gwladys said, firmly, “yer’ve gotta give ‘em…”

“Oh, love and comfort” Aefelthrith interrupted, “I know that”

“Werl, yeah, that’s a start…”  Gwladys nodded.

“A start?  Surely, that is everything”

“Nah, there’s more to it than that” Gwladys shook her head, “yer’ve gotta give ‘em  security, safety, certainty.  Love and comfort, yeah, they’re nice but they’re a bonus, them other things are what makes their lives worth livin’”

“Well, I think you are wrong” Aefelthrith sniffed, “love is all”

“No, it ain’t!”  Gwladys snapped, bringing a fist down that caused the bed to bounce, “love dunner put food on yer table, it dunner put a roof over yer ‘ead  an’ it dunner give yer somewhere to rest yer ‘ead of a night.  But, most of all, it dunner keep yer safe from ‘arm.  Love’s no bloody good to yer if yer dahn in the gutter”

“And you would know, would you?”  Aefelthrith sniffed.

“As it ‘appens,” Gwladys pounded her pillow a couple of times, turned over on her side and tried to settle down, “yeah, I would”

“How would you know?”

There was a deep sigh from Gwladys’s side of the bed.

“There were a fella…well, a lad really, once” Gwladys mumbled, from under the cover.

“A beau?  Oh, how exciting!  Do tell”

“’E weren’t no ‘beau’, ‘e were just…just a lad what was sweet on me, an’ I liked ‘im”

“What happened?”

There was another deep sigh.

“Werl, it were never gonna work” Gwladys explained, “we come from different worlds, didn’t we?”

“How did you meet him?”

“’E were the son of a couple I were in service to”

“Oh, he didn’t…force himself on you, did he?”  Aefelthrith had heard dark tales about sons and female servants.

“Nah, nowt like that.  Anybody tryin’ that on me’d spend the rest of their lives walkin’ funny” Gwladys chuckled, “Nah, ‘e were nice.  We used ter talk an’ that.  Take a turn ‘round the gardens an’ that sort of thing”

“So, what happened?”

“What usually ‘appens, eh?  We got careless, didn’t we?  Next thing I knew, I were in the family way an’ that was the end of me job”

“Did they throw you out?”

“Not in so many words but I knew I’d gotta go”

“Would he not stand by you??”

“’E wanted to but ‘is family wouldn’t ‘ave it.  It weren’t the life they had in mind fer ‘im and I weren’t the wife they had planned”

“And the child?”

“I called ‘im John.  Good ‘onest name, John” Gwladys sighed, again, “I ‘ad to give ‘im up.  I ‘adn’t got a roof over me ‘ead nor any money comin’ in.  So, it’s like I said, yer can love ‘em all yer like, but it ain’t enough, not by a long chalk”

“I’m so sorry, Glad” Aefelthrith patted her on the shoulder.

“It’s…it’s just one o’ them things, innit?” Gwladys shrugged, but there was a catch in her voice, “’E would be, let’s see now…”  There was the sound of quiet counting, “Twelve!  That’s right, ‘e’d be twelve years old now”

“Perhaps you will see him again, one day?” Aefelthrith suggested, kindly, as she eased herself beneath the cover.

“Doubt it.  Not in this life, I dunner reckon – mebbe the next, eh?”

Aefelthrith tried to get to sleep but thoughts of what Gwladys had been through kept her awake.  Once, just once, she thought she heard a sob and then, all was quiet.

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)