Steps (Episode 28 - The Further Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid))

Continued from Episode 27 - Sharing

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.  That night, Gwladys and Aefelthrith were sharing a bed (again) to give Dolly a room, much to Aefelthrith's annoyance, but it did give them a chance to share their thoughts and memories, ending with the surprise admission that Gwladys had a child that she had been forced to give up:

 

Despite a troubled night’s sleep, in which she kept dreaming that she was being attacked by some monstrous sea creature (probably occasioned by the tussle between her and Gwladys over the bedclothes), Aefelthrith found she had overslept and Gwladys was already up and about. 

She stumbled downstairs, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.  In the kitchen she found Gwladys busying herself over the stove, whilst Dolly tried to entertain young Henry at the kitchen table.

“Ah, yer’ve stirred yerself then?” Gwladys glanced up from the saucepan she was tending.

“I did not realise the time” Aefelthrith yawned and stretched.

“Just as well some on us did” Gwladys muttered.

Aefelthrith nodded to Dolly and the baby, then moved to where Gwladys was standing.

“Gwladys,” She began, in a whisper, “about last night…”

“I dunner wanter talk about it, right?” Gwladys held a hand up and gave her stern look.

“Yes, but…”

“I mean it!”  Gwladys snapped.

“Oh…right, fine” Aefelthrith shrugged and threw herself down on a seat at the table, “Pardon me for caring”

“Not having a tiff, are we?” Dolly grinned.

“Not in the slightest” Aefelthrith sniffed.

“There’s a time an’ a place for everythin’” Gwladys announced, bearing bowls of porridge, “an’ this ain’t it” She glared at Aefelthrith, “Tell yer what, if yer need summat ter keep yer occupied, yer can gerra bucket and brush an’ clean that shop step of our’n”

“Clean the step?” Aefelthrith looked aghast.

“Yeah, wunner ‘urt yer” Gwladys nodded, setting herself down, heavily, at the table.

“But I…”

“Yer just put the brush in the water an’ scrub”

“I know that!  I did enough of that when we were cleaning back on the coast” Aefelthrith snapped, “I just do not see why it is required of me, here”

“’Cause it’s a bloody disgrace, is why” Gwladys explained, between spoonfuls of porridge, “An’ I dunner see why it should allus be me what does it”

Which explained why, half an hour later, Aefelthrith was standing with a bucket and brush, surveying the front step of the shop with a wild surmise.

‘I really do not see why this is necessary’ She grumbled to herself.

Kneeling down, she started to apply the brush to the step, when she looked to her left and spotted a pile of old rags that someone had left at the entrance to an alleyway, just a few yards from the shop doorway.

“Gwladys!” She yelled, through the open shop doorway.

“WHAT?”  Came the irritated reply.

“There is a pile of old rags on the pavement”

“WHAT?”

“RAGS, THERE IS A PILE OF OLD RAGS OUT HERE” Aefelthrith yelled back.

There was the sound of heavy footsteps, then Gwladys poked her head out of the doorway.

“Rags, yer say?” She peered out onto the pavement, “Oh ar!  There’s a bob or two in rags.  Bring ‘em in when yer’ve finished an’ we’ll sort ‘em out”

“Bring them in?” Aeflethrith looked disgusted at the idea.

“Yeah, yer’d be surprised ‘ow much a bit of good cloth can make” Gwladys grinned and headed off back to the dark recesses of the shop.

“Hmph!” Aefellthrith set back to work with the scrubbing brush but, after a few minutes, she became bored with the work and decided to give her knees a break and go and take a look at the pile of rags.  She was surprised to find that they were not as filthy and unpleasant as she had imagined.  In fact, the quality of the material seemed to be quite good.  She reached down to get a better look, when a hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.  She went to scream, but a second hand covered her mouth before she could.

* * * *

When Gwladys re-entered the kitchen, Dolly was still playing with Henry at the table.

“’E’s bright enough, i’n’t ‘e?” Gwladys smiled warmly at the infant.

“He can be a bit of a handful, sometimes, but he’s got a lovely smile” Dolly admired her offspring, tenderly.

“I wasn’t sure if yer’d tek to the motherin’ bit when yer first ‘ad ‘im”

“Me neither” Dolly grinned, “but one of us had to set to and do it when you two left us, and it was obvious it was never going to be Clarence”

“’Ave yer ‘ad any thoughts about what ter do next?”

“Not much, to be honest” Dolly sighed, “I thought I might ask around a bit, see if anyone has seen or heard from him”

“I reckon that’s what the Watch ‘ave been doin’, don’t you?”

“Well, yes” Dolly nodded, “I suppose so.  Still, I’m hoping people might talk to me when they wouldn’t talk to the good Sergeant”

“Worth a try” Gwladys grinned, “what if nowt comes of that?”

“Well, he’s obviously not going to come looking for us, given how he made himself scarce when we first showed up” Dolly raised her eyes to the sky, “So, I suppose we’d have to take ourselves back to the Inn.  I reckon I could make a go of it, you know?”

“D’yer reckon?”  Gwladys looked doubtful.

“Yeah, I think so” Dolly looked thoughtful, “not like what he had in mind, not some grand hotel, but just a bar and a couple of rooms for folk to stay overnight if they want.  Yeah, I reckon that could work”

“What about young Henry?”

“Well, me mam and dad would enjoy looking after him and me dad could give me an hand with the cellar” She bounced Henry on her knee, “Yeah, I reckon that could work.  We used to do alright when it were just the three of us before”

“Yer didner ‘ave ‘Enry then” Gwladys pointed out.

“No, true” Dolly nodded, “but I reckon we could manage.  Most of the trade’s blokes and I’ve always had a way with blokes”

“Ar, I noticed” Gwladys grinned.

“Just have to make sure I avoid anyone what comes in, dripping with blood, on account of them cutting their own hand off!” Dolly winked.

“Yeah, yer should ‘ave taken that as a warnin’, I reckon!” Gwladys chuckled.

“You’re not wrong there” Dolly sighed.

* * * *

Aefelthrith found herself being dragged into the nearby alleyway.  Relieved of the hand clamped to her mouth, she said, with a tremble in her voice:

“I do not know what you want with me but…but I have people very near”

“I want you to come with me” Said a familiar voice.

“My L…Clarence?”

“Hello, Aefelthrith”

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)