Stroll (Episode 25 - The Further Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid))

Continued from Episode 24 - Recalled

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:

 

“Right,” Gwladys said as she stomped back into the kitchen from helping Dolly with the baby, “yer’ll need ter move yer stuff”

“Pardon?” Aefelthrith had been lost in thought, “What stuff? Where?”

“Yer stuff” Gwladys repeated, “gerrit moved inter my room”

“Why ever would I want to do that?”

“’Cause Dolly an’ the kiddy are stayin’ ‘ere” Gwladys explained.

“What?  Why?”

“On ‘count of ‘em not ‘avin’ nowhere ter go, that’s why!”

“They have a perfectly fine Inn to inhabit” Aefelthrith sniffed.

“Aye, that they do” Gwladys nodded, “but she’s ‘ere tryin’ to track down ‘is nibs, an’ while she’s doin’ that, she needs somewhere to get ‘er ‘ead down, right?”

“And that involves my room, does it?”  Aefelthrith folded her arms and scowled.

“Reckon it does, yeah” Gwladys nodded.

“Why?”

“Well, yer canna put ‘er and the babby up in the loft, now can yer?”

“I do not see why…” Aefelthrith shook her head and slammed her hands down on the kitchen table.  “Have you asked her?”

“Asked ‘er what?”

“Yes, asked me what?” Dolly joined in, carrying her son and heir into the kitchen.

“Why did you run away with the Squire’s son?” Aefelthrith glared at her.

“The Squire’s…is that what he’s been telling you?”

“Do you deny it?” Aefelthrith folded her arms.

“Of course I deny it!” Dolly looked astounded, “Look, I’ll admit I knew as how the Squire’s son was a bit sweet on me…”

“Ha!” Aefelthrith said, triumphantly.

“And I might have played him along a bit” Dolly nodded, “but only because I was hoping to get him to persuade the Squire to put some money into the Inn.  You know how Clarence had got these grand ideas of turning the Inn into an hotel?  Well, if that were going to happen, we needed somebody to put up the funds for it”

“Hmph!” Aefelthrith sniffed, “But you ran away with him!”

“No, I didn’t” Dolly shook her head, “do you really think I’d do that and leave this one behind?  Not that there ain’t some days when it don’t sound tempting”

“That’s kiddies fer yer” Gwladys grinned, “Enough to drive yer to drink, some o’ the time”

“So, you deny running away?” Aefelthrith raised an eyebrow, quizzically.

“I bloody do!”  Dolly said, with fervour, “for a start off, it weren’t me what did the running away!  I’d gone for supper with the Squire, his wife and their son.  I was hoping to squeeze a few bob out of him but that went nowhere on account of how the Squire turned out to be just as skint as what we were”

“Ha!  All fur ‘at an’ no knickers, eh?”  Gwladys chuckled.

“Something like that” Dolly nodded, “Any road, when I got back, mine genial host had buggered off”

“Bugg…what do you mean?” Aefelthrith frowned.

“I mean that, when I came home, he’d cleared off.  Took the week’s takings and left young Henry here with me mam and dad.  And I haven’t seen him since!”

At that moment, there was a thunderous knocking on the street door. 

“Ha!” Aefelthrith said, triumphantly, “I am sure this will prove to be the man in question and he will be able to put paid to this tissue of lies in an instant” She rose and marched to answer the door, giving Dolly an evil glare en route.

Dolly and Gwladys looked at each other, expectantly.  From the hall, they could hear Aefelthrith say, “Oh!  How unexpected”

There was a murmur of voices and then Aefelthrith came back into the kitchen, looking somewhat disconcerted, followed by the imposing figure of Sergeant Argent.

“Please accept my apologies for the intrusion” He announced.

“Yer not ‘ere to search again, are yer?” Gwladys asked.

“No, ma’am” The Sergeant chuckled, “that is not my purpose today.  I had in mind that it was a fine day and that a stroll with pleasant company would be a tonic.  Oh, I beg your pardon ma’am, I do not believe I have had the pleasure?” This last was directed to Dolly.

“She’s an old friend of our’n” Gwladys explained, “come to visit.  Dolly, this is Sergeant Argent of the Watch”

“Pleased to meet you, sir” Dolly curtseyed, slightly.

“And who is this fine young feller?” Sergeant Argent chucked young Henry under the chin, receiving a hand covered in drool as a consequence.

“I’m sorry, I think he’s teething” Dolly bounced Henry in her arms.  “This is Henry, my son”

“Ah, and where is his papa?” Sergeant Argent asked.

“He’s erm, he’s not with us now” Dolly looked up, in the direction of the loft.

“Oh, forgive me, I do apologise” The Sergeant said, covered with confusion.

“You mentioned a stroll?” Aefelthrith interrupted, hastily.

“Ah, yes, well…” The Sergeant recovered his composure.

“Ooh, that sounds like a good idea!” Dolly said, brightly, “I could just do with a turn in the fresh air”

“I do not think…” Aefelthrith began.

“Erm, well, of course ma’am, I would be delighted…” Sergeant Argent flustered.

“That’s quite a truncheon you’ve got there, Sergeant” Dolly grinned and winked.

“Oh, this?”  The Sergeant patted his truncheon, fondly, “Largely ceremonial these days, in all honesty although, there have been times…”

“I do not think that the good Sergeant intended…” Aefelthrith protested.

“Give young ‘Enry ‘ere” Gwladys walked over and took hold of the lad, “You three get off an’ get a breath of fresh air.  I’ll ‘old the fort”

“Right, come on then Sergeant, you can show me the sights” Dolly linked her arm with his and beamed at him.  Aefelthrith, not to be outdone, linked her arm on the other side, leaned forward and glared at Dolly.

Gwladys chuckled as the three of them manoeuvred, rather awkwardly, out of the door and into the street.

“Right, young ‘Enry, let’s see if we can find summat to amuse yer” Gwladys, carrying the grizzzling child, made her way through into the shop, where she rooted through the shelves in the hope of finding something that would distract him.  When the shop door bell rang, she didn’t turn around straight away, not until a cracked female voice, yelled:

“YER’VE CHEATED ME!”

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)