“Lord Gavin how can you say such things? I will not do what you offer. You should be ashamed of yourself; you are married. What would Lady Gavin say if she knew?”
A dark look came upon his face. “She would say nothing because she would never find out, and if you threaten to tell her you will be out from your farm this very day.”
Katrina gasped. She had only made things worse by coming here; why, oh why, did she come alone? She should have had somebody accompany her; perhaps the clergymen, where the Lord would be forced to be kind to her or face his ridicule. Now she had thought of these things in hindsight and felt like such a foolish girl indeed. For no one would believe her if she told them what transpired.
“In fact, you have shamed me and disrespected me. You will tell no one of this, I will tell others that you came here and threw yourself upon me, begging me to take you as a mistress in order to keep your farm.”
“What? No, you cannot.”
“That is enough, Miss Proctor. You will leave now,” He shouted.
“But, what of the rent? You cannot do this.”
“Leave!” he shouted in such a rage that Katrina felt his voice tremble through her very skin.
Tears flowed from her eyes and she quickly ran for the door, out of the house. She ran all the way home, wondering what would become of her now. She had such optimism that morning, and now she had only made things worse for herself. Why, oh why, could she not have been born a man? Things would be so much easier. This was incredibly unfair. I want to be someone else.
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And that is how Katrina Proctor found herself on the road to London. For after her dealings with Lord Gavin, and Constable James, she very much had enough with all the people of Cottered and she longed to get away, and to be someone new. It was not very long before he forced her out of the family farm plot for not being able to pay rent.
“Katrina, I am very sorry that it has come to this. I have heard that the Lord Gavin has evicted tenants in the past, for it is a business. But not when the parents are recently deceased and such a young girl left. My father and I are more than happy to take you in for the time being,” Margaret said as she helped Katrina pack her meagre belongings. For she only had a few dresses, and some keepsake items as well as some ribbon for her hair and a brush. She put these items into her carpet bag, and leaving her farm home was so sad that she could barely say a word as Margaret rambled on.
“Of course we don't have that much room – you will be sharing my room with me – but I am more than happy to do so. There must be some place for you in this village, or some far relation. I am sure that things will work out, they always do. Did you say that you wrote to your brother?” Margaret said.
“I did. I addressed it to his last address in America. Though I know that he is no longer there, perhaps he checks in with that address every so often in order to see if he has post. Or perhaps they know where to forward his post out in the American frontier.”
“The American frontier it sounds very exciting indeed. I can only imagine the sights that he has seen. It is possible that he may send for you, then you will be out on the prairies, how exciting that would be for you. I do hope that he responds to your letters,” Margaret said.
“As am I,” Katrina said. For she had never felt more frightened in her entire life. Everything had been turned upside down for her. Not only had she lost her parents so suddenly, but now her home, the only home that she had ever known. Her closest and dearest relations, the Bronson family, were long gone from the farm plot next door. Indeed, Margaret was the only close relation she had left in the small town, but even so they were not very close. Still, it was her father Constable James that had taken pity on young Katrina. News that she had lost the tenant farm had spread throughout the village. There were those that thought it was very mean of Lord Gavin to do something as such, but there were those that knew that he was a man of business and was very rich because of that fact.
“I am ready. That is all the belongings I am to take. Everything else belongs to Lord Gavin, most of the furnishings, and linens to.
“That is just as well, because we do not have much room as it is. I will wait for you outside,” Margaret said, walking out of the small room that Katrina called her own inside the cottage.
Katrina ran her hand along the table in her room and took one last look around, then she did the same for the kitchen and common room area, saying a silent goodbye to her home.
Moments later, Margaret and Katrina walked down the small lane that led from the cottage to the main village road. Katrina would now be living in the middle of the village, for that was where the Constable lived. It was very inconvenient for a constable to hold up the law if he was too far from the village, therefore he lived at the end of a row of shops on the main High Street. Katrina would indeed miss the sounds of the country, and being able to walk out of her door and lay in the grass if she wished.
Being in town was very much different, but she was very grateful to have a roof over her head and food in her belly. She had not decided what she was going to do; what were her next steps. The only thing that she could think of was that she needed to find and marry a beau in a quick manner. The problem was that no man wanted to court a woman that was in a stage of mourning, it was highly disrespectful. But in the circumstances, Katrina hoped that someone would step out of those boundaries of appropriate behaviour. She had very well wanted to marry for love, but marrying for a living could not be disagreeable when the other option was being destitute on the streets.
Therefore, as they walked into town, she made eye contact with every eligible man that she knew of. She knew it would be highly inappropriate for her to smile and flirt, given the state that she was in. But it did not mean that she could not look a man in the eyes and remind him of her existence. With such a small town and a small population, there were very few that were agreeable, and even then Katrina would be giving up a great sacrifice, giving herself to someone that she did not love. It was a promise that she had always kept for herself, but that promise had to be broken if she was going to survive.
“Katrina, welcome to our home,” Mrs. James said as the door opened. She was the wife of the constable, and she was very agreeable. She was not vicious, though she was not overly affectionate.
“Thank you Mrs. James. I am very grateful for your hospitality. You have saved me.”
“Well, we cannot have a God-fearing Christian girl out on the streets in our own village. No, that would not do at all. As I told the Constable, we have to take her in, as it is our Christian duty, at least until her situation improves.”
“Thank you. I am able to pull my weight, Mrs. James, I can cook and clean, and sew, milk cows and so much more.”
“That is good to hear. Now, Margaret show her to your room. We eat dinner at exactly six.”
“Thank you, Mrs. James,” Katrina followed Margaret to her room.
Katrina found life with the family of the constable and her friend Margaret very agreeable, though she missed her family greatly. But what did weigh on her was the possibility of her future. Indeed, she did not know what she could possibly do to ease her circumstance. She had talked with many of the farmers and men that she deemed to be prospects for marriage, but none seemed to be thinking of the idea of proposing such a thing to her.
Still she held out hope. For it would be very easy for her to become a wife and take care of the farm of any of the farmers that she thought would make a good husband. But as a woman, she could not be aggressive; that was very disrespectful and frowned upon. So she could only wait and hope. She had not yet heard anything from her brother, though she checked the General Store daily, it was where she had told her brother to write to her, since the farm was no longer in the family. Getting news that your parents had passed, by way of post, could not be an easy thing. It made her very upset to think of her brother reading her letter and having to hear of s
uch a thing in that way, but there was no other option.
Katrina thought that she would have more time; maybe the James family would grow on her and they would start to consider her as one of their own daughters. Perhaps they would allow her to stay until she was married, but things took a turn for the worse.
It was Sunday at church, and everyone in the village attended as always. After the service, the crowd from inside the church gathered in the grassy area in front of the church to speak of the service, and to greet each other and mingle. Indeed it was just as sociable as any assembly or party that often happened in the village.
But it was then that she saw Lady Gavin, giving her such a look that Katrina was confused. Why was she looking at her in such a manner? Katrina was soon to have her answer.
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Lady Gavin marched over to her.
“Lady Gavin, good day to you.” Katrina curtsied.
“Do not good day to me, miss,” Lady Gavin whispered with anger.
“What? I am sorry I...” Katrina said.
“My husband has told me what you did. When I mentioned to him that the entire village has witnessed you throwing yourself at men now that you are free to do so. You have become wild in nature without a father to protect you.”
“What? I do not know of what you speak,” Katrina said, suddenly feeling very embarrassed that perhaps her search for a husband was too obvious.
“Yes you do. And not only do you throw yourself at every man, but you threw yourself upon my husband in exchange for keeping your farm. My servant acknowledged such a thing when remembering that you came to my home, alone to see Lord Gavin, and without a chaperone! You do not call on men alone Miss Proctor. It is most inappropriate.”
“I did no such thing!” Katrina said. Her voice was raised and now all looked upon the two women.
“Lower your voice. You will cause a scene. My servant saw you at the house, so do not deny it.”
“I do not deny that I was at your home. Indeed I went to Lord Gavin to beg to keep my family’s farm and in exchange for rent I offered farm goods. Not myself, Lady Gavin.”
“I do not believe it. Now, stay away from my home and my husband.” Lady Gavin turned with a huff and walked away.
Katrina stood there alone with all eyes on her. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life. She turned, searching for Margaret. Margaret stood with her parents who all stared at Katrina in a disapproving manner. This, she knew, was going to be a problem.
And as she expected, the James family cast her out of their home and she was on her own again.
But Katrina was no simple girl, she very much had a plan, a plan that possibly had been successful in her past when her dear friend and neighbour Jenny Bronson had done the exact same thing. Jenny had been in need of money, and went to London to work in the factories in order to send money home to her family. What happened to Jennifer, she did not know. For the Bronson Family, her mother and youngest brother, had left their plot years before to go stay with a far-off relation. So Katrina could not turn to them for any help, but she was quite determined to make a living on her own. If Jennifer could do it, then perhaps she could as well. Factory life was indeed very hard, and she had heard as such, but at least it provided shelter in exchange for work that also paid a small wage. It was not ideal and she would miss the country something fierce, but it was a chance that she had been willing to take, because at least it was a plan.
But what the young girl did not plan on, was how she would travel to London. She had no money to call her own, and therefore she set out on foot, making her way across the countryside of Hertfordshire south toward London. But she did not have any means to provide shelter for herself at night.
“Perhaps this was a mistake,” She said as the sun began to set on her very first evening since she set out from her small village. But she was not going to allow fear to deter her from her destination. She could not let her father and mother down in that respect. Besides, she had left word at the general shop that if mail should come for her from her brother, for it to be kept at the shop and to send a letter in returns –which she left in the hands of the shop attendant – to the return address from her brothers letter. Perhaps in no time at all he would send for her. Things would all work out, and they always had for Katrina, until the loss of her parents. Now she indeed felt lost without them, but it did not stop her determination.
“What is that there?” A rough voice said somewhere in the darkness. Katrina had been lost in her own thoughts that she did not notice just how dark the evening had grown. The sun had been set below the horizon for at least a good half-hour, and night was quickly coming; the black night with no Moon.
“I think it is a young girl alone,” Another voice said.
“Who goes there?” Katrina said, turning around in a circle. The sound of horses trotting reached her ears. She began to feel panicked.
“Are you all alone, deary?”
“Who is there? Show yourself!” She said. But she quickly regretted asking such a question.
Three men emerged from the darkness on their horses. Their faces were half covered with handkerchiefs, they looked very rough indeed. She knew immediately, without having to ask, that these men were the highway bandits that robbed coaches and wagons alike. It was something that her father had always warned about when they would be going to the market town of Buntingford, as he always was cautious about possibly being robbed of the money they made on their return journey home.
“I am expected at the Inn just up the way,” She said coming up with a very quick lie.
Perhaps if they thought someone waiting for me, it meant someone would be searching for and find these men if they decided to capture me.
She also had no idea whatsoever if there was an Inn nearby, she only knew that she had been walking for hours along the main road to London and that surely there would be one at some point.
“The Inn? The Red Lion Inn is very far away. You have a very long journey ahead of you in the dark of night,” One of the men said.
“I am a fast walker,” She said.
The men laughed a hearty laugh at her spunky response.
“And I bet no one is waiting for you. If someone cared enough to be waiting for you, then they would have sent a carriage or horse to fetch you and not make you walk in the manner that you are. I believe you are lying and you are on your own,” one of the men said.
“That is not true. I am very well expected by my uncle's manservant, his name is Bruce Gifford,” Katrina said and she was very well impressed by how quickly she was able to take on this role of this woman that she had just invented in her mind. This role was of a woman not of herself, she was a woman that had people that cared for her and that had a servant waiting for her named Bruce. Now she had to stay in this role; it was possible that her very life depended on it.
“And how is it that you have relations that have a manservant, yet you are out here on foot?” The man asked.
Katrina once again reach deep inside for yet another lie. “I am not on foot sir. I was in a carriage but the wheel broke and I was sent ahead, because there were just two of us. The driver had to stay with the carriage and the horses. I had no choice but to go forth on my own. I am very well able to take care of myself, you see.”
The men exchanged a look together, in silence. Her heart beat very fast, and she didn't know what would come next. She very well hoped that they would either offer a ride to the Inn, or leave her all together. Perhaps even go back in the direction she came in order to rob the carriage, but all she could do was wait.
“We just came from that direction and did not see an abandoned carriage,” One of the other men said.
“This is enough. We have let this child waste our time with her lies. Let's get on with it. We must get to Portsmouth before dawn.” One of the men said.
“Get on with it? Get on with what?” Katrina said.
> “Get her,” one of the men said.
Katrina opened her eyes wide in fright and turned to run away. But it was no use. She felt her body hoisted in the air as an arm wrapped around her waist. She was thrown across the saddle with her stomach against the leather. They had taken her.
“Let me go, you scoundrels! Help! Help! Can anyone hear me?” She shouted over and over. But it was dark, and if anyone could hear her they could not see her.
Together the men kicked their horses into full speed, and rode hard away from the main road across the grassy landscape. This horrified Katrina, because no one would be coming across them if they did not take a road. Instead they moved their horses across open grasslands in the middle of the night. This was a grave mistake.
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“What is it going to be, Dunbar?” The man said to a portly man with a round belly, and a bald head with red tufts of hair in a horseshoe shape.
“She is very pretty indeed. Should fetch a handsome price from my customers,” Mr. Dunbar said as he circled Katrina, who was held by the bandits that captured her. Together they stood in the middle of a grand house that faced the docks of Portsmouth Bay.
“Let me go, you pigs! You cannot do this to me! What makes you think you can steal me and sell me to someone else? You have lost your mind!” Katrina struggled to get loose.
“She is a fiery one isn't she?” Dunbar said as he ran his finger down her blonde hair.
“Yes, and I believe her to be very pure indeed. We found her in the country, a farm girl. I doubt that a man has ever touched her. Therefore do not short change us, Dunbar, like you did the last time.”
“Fine. I will take her. Put her in my office, and I'll pay you,” Dunbar said as he pulled out a coin purse. The other man grabbed Katrina's arm and pushed her into an office, shutting the door behind her.
An Alone and Destitute Girl (#3, the Winds of Misery Victorian Romance) (A Family Saga Novel) Page 2
