by Jane Keeler
Eloise and Julia were the only children of the family, although at 21 years of age they certainly couldn’t be referred to as children anymore. They lived with their mother and father in a large house in the city. The city was easily divided between rich and poor and they sat comfortably on the upper side of the city – where all the affluent members of society had come together. Their big house was just one of many in a neighborhood that favored the more fortunate. Margaret and Edward Wycliff were well known in the area. Sir Edward Wycliff was a baronet – an honor passed down by his father – and an honor that he was to then pass on to his own child. Unfortunately, as he only had two daughters, this would not be possible. His only option was that one of his daughters got married soon and that she had a son of her own. That son could still inherit the title and the title of baronet could continue. Eloise could see that her parents were more hopeful about her finding a man soon rather than Julia, who constantly had her head in the clouds.
Every morning, around 9am, a carriage would arrive. This was a ritual that had been in practice for the last few years and one that Eloise looked forward to daily. Each morning she would ride with her mother and Julia around the city. They would stop at various merchants and fill the carriage with food items for the day ahead. Her mother was well-known and respected in the area and often they would stop and talk to people. Gossip was always rife in the area and they all loved hearing the news each day. Patricia, one of the high society ladies’, was their favorite – because not only did she know all the news that was happening, but she also had no problem with spreading it as much as she could.
“Margaret, it’s wonderful to see you again. Julia and Eloise – you’re both looking lovely as usual.” It was the same greeting every day and as they clamored out of the carriage they all huddled around to hear the news.
“Get out your parasols girls.” Her mother wagged her fingers at them, always concerned about the sun, especially as their skin was so fair. Eloise didn’t mind – she loved her parasol. There was something about the lace that made her feel more like a lady than if she wasn’t holding one. She found it to be a lovely accessory to almost any dress that she was wearing. Julia, on the other hand, groaned and opened it reluctantly. Eloise always mocked her, saying that Julia should’ve been born a boy. Julia would always reply in the affirmative.
“Oh I have some news for you. I’m so glad you are here. Now remember, you didn’t hear this from me.” It was what Patricia always told them before launching into her tales.
“Oh of course not my dear. My lips are sealed.” Her mother was saying while practically leering forward to hear more.
“It has to do with Sir Frank Symore!”
“Frank!” Her mother exclaimed, and put a hand to her heart. Frank was a quiet and rather dull man who always walked around with a sweet smile on his face. He always seemed nice but entirely predictable.
“Yes. Frank!” Patricia said conspiratorially, “Looks like he’s been caught with a lady from downtown!”
Eloise knew that downtown meant lower class. This was certainly something that happened but it was still something that was frowned upon, especially by someone like Frank. Frank had been married for thirty years and had two adult children. He was the last person anyone would accuse of cheating on his wife.
“NO! I refuse to believe it.” Her mother said defiantly.
“Believe it! He was caught red handed. Peter Truman saw it with his own eyes. Of course, Frank is denying it completely. But I must admit that I believe Peter – he is not the type of man that would lie.”
“Yes but Frank is not the type of man that would cheat!” her mother replied.
“Well, goes to show, you just can’t trust everyone you meet.”
They stood around for another ten minutes before finally going back in the carriage. Her mother was flushed from all the excitement. Their carriage was full with all the food they needed for the day. This food would get passed on to their servants who would cook the rest of the day’s food for them. Eloise could never understand why a servant was needed to cook for a small family of four but her mother refused to take any part in the cooking or the cleaning. “That is what the servants are for my dear,” she would tell Eloise.
Sitting with her head back against the carriage she watched as her mother went on and on about the news of Frank. She saw her sister rolling her eyes and for once she understood why her sister hated these carriage rides. There was something so frivolous and frustrating about driving around listening to gossip. It was so unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Eloise wanted to go home and help the servants with the food. She’d always had an interest in the kitchen and she always wanted to know how they made the different meals. But her mother had chastened her once before when she caught Eloise with flour up to her elbows and made her promise she would never set foot in the kitchen again. She sat back and sighed. Maybe her sister was right in being so defiant about everything.
Chapter Two
“Mother please can we go to the fair. Please mother. Please mother. Please.” Julia was begging her mother. The fair was an annual event and they always went but this year there had been no mention of it. Eloise and Julia had been speaking about it in hushed voices most evenings but now that the day had come Julia simply couldn’t hold it in any longer.
“Oh Julia. We go every year and it’s always the same thing. Do you really need to go again? Are you not too old for it?”
“Yes, I really need to.” Julia looked pleadingly at Eloise for help.
“I must say mother, I have to agree with Julia. It’s only a once a year affair and we would be so sad to miss out on it. Everyone is going and it will look bad if we don’t at least go and visit.” Julia threw her a big thumbs up when their mother wasn’t looking.
“Well then alright. Let me go and see if your father wants to come along. Although I do doubt it. I’ll have the carriage come in the next hour to pick us up so make sure you are ready. And bring your parasols.”
Eloise and Julia jumped up in the air, giddy with excitement. There wasn’t much to do in the city and they spent most of their time at home, so they jumped at any opportunity to do something different. Eloise went to her room to get changed, choosing an off white dress, which fit snuggly under her bosom and flowed all the way down to her feet. This was topped with another layer – a light grey fabric that fit over the bodice of the dress and draped slightly to the side. It was a dress that was both formal and casual all at once, depending on what accessories she was to wear with it. With this she adorned herself with light grey gloves, a simple necklace and her parasol. When Julia walked in she smiled at her. Julia was simply wearing the same thing that she had been wearing in the morning. She was not one to worry about fashion and simply insisted that people accepted her for who she was.
“Eloise, you do look beautiful. I wish I had your elegance and grace at times. But truly, I could not be bothered.”
“Well I wish I didn’t care as much as I do. And anyway, it’s not the clothes that make a person. You look beautiful.”
Julia was laughing, “Okay, enough with the flattery, let’s go find mother and get going. I am going to go out of my mind with boredom if I stay here much longer.”
When the three of them arrived they were blown away by the amount of people that were already there. “We should’ve come earlier,” Julia muttered to herself. But Eloise loved it. She loved the swarm of people all around her, the way they all talked and laughed on top of each other, the way the place made her feel. It made her feel more alive and it took all of her energy not to take off her shoes and go running around like a child again. The fair was beautifully decorated; stalls, booths and tents erected everywhere – the brightly colored stripes visible from every direction. The most popular booths were by far the ones for children, where lines of toys had been placed for them to win through various games. Shouts of joy and cries of “let me try again” filled the air every time a child won or lost a game. There
were beautiful displays of books, carvings, furniture and wood cuttings in one particular stall, where people could buy goods to take home with them and Eloise looked at them longingly, wondering when she would one day have the means to do so herself. She loved being young and living with her family but she was a young adult now and she also longed for the freedom that this brought with it. The best, however, were the performers – circus acts from all over the country who had come together to put on a show. Horse riders, musicians, puppet shows, fortune tellers, illusionists – all came together to put together a show of such spectacular magnitude that you could easily come back and watch it every day and not get bored. Eloise noticed that even Julia was mesmerized by it. They stayed to watch a few of the acts and they walked around taking in as much as they could. Eloise and Julia were still so full of energy so when their mother suddenly stopped them to tell them that it was time to go home they felt immediately deflated.
“Oh mother please can we stay a bit longer, we only just arrived,” Eloise complained realizing she was sounding more like her sister, “We are having so much fun. Please mother, just another hour. We would be ever so grateful.”
“You sound just like your sister,” Her mother said, reflecting her own thoughts, “But unfortunately the answer is no. I’m tired and I’m hot and I’d like to go home. You’ve seen what you have to see. Now, come on girls, follow me. And no complaining.”
They put their heads down and followed her. Eloise was annoyed but she was used to her mother telling them what they could or couldn’t do and she knew there was nothing she could do to change her mind. Even Julia didn’t bother with trying – she knew her mother well enough. She could, however, hear Julia muttering some obscenities under her voice the entire way home.
When they got home they spent the day doing trivial matters until finally settling down for supper. Eloise usually enjoyed these moments because she often didn’t get much time to spend with her father who was constantly off on business matters.
“Did you girls enjoy the fair today? I heard they have outdone themselves this year.” He asked.
“Well, we were enjoying ourselves but then we had to go home.” The words came out Julia’s mouth with a puff of air.
“Now, now, Julia. Don’t be so ungrateful. Your mother didn’t even have to take you, you know.”
“Well we could’ve gone by ourselves. We’re old enough now. We don’t need to be chaperoned everywhere we go.”
“Julia,” it was her mother’s turn to speak, “you will understand this one day when you have a child of your own. Places like this are not good for young women on their own. It’s good that we went together. Listen to your father and just be grateful that we went. Next time we won’t go at all if you carry on like this. I’m starting to regret taking you in the first place.”
Eloise kept quiet throughout the whole exchange. She understood where her parents were coming from and didn’t want to be ungrateful but at the same time she still wished that they had been given more time to enjoy themselves at the fair. She decided to simply not say a word on the matter and supper finally continued as normal.
Later that night when Eloise was getting ready to go to bed she heard footsteps outside her door. Julia walked in and put a finger to her mouth. There was no reason for Julia to be quiet though because their house was so big that they could easily talk in their normal voices without their parents hearing them. Their room was on the other side of the house and quite secluded from the rest.
“Julia, what’s going on?” she asked her sister watching as Julia closed the door behind her. She approached her with a huge smile on her face and within an instant Eloise knew that she was up to no good.
“Mother and father have gone to bed. Come on Eloise; let’s go back to the fair. It runs all night!”
“Are you crazy? We can’t go by ourselves!”
“Why not? It’s not even that far from here. We can easily walk there. And nobody needs to know. We’ll be back before the morning and we can simply pretend that all is normal. Oh come on Eloise, it will be fun.”
“But… oh Julia, I’m not sure. I mean, it was fun, but if we get caught we will never get the chance to go again.”
“Oh stop being so scared of everything. It’s time to enjoy yourself a bit. There is no ways they will catch us. We’ll be quiet going out and we’ll be back way before they get up again. You know mother is not going to take us back again so this is our only chance.”
Eloise considered that, “And we’ll stay for two hours maximum?”
“Sure, that’s fine Eloise. Now, are you coming or not?”
Eloise sighed. She tried to act upset but she couldn’t hide how excited she was. “I’m in.”
She was still in her dress from before and thankfully had not yet changed into her sleeping clothes. It was night time so she left her parasol behind, and bought a light shawl to wrap around her in case it got cold. Then, the two of them tip toed out of the house, as quiet as possible and skipped down the road. Only when they turned the corner did they dare speak but the only thing that came out of their mouths was giggles.
“You see, this is fun!” Julia told her and took her hand. And Eloise could only laugh back – it really was fun.
It didn’t take them long to get to the fair and they were surprised to see that it was just as busy as it had been in the morning. They made their way through the tents, trying to cram in as much as possible. Soon Eloise forgot about her parents back at home. She was fascinated by one act in a particular – a fire juggler who seemed to have no problems with throwing fire into the air and catching it with his bare hands. She had no idea how it was possible and sat entranced by his act. Julia had rushed off to see something else and the two of them promised to meet at the gate in an hour. An hour passed easily and Eloise was sad when it was time to go back. Soon, though, her nerves at being caught came back and she wanted to make sure she was back in her bed before morning. She also wanted a decent amount of sleep before having to wake up. Thankfully Julia arrived shortly after her and the two of them made their way back home.
Only five minutes into leaving, however, they were stopped by two men who had cornered them in an alleyway.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here? Two delicious looking ladies without a chaperone. My oh my, it is our lucky day.” It was so dark and they could barely see the men in front of them, but when the one leered forward Eloise could see that he was licking his lips. She wasn’t sure if he was going to steal from them or do something even worse and she found herself trembling. This was why she didn’t like to do anything so risqué and she suddenly wanted nothing more than to be in the safe solitude of her bed.
“Please, we have nothing to give you. Please just let us go home.” Eloise said. Julia was besides her, gripping her hand.
“Well, I’m just simply not sure that we can do that.” Came the gruff voice.
Eloise felt tears pushing their way out and she wasn’t sure if she should cry, scream or simply try run away. But thankfully she didn’t have to think for too long because out of nowhere she saw a man walk up to them. He was holding a long baton and was staring at the two men with fierce determination in his eyes.
“Is there some trouble here?” he asked, never once letting his eyes leave the men. Eloise watched as the men regarded him. There was something about his demeanor that made them immediately back down.
“Oh, no trouble at all, Sir. Come, let’s get going.” The one man said to the other and the two of them quickly scampered off. The moment they were gone both Eloise and Julia ran forward to embrace the mystery man, both of them whispering thanks while tears now streamed down their faces. Eloise could now get a good look at the man. He was certainly from down town and looked to be a part of the fair as he was wearing a uniform similar to some she had come across that night. He looked to be a few years older than her, with dark hair and even darker eyes and stubble across his face. He was certainly good looking in a very rugged way
and not the type of man that she was used to.
“Are you okay?” he asked them and they both nodded.
“Well my name is Hudson Talbot. It is a pleasure to meet you. Those ruffians have done things like this before. I wouldn’t worry about them again. Now that they have been caught they won’t trouble you again. They know me well and they know that if I catch them again I will report them. Did you at least enjoy the fair?”
“We did. I’m Julia and this is my sister Eloise.” Julia came forward to introduce them and Eloise stood back thankful that the darkness was hiding the redness of her face. There was just something about this man. Also, he was staring at her in fascination.
“Well, I do hope to see you again. The fair will still be here for quite some time.” He tipped his hat and walked off.
Eloise and Julia quickly ran off, desperate to get home. Julia was giggling.
“What’s so funny?” Eloise asked her.
“Oh there’s nothing funny, but that man was obviously infatuated with you.”
Eloise felt herself blushing again, “What? Don’t be silly. He was just being a gentleman.”
“Oh he was that indeed. But I know men a lot better than you do Eloise. And that one definitely had eyes only for you. Go on, admit it. He was good looking wasn’t he?”
