Trapped In She Town : A Romantic Novella (The Jute Mills Series)

by Serena MacKay

  It was John, the groomsman. He was grinning so broadly at Mary that all the skin around his eyes was crinkled.

  “Thank you John, but I’ve already got plans for today” replied Mary firmly. “I’m going to walk down to the front at Broughty Ferry and see the sand dunes.”

  John looked disappointed but quickly recovered. “That’s not very exciting Mary. There’s a big, bad world out there just waiting to be explored. Come on, I’ll race you to the tram.”

  “No John. I’ve already got my plans” countered Mary.

  “Well, let me join you then” he quickly returned.

  “No!” Mary shouted louder than she had meant to. “I would like to be alone” she said more quietly and she quickly hurried in the direction of Broughty Ferry and did not look back.

  John watched her walk along the road. She was a fine looking woman he thought. Something wild and untamed about her. He was hooked. He would just have to be patient with her and take his time. But he was sure there was no one else in the world for him but Mary Johnston, now that he had met her.

  ~~~

  John was 5’ 7” tall with fair hair and a light moustache. His eyes were a lovely blue like cornflowers however the right eye had a slight defect. He was a migrant worker from Ireland, who had come over to Dundee to work in the jute mills. One day Mr Muir had seen John while on his break, talking with the horses in the yard of the mill. The older man saw that the younger one had a calming way with the horses as they stood nuzzling him. He called the lad over and spoke with him. It transpired that John had worked with horses in his native Ireland, and as Mr Muir was in need of a new groomsman, John had been told to report the next day to the mansion in Broughty Ferry. He had worked at the big house ever since.

  Four weeks later, John was there again waiting for Mary, this time at the top of the path. “Here Mary” he said pushing a posy of daffodils in her hand, “for you. Look what a beautiful day it is. A perfect day for taking the steamer boat over the River Tay to Newport.” And he was right, the sun was splitting the pavements.

  Mary began to decline the offer yet again. But John insisted “I’m not taking No for an answer this time Mary. Come on” and he grabbed her arm and started hurrying her down the path. “We’ll miss the tram to the ferry port if we don’t get our skates on”.

  And Mary, caught up in his infectious, high spirits hurried along beside him.

  And thereafter when their days off coincided, John would grab her, and they would race down the path to the tram stop on the Dundee Road. The tram, pulled along by a large Clydesdale horse, trundled along the cobbled streets down the Dundee Road into the smog of the town. They would jump off the tram at the Customs House building, situated at the entrance to the harbour, and run past all the large whaling ships berthed at Camperdown Dock, and over to the embarkation point for the paddle steamer.

  They always tried to get a spot at the front of the steamer, away from the belching smoke, where they could feel the wind in their faces. Mary would make sure to wind her hair very tightly up and into her bonnet, and then hold onto her head the whole journey laughing, or else her wild mane of hair would escape and be blowing everywhere.

  Once the steamer arrived at Newport, they jumped down and strolled up the hill towards fountain brae, where they would sit in the sunshine and look back across the river towards the belching chimneys of Dundee. Before clambering back onto the ferry to Dundee later in the afternoon, they always bought an ice cream. And Mary always thought this was such a treat.

  On the second trip, as they sat on fountain brae, a grassy hill leading down to the water, John asked Mary about herself and her family. Once Mary started she couldn’t stop. She missed them all so much and she told John everything about the naughty tricks her younger brothers got up to in the countryside, and how pretty her sisters were. John thought to himself that they could never be as pretty as Mary. He was smitten, he thought she was perfect. She had beautiful, alabaster white skin and he could lose himself in her bewitching, green eyes. But mostly when he looked at Mary he could not take his eyes off her soft, full lips and could think of nothing else but pressing his own lips to them, and crushing them with his.

  Oblivious to his ardour, Mary carried on and was soon telling him all about her sweetheart George, and how they would be getting married next year, as soon as her father was better and she was able to finish up working at the house.

  As Mary droned on about George, time suddenly stood still for John, he no longer heard anything Mary said as she explained how George would take over from his father and Mary would move into the small cottage with him.....

  The bottom had fallen out of his world. Now that he had met her, he couldn’t let this beautiful creature escape to marry someone else. He needed time to think. So he managed to put the grin back on his face and said. “Let’s go grab an ice-cream now. The boat while be leaving shortly”.

  Although Mary enjoyed the excursions to Newport, her favourite place to visit on her day off was the Dundee Law. If John was working on her day off, then she would hurry down the path by herself and jump onto the tram into Dundee. Instead of getting off at the harbour entrance, she would stay on the tram as it made its way past Shore Terrace and up towards the Albert Museum. Here, she would get off the tram and start the long arduous climb up towards the top of the Law.

  From the summit there was a marvellous, panoramic view. Mary could see for miles in every direction. To the south she could see the paddle steamer in the middle of the Tay, carrying the day-trippers over to Newport. And on past Newport, you could see to the hills of Fife. In the middle of the river itself, she could see the new Rail Bridge being constructed, strut by strut, which would allow trains to cross from Fife to Dundee. To the East was the view towards Broughty Ferry castle in the distance, and then far out to sea. To the west, looking over the squalid streets and the belching chimneys of Dundee, she would stare out over the bay to the Tay meandering its way towards Perth. However her favourite view by far, was to stand on the top of the hill and face north. Here you looked out onto the breathtaking view of the Sidlaw Hills. But in her mind, Mary didn’t see these hills, she saw home. Away over the range, stretched mile after mile of countryside towards her childhood home, where the family she adored would be home after attending the morning service at church. Most of all though, she saw her sweetheart George, pulling off his shirt, and picking up his axe to start chopping some wood for the fire, so his mother could boil the water for the tea. And Mary would yearn for him with all her heart. She would pray up here more earnestly than any other time. Pray that her father would get better soon, and her brothers to strengthen and grow, so they could go out and help their father to put the food on the table. Then Mary could return and take up the life again that she had been torn from so cruelly.

  Master Edward

  One Sunday in late September, just as Mary had started her climb back down the Dundee Law, the heavens opened and a sudden torrential shower came flooding down. Within seconds Mary was drenched, and then just as suddenly, the clouds moved away and the sun was shining brightly again. Mary pulled off her coat as the weight of the water in the wool started to drag her down.

  She carried on down Constitution Brae, with thoughts of George still running round her mind and how much she missed him. Once she reached the bottom of the hill, she turned towards the Albert Museum to catch her tram back to Broughty Ferry. As she was waiting to cross the road, a horse and cast passed close by her and threw up the water from a puddle in the road. The water drenched her from head to toe. Her hair falling down in ringlets about her face and her blouse and skirt are so completely soaked that they are clinging to her body, showing off her shapely figure. Mary however, is oblivious to this as she fumed at the cart driver, shaking her fist in the air at him. “Did you not see me” she shouted.

  “I’ll give him a piece of my mind” thinks Mary, as she sees the carriage start to slow down, and she heads towards it. But then, she suddenly recognises Alf
, Mr Muir’s carriage driver on top. “Oh No” she thinks “Its Mr Muir’s carriage. He will think me the rudest maid in Dundee.”

  Mary quickly turned around and started hurrying across the road towards the tram stop. However, before she managed to reach the other side, a head popped out of the carriage window and called out her name. Mary is mortified. It is Master Edward. “Hurry up, Mary” he calls.

  Mary doesn’t know what to do. She is terrified and stands rooted to the spot.

  “Don’t make me climb out of this carriage to come and get you Mary” he called. “I will be very angry if my morning coat gets wet”.

  Mary certainly did not want to anger Master Edward any more than he obviously was. So she slowly turned around and started to move back towards the carriage, as Edward flings the door open wide.

  Alf gives her a nod, “Mary.”

  “Thank you S-s-sir” Mary stammers. “But I will be fine. My tram stop is just across the road. Look! There is one already waiting. I’ll just run across and get it.”

  “Mary, don’t be so ridiculous. Hop in now, like a good girl. You can’t be seen out like that.” And he gave her such a lascivious look that Mary quickly dropped her head down, and to her horror, saw what state her clothing was in. She also saw that she was drawing many unwelcome stares from the other men in the street, and so she quickly clambered into the carriage. She sank down in the seat opposite Edward, her face ablaze and her eyes cast down.

  “Carry On, Alf” Edward called to the carriage driver and the horses set off clopping down the cobbled streets towards the eastern suburbs.

  “Well, well, Mary. We can’t have you walking around the streets in that state, can we?” he laughed at her. Mary could see the outline of her breasts as the wet material of her blouse clung to them and there was no disguising the shapely fullness of them. She quickly looked up at Edward to see he had a wide grin on his face and she saw the look of pure male appreciation that flit across his face, which while flattering, was also completely unnerving and unwelcome.

  Mary quickly pulled her wet coat on, and did not utter another word throughout the journey. She just stared out of the carriage window, keeping her eyes averted from Edward. She was aware of his eyes boring into her - devouring her body and she felt embarrassed beyond words.

  At last, after what seemed to Mary like an eternity, the carriage rolled up the driveway. As soon as it pulled up in front of the house, Mary hurriedly jumped out and ran around to the back entrance. She wasted no time in bounding up the back stairs to the safety of her room before anyone else could see her.

  Later that evening however, when they were getting ready for the rest of the family’s return from Forfar, Bessie had a word of warning for Mary.

  “Alf mentioned that Master Edward picked you up in the carriage this afternoon” Bessie informed her. “That is a very dangerous game to play Mary. If the mistress finds out, you will be out on your ear. Do you understand? She will not allow any sort of flirting to go on within the house, especially not with her beloved son Edward.”

  Bessie sounded furious.

  “But Bessie, he more or less ordered me into the carriage. You should have seen the state of me. Alf splashed a puddle of water all over me and my clothes...” Mary began.

  “Please Mary. No more excuses.” Bessie admonished.”The mistress will not listen to one word of an excuse. If you give her even the slightest reason, she will throw you out without a backward glance.”

  So that evening, as the rest of the family arrived back at the house from Forfar, Mary thought over what Bessie had told her. She knew she couldn’t risk losing this job. No matter how much she would love to be thrown out and sent back to Aberdeenshire, she knew her family’s survival depended on the wages she sent to them every week.

  ~~~

  Regardless of Mary having been given this warning, it seemed that Edward had other plans. Most evenings after the unfortunate carriage ride, as Mary leaves Miss Lucy’s room, there is Edward, with a smile curling at his lips, coming along the corridor towards his own room. Each time, with Bessie’s warning still ringing in her ears, she would lower her head and rush past.

  One evening, a few days later, as she emerges from Miss Lucy’s room, Edward stops her and says “Good Evening Mary, and what have we been reading to my sister tonight? “Wuthering Heights” by any chance” he questions. “Yes, my dear Mary, my sister is a bit depraved, don’t you think?”

  Mary was shocked by Edward’s description of his sister “No Sir. We were reading Charlotte Temple, Sir.”

  “Hmmm, Charlotte Temple. Interesting choice. Perhaps then I might seduce and steal you away Mary, just like Charlotte. I’ll take you away with me to enjoy the pleasures of Calcutta.” He continued. “I believe Charlotte and Catherine were both supposedly beautiful women. Forced to act on their passions. I think you are a most passionate woman, Mary. You stand there all demure, but I can see the fire burning in your eyes. Your beauty must surely outshine these two fictional heroines.” Edward mused.

  He moved closer reaching up his hand to touch a strand of her hair. “You must know what reactions you stir in me Mary. You are a beautiful woman” he breathed. ”How I would love to see your hair set free from this bonnet.” Mary’s heart was pounding and she couldn’t breathe, she had to get away. She quickly bobbed a curtsy and muttered “Sir” then dashed as quickly as she could along the corridor.

  However a week later, there he was again, waiting for her to leave Miss Lucy’s room. She hurried along the corridor to get past him but he grabbed her by the elbow and demanded “Mary, I must ask a favour.” She looks uncertainly at him and he seemed emboldened.

  “I need a button to be fixed on my riding jacket. Only, I need it first thing tomorrow morning, and Giles has already retired for the night. Please step into my room and make the repair.”

  Mary knew this was not true, as Giles was always complaining that he had to stay up late, until the master had retired to his bed, in case he was called upon to complete a last minute task, such as this one.

  “Let me run downstairs and fetch Giles for you” Mary eventually got out.

  “No Mary. As I have already mentioned to you, Giles has retired for the evening. Please come along now and repair my jacket at once.”

  Mary had never been in a gentleman’s room before. A huge iron bedstead stood against one wall and a huge ornate oak wardrobe against another. In front of the large window were a small table and two chairs. Placed in the middle of the table was a silver candelabra with the candles lit, even although the room was lit by gas light.

  On the bed, along with the sewing box, lay the red riding jacket. “He must have had this planned” thought Mary.

  She walked unsteadily over to the bed, her limbs barely able to move, and bent down to pick up the jacket and the box with her fingers trembling.

  I’ll just run down to the kitchen with this and get started on the repair” she stuttered “and I’ll have it back to you ready for your morning ride.”

  “No Mary. You will sit at the table by the window and fix the button there. I want to watch you work. The light is much better in here than in the kitchen anyway. See, I have lit the candles for you. I don’t want you straining those lovely emerald eyes of yours.”

  “But Sir!”

  “No buts Mary” he snapped impatiently. “Please just do as I ask. Sit down and repair my jacket.”

  Mary sat down quietly in the armchair and laid the sewing box on the table. She tried to thread the needle but her hands were shaking too much. Edward stood behind her and his hands moved to her bonnet removing it so her thick, glossy hair was released to tumble around her shoulders.

  “That’s better” he murmured.”What delicious hair.” He sat down opposite her, and again she could feel his eyes boring through her and she felt he was mentally undressing her.

  She eventually managed to calm her shaking fingers enough to get the thread through the eye of the needle, and as efficiently as she c
ould she had the button sewn on. She quickly jumped up and grabbed her cap where he had placed it on the table “There you are Sir, I hope you have a lovely ride in the morning.”

  “I’m sure I will Mary” he smirked back, and she fled from the room.

  When Mary told Bessie later that evening what had happened, her friend gave her another very dire warning.

  “You must avoid Edward at all costs. I’m sure the mistress has noticed that he has taken an interest in you and she will not stand for it. You will be out on your ear.”

  “Oh Bessie, what shall I do” she wailed.

  But Bessie had no answer for her.

  ~~~

  A week after this encounter, the household is in a flurry of activity in preparation for the farewell dinner party to be held for Edward. Mr Muir had departed for Calcutta the previous week and Edward was to join him. Mary had been so relieved when she heard that he was leaving to go overseas. It was the first time she had relaxed in the house since the incident in the carriage two weeks ago, as it seemed that Edward was waiting around every corner for her.

  All the staff had been called to help serve the dinner, except Bessie and Mary. However they were expected to wait in the housekeeper’s room in case there were any unexpected tasks arising that needed an extra pair of hands.

  The evening passed without a hitch and all the guests had left for the evening. Most of the staff were heading up the stairs to bed when Giles, with a scowl on his face, told Mary to go into the Drawing Room and collect the last of the whisky glasses.

  Mary entered the darkened room and made her way over to the table, near the fireplace, and started to load the glasses onto the tray she had brought with her.

  “Mary, Mary, Mary” a deep voice boomed from the armchair in the corner. “What are we going to do with you?”

  Mary jumped with fear and dropped the tray with all the glasses clattering to the floor.