“You must know you are driving me insane with desire. Strutting around all day with your pert breasts bouncing, bouncing...” he slurred. Mary realised he was drunk.
“Sir, please. I don’t want to lose my job here. Please let me clean this up and leave.” She tried to hurry from the room, but Edward jumped from the armchair and put his arm across the doorway, blocking her escape.
“No, No, No, Mary. You have been teasing me for too long now, with your wild untamed hair and those green eyes that have me under your spell. I need to know what you are hiding below these awful looking skirts and blouses that you insist on wearing.”
“Come here” and he grabbed her round the waist. Mary could smell the whisky on his foul breath. “What do you think will happen if I were to tell mother that you have been leading me on all these months, and that you are really a dirty little slut” he bent and whispered in her ear.
Mary recoiled from him and gasped at the outright lies. She tried to twist away from him but he was too strong.
His eyes burned as if with a fever, and when he smiled, he licked his lips as if he was about to devour her.
All of a sudden, he grabbed the front of Mary’s blouse and ripped it apart, the buttons popping off. He drew it back over her shoulders revealing the swell of her breasts spilling over the top of her corset.
Mary tried to think of an escape. However all that she could think of, in her terrified state of mind, was what would happen if Edward told the lies that he was threatening. She would be thrown out of the house and her father would be furious with her for losing this job. So she bit her lip and closed her eyes tight in fear.
“Oh Yes, Mary.” Edward moaned reaching up and undoing her hair so it fell in waves about her shoulders, hiding her partially naked breasts.
But Edward, struggling with her corset, ordered her to undo the stays. With trembling hands she reached behind her back and undid the laces of her corset. Edward wrenched the stiff piece of clothing away from her and stood with his mouth agape.
“You are a stunning, little vixen aren’t you? “ he said with a lecherous smile, staring at her full rounded breasts and again wet his lips. “Take off your skirts” he demanded.
The tears started to fall down Mary’s face.
“I said take off your skirts now. “ he snarled. “Shall I call the other servants back down now and let them see what a brazen hussy you really are. Standing there, thrusting your bare breasts at poor little, Edward. I wonder what mother would think of it.”
And so Mary reached behind her, undid the buttons on her skirt and let it fall to the ground. Edward couldn’t contain himself any longer and he grabbed at her bloomers and ripped them down to her ankles.
Quickly pushing her to the ground he was on top of her instantly. His hands squeezing her breasts and pressing his wet mouth onto hers. He lowered one of his hands to loosen his breeches and suddenly he was pushing his large, hard erection at Mary. She didn’t know what was happening as she was pinned down and kept her eyes firmly closed. He kept pushing away, and suddenly with a large thrust, Mary let out a scream as she felt a searing pain shoot up through her. Edward put his hand over her mouth to silence her while he started to grunt and kept thrusting away. Mary tried unsuccessfully to turn her head to the side, so she didn’t have to look at his leering face, as he rutted above her. Just as she thought she could bear the pain no more, Edward’s groans became quicker and he released himself into Mary, collapsing on top of her.
Mary lay rigid, feeling so much disgust, and when Edward lifted himself from her, she rolled over onto her side and vomited.
“Get someone to clean that up immediately” sneered Edward as he did up his breeches and headed for the door.
Mary wiped her mouth and tried to cover herself. She dressed as best she could with her torn blouse and bloomers. She quickly pinned up her hair and ran to her room where she changed her clothes. Then she ran downstairs to fetch a bucket and mop.
“What are you doing, Mary?” she heard cook ask. Mary froze, she thought everyone had gone to bed, and she felt like she was going to vomit again. “There’s a mess upstairs in the Drawing Room that needs to be cleaned, Mrs Bean.” Mary managed to get out.
“Don’t you worry yourself with it pet.” Mrs Bean replied. “Elsie, get in here. Get yourself up to the Drawing Room and give it a good clean.”
“But Miss, I was just on my way up to bed.” Elsie protested.
“Just get on with it child, do you hear me?” scolded Mrs Bean.
Elsie stomped away with the bucket and mop, glaring back in hatred at Mary.
“Is everything all right there, Mary” asked Mrs Bean.
“Yes, Mrs Bean” but Mary could not meet her eye. “I’m just very tired so I think I will retire for the night” and she hurried from the room and back up the stairs.
Mrs Bean looked after her sadly. “Looks like Mr Edward has found another plaything” she thought to herself.
Mary went straight to the little bathroom and spent an hour scrubbing at herself, but she just couldn’t feel clean. Eventually Bessie knocked on the door and whispered “Mary what are you doing in there. Come away to bed”
“I’ll just be along shortly” she replied. “You go ahead and blow the candle out.” There was no luxury of gas lamps in the servants’ quarters.
After 5 minutes Mary let herself out of the bathroom and made her way along the corridor in the dark, fumbled into the room and fell onto her bed. She turned towards the wall and cried silently, soon falling into an exhausted sleep.
The next morning when Mary wakened, the horror of the night before came flooding back. When she moved to get out of her bed she felt the pain in her lower body and when she went to use the toilet the searing pain shot through her again. She looked in the mirror and saw how pale she looked with dark circles under her eyes. Her lips were all bruised where she had bitten them.
“Oh my God Mary! Whets up?” Bessie asked when she saw Mary.
“Nothing, I just slept badly, that’s all” and she turned away and hurried downstairs before Bessie could ask any more questions.
Edward’s departure for Calcutta was delayed for three months to Mary’s horror, and most evenings he would be waiting for Mary as she came out of Miss Lucy’s room. When she saw him she cast down her eyes and walked meekly to his room. She thought of her brothers and sisters all going hungry if she could not send the money from her wages.
She tried one time to reason with Edward to tell him that she was betrothed to another, but he sniggered and told her he had seen her out playing with the groomsman. She obviously liked male attention he laughed salaciously.
Mary started to avoid John. She stayed in the house on her days off, up in the attic, and sometimes later in the day, after all the other servants had left for their afternoon off, she would descend and go for a quick walk around Broughty Ferry.
~~~
One day, around two months after Edward’s unwelcome attentions had begun, a letter arrived from home for Mary. This was Mary’s only pleasure these days; to hear from her family and hopefully, there would perhaps be some word from George. She had not written to him for weeks, nor had she heard anything from him, she suddenly realised. She didn’t know how she could ever look him in the eye again, never mind marry him.
The letter however, was in her mother’s scrawling hand, and was full of the usual stories of the household, and the mischief her younger brothers had been getting into. And then, as Mary kept reading, she suddenly thought to herself “I want to die...” It couldn’t be true. Right at the end of the letter her mother had quickly written, almost as an afterthought, that Beth was to be married this Sunday to George.
Her George... and Beth...
It couldn’t be.
She kept reading the lines over and over again, sure that there must be some mistake. But eventually the words sank in, she knew that it was true; her little sister Beth had married her sweetheart George. Married him yesterday as the
letter was postmarked the previous Tuesday and it was now Monday.
Mary didn’t know how she could cope any more. She lay down on her bed, and when Bessie came to get her at tea time, Mary would not budge nor answer her.
Bessie reported downstairs that Mary was sick and she was allowed the rest of the evening off. “Mary dear, maybe you should go home for a few days” Bessie said. But Mary knew that was the last place on earth that she needed to be. She felt so betrayed by the people she had loved and trusted the most.
Two days later, Bessie tried again to get Mary up and out of bed and to eat something.
“Please Mary. I’m worried about you. Mrs Muir said you could have two days to recuperate, but she is expecting you back on duty tomorrow morning. I’ve brought a bit of soup for you. Will you give it a go please?”
Mary slowly sat up in her bed, but pushed away the spoonful of soup Bessie offered her. ”Mary please” pleaded Bessie.
“I’ll be up and ready for work tomorrow morning, Bessie.” She said robotically “Just leave me for now.”
The next morning, Mary was up and pulled on her uniform. Bessie gasped in shock when she saw the state of Mary’s hair before she managed to pull on her bonnet. All her beautiful long, tresses hacked off.
Mary felt sick all day, but she managed to get though her chores and attend to Miss Lucy, then towards the end of the day she heard some news that made her feel even better.
“Mr Edward finally leaves for Calcutta next week” Mr Giles reported to all the staff in the kitchen that evening, and it was all Mary could do to stop herself from shouting “Hurrah!”.
The week flew by without Edward bothering her at all as he prepared for his departure. He seemed to have lost interest and Mary was thankful for small mercies.
Two months later however, Mary was still being sick in the mornings, and she put this down to her pining for George. She knew he would probably never want her now because she was soiled, but she still felt a huge betrayal at his marrying Beth. He had seemed so sincere to Mary. How could she have fallen for his sweet talking when all along he had wanted her sister? Mary decided that she obviously did not understand men and was better off without them.
Bessie however had worked out the real reason for her sickness.
“Mary is that you letting out the seam on your dress again” she asked one evening.
“I know, goodness knows where all this weight is coming from as I am run ragged up and down these stairs some days” Mary trilled.
“Come on Mary, stop playing the fool with me. We all know what’s going on. Everyone downstairs is talking.” Bessie replied sternly. “You’d better watch out or the mistress will hear of it soon.”
“What are you talking about?” Mary asked bewildered. “The mistress will hear of what?” All of a sudden a feeling of dread settled over Mary.
“Mary,” Bessie spoke softly “it’s obvious you’re in the baby way and the mistress will not accept relationships between the servants.”
“What do you mean? Relationships between servants?” Mary queried.
“You and John. He is the father I presume.”
“No, he is not the father. There is no baby.” she stormed. “Mind your own business Bessie and don’t mess about in mine.”
But, all of a sudden with a feeling of horror, Mary became aware that Bessie was right in one thing. She must be pregnant. However the father was not John – it was Edward. And again she felt a well of disgust.
Bessie saw the shock and surprise come over Mary’s face and she spoke quietly to her.
“You didn’t realize, did you pet. My god Mary, you’re an innocent all right. I’m surprised you and John knew what to do.”
She giggled but then turned serious again. “You are going to have to leave the house you know. As I said many times before, the mistress won’t allow relationships between us servants. You need to speak with John. He’ll do the right thing by you.”
“But Bessie, I didn’t do anything with John. I didn’t do anything wrong” she burst into tears.
After a while she calmed down enough to tell a horrified Bessie the truth.
“Oh Mary, I’m so sorry.”
“Surely if I tell the mistress she will let me stay. It is her grandchild after all” Mary queried.
Bessie had a grim look on her face. “I wouldn’t count on it Mary. Don’t do anything rash now.”
But Mary had decided on her plan of action. She would tell Miss Lucy first. Miss Lucy who empathised with all the heroines in the novels she read, she would see what a cad her brother had been. She would then break the news to her mother, gently putting Mary’s point of view forward. Mary would then be allowed some time to lie in for the birth, and once the baby was born she would get back to work. Yes, things would work out just fine. She had to face her problems head on.
So the very next evening when Mary was reading to Miss Lucy in her room, she stopped at the end of the chapter and asked Miss Lucy if she could talk to her on a very private matter.
She explained her predicament to Miss Lucy and her brother, Edward’s part in it.
Miss Lucy turned pale and looked away from Mary with a horrified look on her face. She then asked Mary to leave her, and so Mary quickly jumped up and went to finish her usual duties around the room before retiring.
“No Mary. Leave that this evening. Please just retire now.” And Mary confusedly left the room.
In bed later that night Mary went over and over what she had said to Miss Lucy earlier, and Miss Lucy’s subsequent reaction. Mary however misread Lucy’s horrified reaction as an empathetic one, and fell asleep consoled that tomorrow the whole mess would be sorted out.
When Mary arrived downstairs in the morning to start her duties she wasn’t surprised that Giles was waiting for her and asked her to step into his room. He had a little office room next to the kitchen and across the hall from the housekeeper’s room, where Mary usually ate with Bessie and Mrs Smythe, the housekeeper.
However, Mary was shellshocked when Giles informed her in a brisk manner, that she was being dismissed with immediate effect for gross misconduct and lies.
“But I haven’t lied. I just told Miss Lucy the truth” she protested.
“I’m sorry Mary, but there is nothing any of us can do.” Giles continued. “Mr Muir is away in Calcutta and Mrs Muir is in charge. What made you think the mistress would take your side against her son and heir. She wants you out of the house before she rises for breakfast this morning.
Mary stared at him in fear.
“There is nothing to be done Mary.” he continued. “Perhaps, you should have spoken to Mrs Smythe before it got this far.”
The Poorhouse
She was given a week’s wages and told to go upstairs and pack her bag immediately. She was not to talk to any of the other servants. They were all busy going about their duties anyway, and Bessie had been bustled into the housekeeper’s room by Mrs Smythe as soon as she had come downstairs that morning.
Once outside on the pavement in Strathern Road, her little battered suitcase holding her few belongings, Mary didn’t know which way to turn. She looked at the little bit of paper Mrs Bean had pushed into her hand as she left. On it was an address. Of what though, she did not know. It seemed like the only option she had. So she wandered down to the tram stop, but then thought better of it, and started to walk towards Dundee. She didn’t want to waste any money on trams as she didn’t know how or when she would be able to earn any more.
When she got close to the town, she stopped a lady who was hurrying past and asked her if she could direct her to the address on the bit of paper. She looked at it and shook her head. “Sorry lass, I’ve no idea where that is.”
So Mary carried on towards the centre of town, and the next person she asked exclaimed loudly “Oh! That’ll be the poorhouse yer wantin. I can see why too”. The woman looked knowingly at the bulge showing through Mary’s coat.
“The poorhouse! Never!” thought Mary
horrified. But where else could she go?
She knew she could not go back home to Aberdeenshire in her condition. The shame would be too much and she could not bear to see the happy faces of George and Beth. Where else could she go?
The woman was now giving her directions up the hill towards Stobswell, but Mary carried on towards the centre of Dundee and soon came upon a noisy market. She bought herself some bread. She needed to keep her strength up she thought, for her baby. “It’s just you and me now, my darling little boy.” she whispered. Mary seemed to know that it was a boy growing day by day inside her, and although she thought with disgust about the start of the baby’s life, she loved the growing baby in her belly with all her heart.
In the afternoon, she decided she may as well wander in the direction of Stobswell, although there was no way she was going to the poorhouse, she thought.
As she walked up the Hilltown in the growing darkness, she heard a shrill whistle, and then from a large gate up ahead, hundreds of women and children with a few men interspersed here and there, started pouring out into the streets. They were all gabbing away to each other, and Mary pressed herself back against the wall as they streamed past in all directions. As quickly as they came out, they had all disappeared up the hill and into the tenement closes, or into the public houses. Some of the children remained in the street playing with each other.
There was a public house at the end of the road, and Mary went inside where it was warm. She sat at a table near the door, hoping the burly barman would not spot her, and wondered where to go next?
The woman at the next table started talking to her. She was dressed quite gaudily in bright clothes.
“Not seen you round ‘ere before. Ye new?” she asked Mary.
Mary nodded and replied “I need somewhere to stay the night. Do you know of any place?”
The woman, whose name was Aggie, told her there was a rooming house around the corner.
Trapped In She Town : A Romantic Novella (The Jute Mills Series) Page 4
