The Rebellious Debutante

by Meg Alexander

  ‘She will be given an opportunity to defend herself, but the law is clear. This is a serious accusation. If proved as Grand Larceny, the penalty could be death.’

  ‘For a scrap of lace?’ The old lady’s face was ashen.

  ‘It depends on the value. If the value is more than one shilling, which, in this case, it is, the law is severe.’

  Miss Langrishe seemed to be breathing with difficulty and her companions became alarmed.

  Perdita addressed the magistrate. ‘This has come as a grave shock to my aunt. As you see, she is not well. As for me, I cannot believe that you would allow an innocent girl to suffer such a fate.’

  ‘Miss Wentworth, I have the highest regard for your aunt, but the law is clear. Miss Bryant must appear at Taunton Assizes to answer the charges laid against her. I can assure you that, in practice, the sentence is rarely death if the accused is found guilty.’

  ‘What then?’

  ‘A reprieve means transportation to Botany Bay for a period of fourteen years.’

  ‘Merciful indeed!’ Perdita faced the guardian of the law with flashing eyes. She was about to say more when a low moan from her aunt brought her to that lady’s side.

  ‘Don’t worry, Aunt!’ she comforted. ‘The Earl will know what to do.’

  Miss Langrishe was beyond comfort. ‘He isn’t here,’ she whispered. ‘Frederick, must you take Louise in charge at once? May she not stay here? I will guarantee that she does not leave Bath.’

  ‘I’m sorry, my dear, but that is not possible. It would set a bad precedent. We should be charged at once with operating one law for the rich and another for the poor.’

  ‘You do that anyway!’ Perdita told him rudely.

  ‘Not if we can help it, Miss Wentworth. We are not all corrupt.’

  Perdita was ashamed of her outburst. Clearly, the magistrate was uncomfortable in exercising his duty, but he would not be dissuaded. She thought him an honest man.

  ‘Where will you take her?’ she asked.

  ‘To Ilchester, Miss.’

  ‘To the Somerset County Gaol?’ Perdita was horrified. ‘My dear, sir, you would not expose her to those conditions…the company of thieves and murderers and women who are no better than they should be?’

  ‘Of course not!’ The magistrate was growing impatient. ‘She will be lodged in the gaol-keeper’s own house, as I have explained. Now, if you will forgive me, we are wasting time. If the young lady will collect such things as she may require?’

  He looked at Louise, but she made no move to follow his instructions. Perdita doubted if she had heard him. Frozen to the spot in shock, she seemed incapable of movement.

  Perdita turned to Amy. ‘Pack her things,’ she whispered. ‘For the moment we can do nothing more to help her.’

  ‘I could go with her,’ Amy offered. ‘With the two of us together, it might be easier.’

  This suggestion was turned down by the magistrate, though he tried to soften the blow. ‘Naturally, you may come to see your friend as often as you wish,’ he announced. Then he turned to Miss Langrishe. ‘Beatrice, Miss Bryant will suffer little more than to be deprived of the company of her friends for the time being.’

  ‘Rubbish!’ Perdita told him shortly. ‘Bath is a positive hive of gossip. How long do you suppose it will be before this sorry tale gets out? Louise is innocent, but tongues will wag. What will this do to her reputation? If nothing is proved against her, there will still be those who believe that there is no smoke without fire.’

  ‘That cannot be helped,’ the magistrate said firmly. He was no coward, but he offered a private prayer of thanks that his prisoner was the meek Miss Bryant, rather than this fiery little beauty who refused to be overawed by the power of his office.

  Perdita was furious, but anger gave way to pity as a mute Louise was led away. Then she pulled herself together.

  ‘The first thing to do is to write to Rushmore,’ she cried as the sound of the carriage wheels died away. ‘Aunt, will you do it, or shall I?’

  Miss Langrishe seemed to have aged by a full ten years. ‘I would do it gladly,’ she whispered. ‘But I cannot use my hands…’ She looked at her red and swollen fingers.

  ‘Then I will write.’ Perdita sat down at the escritoire. Her note was brief and pithy, setting out the facts, but it was only when it had been dispatched to London that she felt easier in her mind.

  ‘I hope that the Earl will come at once, don’t you?’ The normally ebullient Amy was subdued. ‘Louise looked as though she was being led to execution.’

  ‘Oh, don’t say that!’ Perdita shuddered. ‘She will be safe enough until the date of the Assizes. I can’t believe all this. What can Verreker hope to gain?’

  ‘You think he is behind it?’

  ‘Nothing is more certain,’ Perdita told her. ‘Perhaps he hopes that the Earl will buy him off if he agrees to drop the charges.’

  ‘But, Dita, we know they are not true. We were there. We saw what happened. If we speak out in court?’

  ‘We may not be believed. We are Louise’s friends. We must be expected to support her.’

  ‘But we would not lie on oath,’ Amy said stoutly.

  ‘It has been known. Oh, Amy, this is all so horrible! I cannot wait for Rushmore to arrive.’

  Perdita tried to curb her impatience for the next few days, but there was no word from London, nor did the Earl appear in Bath.

  ‘Where is he?’ she cried in anguish. ‘I won’t believe that he has abandoned us.’

  ‘He could be away from London,’ Amy suggested. ‘He’ll get your letter when he returns. Meantime, shall we go to see Louise?’

  ‘Oh, yes!’ Perdita seized on the suggestion with relief. ‘It will ease Aunt Trixie’s mind if we are able to assure her that Louise is well. Possibly, she may come with us.’

  That hope was quickly dashed. The attack of gout had flared alarmingly, and now it was impossible for Miss Langrishe to set her feet to the ground.

  Her spirit was undaunted. ‘Take what you can to make Louise comfortable,’ she said. ‘Chef shall provide some hampers of food. Perdita, you must ask the child if there is anything she needs…anything at all.’ Her eyes grew sad. ‘I feel that I have failed sadly in caring for her. Who could have imagined that it would come to this?’

  ‘No one, Aunt, and you must not blame yourself.’ Perdita frowned. ‘How could you have guarded against such wickedness?’ She sighed to herself in desperation. Where was Rushmore? Surely there had been time enough for him to return to Bath.

  It was with heavy hearts that she and Amy set off for Ilchester. Miss Langrishe had not opposed the plan, though she had insisted that they took Ellen with them.

  ‘Thank heavens that Father insisted that we kept our own carriage here in Bath,’ Perdita told her aunt. ‘I thought it an extravagance at the time, believing that we should have no use for it, but he said that the horses might as well be stabled here as in London.’

  Miss Langrishe looked troubled. ‘I won’t forbid you to go to Ilchester, my dears, but I shall not rest until you are safely back again. You will have no gentlemen with you for protection.’

  ‘We shall have our own driver and the groom. Besides, we shall have Ellen too. She would make a formidable foe should anyone attempt to offer us an insult.’

  ‘And no one offers insult to Perdita, Aunt Trixie. She has a way of looking down her nose which is guaranteed to freeze the daffodils.’ Amy’s cheerful attempt at a joke succeeded in lightening the atmosphere, though Miss Langrishe was careful to point out that daffodils were not to be found in early autumn.

  ‘She’ll find something to freeze,’ Amy assured her. ‘Pray don’t worry, Aunt. We shall not be gone for many hours. It is not as if we were planning a stay at any of the inns along our route. We shall stop only to bait the horses.’

  ‘That’s true…and if you carry provisions with you there will be no need for you to dine among strangers.’ Miss Langrishe rang the bell to summon her chef. ‘We
must make up a basket for Louise. Heaven knows what the sheriff is giving her to eat.’ She began to discuss a lengthy list.

  ‘Dear Lord…Aunt is sending enough food to cover the fourteen years of transportation,’ Amy whispered to her sister.

  ‘That remark is in the worst possible taste.’ Perdita frowned. ‘It has given Aunt Trixie something to do. She longs to help Louise, but for the moment there is nothing we can suggest, other than to make her imprisonment more comfortable. Aunt feels that she has failed in her care of Louise.’

  ‘She did try,’ Amy pointed out reasonably. ‘At one time I felt that she might strike the magistrate when he refused to leave Louise with us. For heaven’s sake, did he expect that we should spirit her away?’

  Perdita grew thoughtful. ‘It might have been the answer. We could have taken her to London, to Aunt Prudence…’

  ‘With the officers of the law hot upon our heels?’

  ‘You are right. It would not have served. In fact, it would have made matters worse. Perhaps it’s as well that the opportunity did not arise. It’s just that I can’t bear to think of Louise in that hateful place. She must be in despair, deprived of her friends and with such charges hanging over her.’

  ‘We must take what we can.’ Ever practical, Amy turned to the matter in hand. ‘Must I fetch her things from the Academy? She will need a change of clothing. I’ll think of some story for Miss Bedlington.’

  ‘Will you do that, love? Perhaps if you mentioned that she wasn’t well?’

  Amy tried, but the scandal was common knowledge in Bath. Miss Bedlington saw it as a personal affront. The news that one of her pupils was held in a common gaol threatened to ruin her reputation and deprive her of her livelihood. She made no secret of her disgust.

  Amy lost her temper. ‘May I remind you that in this country a person is presumed to be innocent until they are proved guilty,’ she cried. ‘Are you judge and jury?’

  ‘Hold your tongue, miss! Such impertinence! It does not surprise me. You and your sister are a disgrace to the name of womanhood.’

  ‘And you are its ornament? My sister is worth a dozen such as you!’

  ‘Get out, you little viper! You may take your own possessions as well as those of your thieving friend. If you return I’ll have the law on you.’

  ‘That won’t be necessary, ma’am. If I never see you again it will be too soon.’ With this parting shot Amy stalked away.

  ‘That seems to be the end of my schooldays,’ she told Perdita. ‘Must I tell Aunt Trixie?’

  ‘You can’t avoid it. Oh, Amy, did you have to fly at Miss Bedlington? Aunt has enough to worry about at present.’

  Amy chuckled. ‘Do I hear the pot calling the kettle black? She insulted you, and she called Louise a thief. I couldn’t let it pass. You’d have done the same yourself.’

  ‘I suppose so. Well, we had best get it over with. Let us hope that Aunt won’t be too distressed.’

  Miss Langrishe surprised them. She listened with relish to the story of Amy’s confrontation with Miss Bedlington.

  ‘Quite right!’ she said at last. ‘I never liked the woman. She’s such a crawling, encroaching creature. Let her keep her precious respectability. She’ll get no more recommendations from me.’ Then she beamed at Amy. ‘No harm done, I think,’ she announced. ‘The loss of a few weeks’ schooling cannot harm you.’

  ‘Aunt, you are a treasure!’ Amy kissed the papery cheek. Then she looked at the list beside the old woman’s hand, and she began to laugh. ‘We are taking just the one coach to Ilchester,’ she teased. ‘I fear the horses will have a struggle to get us there.’

  She was rewarded with an answering smile. ‘Louise may have need of all these things, my dear. Far better to be on the generous side than to skimp our help.’

  She was proved right. The girls made an early start on the following day and the journey passed without incident.

  Perdita was unusually silent, and Amy guessed that she was dreading what they might find.

  ‘Cheer up!’ she comforted. ‘We may be pleasantly surprised. Louise may be quite comfortable.’

  Her optimism proved to be ill-founded. On arrival at the gaol they were directed to a dark and dismal dwelling built inside the prison walls.

  ‘This can’t be right!’ Perdita cried in dismay. ‘The sheriff is said to have six children. This house is much too small to house a family.’

  Amy signalled to the groom, telling him to knock at the door and ask directions. When he returned he was accompanied by a stout individual who was clearly a stranger to the benefits of soap and water. The man opened the carriage door with a flourish.

  ‘Welcome, ladies! You are the Misses Wentworth, I believe. Pray step down. Miss Bryant will be glad to see you.’

  ‘You are the sheriff?’ Perdita asked in disbelief.

  ‘At your service, ma’am!’ The man bowed, releasing noxious odours from his unwashed clothing. Combined with the powerful smell of gin, this was enough to send Perdita searching for her handkerchief. On the pretext of blowing her nose, she held it to her face.

  Amy was made of sterner stuff. She jumped down with a smile, and offered the man her hand. The look she gave Perdita was filled with meaning. The sheriff must be treated with respect if he were to be persuaded to become their ally.

  Perdita gave an imperceptible nod. Then she ordered the unloading of the coach. The number of large hampers brought a smile to the sheriff’s face, and to the faces of the round-eyed children who poured out of the open doorway. Their numbers seemed to be endless.

  Perdita’s heart sank. The children seemed to be healthy enough, but there were so many of them. What must conditions be like indoors? She was soon to find out.

  Pressed by the sheriff to step inside his home, Perdita felt a tug at her sleeve.

  ‘Lord, Miss Perdita, I don’t like this. Must you go inside? Miss Bryant could come out to you. I don’t doubt that the place is full of lice, and the Lord knows what else besides.’

  ‘Hush, Ellen! You need not come indoors, but Amy and I must not offend the sheriff. Wait here! We shall not come to harm.’

  She spoke with a confidence she was far from feeling, but she stepped indoors to be greeted by a fat and blowsy woman with a new baby in her arms. Her clothing was stiff with grease and beer stains, but she smiled happily at her visitors, apparently oblivious of the dirty conditions in which she lived and the appalling noise. Dogs and cats roamed freely about her kitchen, and Perdita shuddered as she saw the state of her pot cloths. Possibly they had once been white. Now they were almost black.

  ‘Miss Bryant is in her room,’ the woman told them. ‘Will you go up, ladies? It’s small, but it is all we have to offer her.’

  Perdita and Amy left the chaos behind and climbed the stairs. There were but two bedrooms, and they averted their eyes from the squalor visible through the open door of the chamber on their right. The other door was closed.

  Perdita tapped gently, but there was no reply. Cautiously, she tried the doorknob and peered into the room.

  Louise was sitting on a trestle bed, apparently in a stupor.

  ‘Oh, my dear!’ Perdita hurried towards her and gathered the girl into her arms. ‘We had no idea! Can this possibly be worse than the gaol itself?”

  Recognition dawned slowly in Louise’s eyes. Then the tears came and she wept for several minutes against Perdita’s shoulder.

  ‘Forgive me!’ she said at last. ‘I meant to be brave, you know, but I cannot sleep for the noise and I am always hungry.’

  ‘You cannot mean that they are starving you?’ Amy was indignant.

  ‘They give me what they can, but they are very poor and there are many mouths to feed. The sheriff’s wife means well, but…but…I cannot eat what she prepares.’

  ‘Why is that? Is she a poor cook?’

  ‘I don’t know. I haven’t touched the food since I saw her licking her cooking utensils clean…’

  Perdita closed her eyes in horror. The
n she pulled herself together. ‘There will be no need for you to do so. Aunt has sent supplies…enough to feed you and the sheriff’s family for several weeks.’

  Amy leaned out of the window and called to the groom to fetch a hamper to her. ‘You must eat,’ she insisted. ‘You will need all your strength if we are to get through this.’

  Louise gave her a pitiful look. ‘I had hoped to see my guardian,’ she whispered. ‘Has he washed his hands of me?’

  ‘Of course not!’ Perdita was firm in her denial. ‘We wrote to him at once, but he must be out of London. He has estates in Cheshire and in Derbyshire, you know.’

  ‘But when will he be back?’ Louise was fast losing her composure. ‘The Taunton Assizes are not for some weeks. Must I stay here until then? I’d rather die—’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t!’ Amy said firmly. ‘Is the common gaol worse than this? Perhaps you could be moved?’

  ‘Oh, never say so! You can have no idea. I can see the prisoners from my window…wretched creatures, most of them. They fight for food. It goes to those who can afford it. The others beg through the outer bars from passers-by.’

  Amy and Perdita stared at her in silence.

  ‘Then there are the women. I did not know such creatures existed. They sell themselves quite openly for favours and for money.’ Louise’s eyes grew sad. ‘I cannot say that I blame them. How else can they survive?’ She gazed at her friends in despair.

  It was then that Perdita came to a decision. She would go to London herself. There, at least, she might learn something of Rushmore’s whereabouts. She was convinced that her letter hadn’t reached him.

  If that plan failed she would seek the help of Thomas’s parents, her uncle Sebastian and aunt Prudence. This would be a last resort. Thomas had inherited a fiery temper. Feeling as he did about Louise, Perdita would not put it past him to attempt to rescue her by main force. She knew how quickly gossip travelled in polite society. Now she prayed that the news had not yet reached him.

  Once her decision was made she was impatient to put her plan into action, but she kept her thoughts to herself on the journey back to Bath.