Chapter 20 #3
The muffled sobs subsided and then Augusta spoke again.
‘Now, that hurt, didn’t it? If you’d have drunk this, it wouldn’t hurt as much, and you wouldn’t mind so much.
Now don’t you see that I’m trying to help you?
This will make the things that men make us do more bearable. I wish I had been as lucky as you are.’
Augusta’s voice sounded horribly persuasive. There were more sniffs and Jenny could imagine the girl nodding reluctantly.
‘Good girl. Very sensible. It tastes of raspberries, doesn’t it?’ Augusta’s voice came again, this time showing clear approval, and Jenny realised that the girl had obviously succumbed to the pressure and drunk the tincture.
‘Now, you lie down and wipe your tears and I’ll go and see if the gentlemen are ready. I’ll give you ten minutes to compose yourself while I offer them a drink, but that’ll come out of your wages.’
Augusta exited the room as she spoke and closed the door behind her, though did not lock it. She went through the door into the barber’s shop and returned a few moments later, accompanied by one of the men. She apologised for the delay as she escorted him to the room at the end of the corridor.
‘She’s preparing herself for you. Treat her gently, will you, she’s new at this. You’re lucky. How many can say they get the first bite of a fresh cake?’
Jenny stifled a cry of fury. The girl was so new to this that she was still a virgin.
She clenched her fists with anger, helpless to know what to do.
Augusta was using the product that Gwen had so innocently made, and which Jenny had encouraged her in continuing to make, for the most abhorrent purposes.
She peeked around the curtain. The corridor was empty.
She felt for the whistle in her pocket, and it was halfway to her lips when she thought better of it.
If she blew it now, she would be discovered.
The thought of leaving the young girl to her fate was reprehensible, but she couldn’t hope to carry her out.
She slipped back into the barber’s shop and almost made it to the door, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jerked round in terror.
‘What are you doing?’
It was the amethyst-clad madam.
‘I’m looking for a woman,’ Jenny said in her deepest, most assured voice. She slipped into the shadow of the door. ‘I’ve heard you can get them here.’
‘Were you really!’ The madam put her hands on her hips, but instead of shouting for Augusta she laughed. ‘Looking at you, I doubt you’d get your money’s worth. Does your dad know you’ve borrowed his suit?’
Jenny flushed with relief. She dropped her head, mumbling about being nineteen.
‘Ha! You’re fifteen, if you’re a day! Get out and don’t waste my time!’
With her hand on the back of Jenny’s collar, and with surprising strength, the madam pushed her roughly towards the door and out into the street.
‘And don’t come back again!’ She slammed the door behind her.
Jenny stumbled onto her knees, catching the left one painfully. She looked up to see Miriam crossing towards her in a hurry, her face pale and her expression fearful. Jenny righted herself and pulled the whistle out.
‘Get ready to run,’ she muttered as soon as Miriam reached her.
She walked to the door of the coffee house and blew the whistle repeatedly, then hammered on the door until it rattled.
‘Fire! Fire! Get out! Fire!’
She blew the whistle again for good measure and heard cries from inside.
It might not help the drugged girl, but she couldn’t think of any other way of distracting the men and cooling their enthusiasm.
She spun around and grabbed Miriam by the hand and dragged her along as if their lives depended on it.
Hand in hand, they ran along the road and ducked into a ginnel, still running until they came out at the other end and onto a new road.
Halfway along it, Jenny leant against a fence and put her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.
Her knee throbbed but she gritted her teeth and put the pain to one side.
As tears streaked her cheeks, she felt that it was no more than she deserved.
‘What happened?’ Miriam demanded. She was panting heavily, too, and knowing she had had to run in skirts and a corset was one more layer of guilt for Jenny.
‘It’s worse than I imagined. So much worse.’ Jenny’s voice broke and she sank to her knees.
Miriam dropped down and wrapped her arms about Jenny tightly. ‘Did they hurt you? I was terrified every moment you were in there.’
‘I didn’t know what she planned to do. Oh, Miriam, I deserve every name you call me, every ounce of condemnation.’
‘Darling girl, what happened? Tell me everything.’ Miriam held her close, stroking her hair fiercely. The endearments and comfort didn’t make Jenny feel better. Rather, knowing what she was complicit in, they made her feel worse.
‘What am I going to do?’ she snivelled.
‘I don’t know, but you don’t have to think alone. I’m here. We’ll do it together.’
Miriam laced her fingers between Jenny’s, squeezing tightly.
At her touch, Jenny began to cry in earnest – painful, loud sobs that stifled her breath and tore at her throat.
It felt for the first time since their argument that she and Miriam were on the same side, but the circumstances were so dreadful, it made Miriam’s gentle forgiveness worse.