Chapter 22 #2
Miriam nodded. ‘I agree. I don’t like it, but there is a sort of honour in what Selina does. She sells herself. I can’t condemn her for that.’
‘I can hear you,’ Selina said drily.
The women turned to her, slightly guiltily. Selina stood with her arms folded, one hand supporting her chin on her well-manicured fingertips. She had recovered her composure, but her cheeks were highly coloured.
‘You are very certain in your moral superiority,’ she said mockingly. ‘Don’t forget for a moment that you have been making and selling a product that takes away people’s sense of discretion and inhibitions.’
‘But we did it for a good reason,’ Gwen said.
‘And we all know the aphorism regarding the road to Hell and good intentions, don’t we?’ Selina said, raising her brows and holding the women’s eyes until they looked down.
‘You are correct, however. There are limits to my depravity and, as you say, what I choose to do with my own body is one thing. I have used your tincture myself and offered it to my clients, sometimes both at the same time, but I would never force anyone to take it. Whatever you think of me, I want you to believe I have nothing to do with Augusta’s misuse of the tincture. ’
‘So, you will help us put an end to her business?’ Jenny asked.
Selina pursed her lips. ‘I can’t do that.
She knows too many of my secrets. What you have to understand is that my profession admits me into a very select circle.
Don’t misunderstand, I’m not rubbing shoulders with the highest aristocracy, but I have on my list a few notable members of boards, directors of banks, and one judge. ’
‘And the owner of a pharmacy chain?’ Jenny asked darkly.
‘Once or twice,’ Selina admitted in a business-like manner.
Jenny winced, but whether that was the thought of Conrad taking pleasure with a prostitute or just the thought of him engaged in the act at all, Jenny wasn’t sure.
‘It would be embarrassing for them if your links to Augusta came to light, I’m sure,’ Gwen said. ‘Your clients are the ones at risk of scandal, not to mention the displeasure of their wives.’
Selina held out her arms in a ‘What can I do?’ gesture. ‘Exactly, and without my clients, how would I provide for myself? I guarantee the utmost discretion for a reason, and some of these men would certainly not want their involvement getting out.’
‘The rotund gentleman with rather small feet might not be happy for his likeness to be circulated, for example.’ Miriam waved her sketchbook and gave a grim smile. Selina’s face fell. It provided a brief moment of amusement in the heavy atmosphere.
‘I see.’ Selina flashed Miriam a nasty look. ‘So you have some sketches of men. What does that prove? That you saw them in the street? It means nothing.’
‘We can leave that for them to decide – or their wives or employers,’ Gwen said. ‘Or the newspapers.’
Selina’s chin jerked up. She walked to a glass-fronted cupboard containing decanters and glasses. She poured herself a glass of whisky, not offering it around, and drank it in one extremely unladylike move.
‘You’ve planned this well, but if Augusta heard I had moved against her it would not be good for me, and I don’t mean just from a business point of view, but for my personal safety. No, I’m sorry. I can’t become involved in this.’
Jenny took the book from Miriam’s hand. She opened the pages at one of the portraits and showed it to Selina, who frowned.
‘He has a wife of five years and a newborn daughter. Would you drag their names into public ridicule?’ she asked.
‘That’s something he should have thought about before doing whatever he does with you,’ Miriam said archly.
Jenny shook her head. ‘No, we won’t do anything that will harm his family, if at all possible. They can’t help what he does and shouldn’t suffer for it.’
Gwen stepped forward, head high and shoulders back, her earlier misery concealed.
‘We are looking for two young women, one is little more than a child. Your clients’ families may feel grief, but that is nothing to what they must be going through.’
‘If you want to rescue them, I’m sure that will be possible without involving me or my clients,’ Selina said.
Miriam beckoned to Jenny and Gwen and drew them aside.
‘Is that all we want to do?’ she asked. ‘There’s nothing to stop her finding some more, either tricking them off the streets or getting them from the workhouse.’
Jenny and Gwen exchanged a look. This clearly needed more thought.
‘For me, I need to rescue Mr Parry’s niece, Ruth. I want to stop her using our product and I need to ensure that no word of our involvement reaches my husband,’ said Gwen.
‘Or my uncle,’ Jenny added, though knowing his relationship to Selina, she cared slightly less about his disapproval.
‘What would you do with the girls, even if you did close The Rook and Wren down completely?’ Selina asked, turning her eyes on Gwen and fixing her with a penetrating stare.
‘Will they be turned out on the street to ply their trade there? Find another pimp? Augusta’s rooms might not be the most pleasant environment for them, but at least they are provided with some protection.’
‘But on the street, they could choose their customers and they won’t be forced or drugged,’ Jenny pointed out, though a nagging voice in the back of her mind whispered how feeble that alternative was.
‘Miss Rosewood, you are deluded!’ Selina laughed.
It wasn’t a pleasant sound. ‘Do you really think a streetwalker can choose who she says yes to? Consider the harassment they receive from the constabulary. You speak of being drugged, but how many of those poor unfortunates console themselves with bathtub gin to dampen the pain and ignominy, and do themselves untold damage?’
She walked across the room and sat on her basket chair, like a queen surveying her subjects.
‘It’s all very well for you to moralise from your safe, comfortable lives, but take it from one who knows, there are many conditions under which women grit their teeth and deal with unpleasant men.
If you don’t realise that, then you’re as innocent and foolish as a child in its nursery singing Mother Goose rhymes. ’
Jenny’s shoulders sagged, the certainty she had been carrying dissolving. ‘When you put it like that…’ she began.
‘There will always be those who take advantage and those who are taken advantage of,’ Selina said. ‘At least Augusta understands what they are going through and tries to minimise their suffering.’
Miriam walked to Jenny’s side and took her hand. ‘Don’t listen to her. It’s better to try than not. If we save these girls, then they will stay saved.’
Gwen took Jenny’s other hand. ‘Remember, one of the girls has an influential relative who practises law. What he decides to do with whatever she tells him is out of our hands. I know he is determined to bring the authorities down upon Augusta with all the force he can muster.’
Jenny squeezed both their hands and felt the pressure returned, giving her conviction a much-needed boost. She looked Selina in the eye.
‘I heard the way Augusta spoke to Bella, and the slap that she gave her. It is you who is deluded if you think she does this out of anything other than greed. We’re going to try and find our girls.
Any other women who choose to leave with us, can do so.
We’ll attempt to keep you out of it, but we have the sketches, and if it comes to it, we will use them. ’