The days were finally starting to shorten, the arc of the Sun giving way sooner to the cool hours of evening, and Tully was starting to plan for the coming winter. Her options had changed, but that was nothing new for her...people came and went, abandoned buildings were discovered and reclaimed, and places of refuge were desecrated and abandoned.
No matter, Tully had some prospects, and now was as good a time as any to check those out. First, though, she was going to try to see Frances. It had been a few days, and Tully knew she wasn't at the shelter any more, and asking around was out of the question, so she'd been watching...
The man, Reeve, Arabeller, the doctor...and there was one building they all frequented at one time or another. It was in a 'better' part of town, and Tully was glad of that, Frances was in a good place. But it meant that she was more likely to be questioned if she was found slinking around the streets, so she had to wait until it was dark, and it would be easier to go about unseen.
More than a block away, Tully had taken to the alleys, then finally climbed a fence, no easy feat in the dress she was still wearing, behind the house in question. For a very long time, she stared at the back door, more than once starting that way, until finally, she had the nerve to run up and knock, quickly sliding back into the shadows as she watched.
"Ladies should be seen and not heard"
Answering the front door was anathema to Miss Anæsthesia Orr, let alone having to open up the portal to an unexpected caller at the rear of 'The Laurels': one of the larger dwellings of the growing township. That was maid's work, but so far her miserly mother would only consent to employ a part-time maid, in the person of Jemima Wigfall, to do the essential cleaning, laundry and other menial tasks in the house and well as taking her turn nursing poor Miss Frances when the doting Mister Reeve had to tear himself away to actually attend to his legal work.
When the back door ratt-a-tatt-atted, Anæsthesia was at a loss what to do. "Girl! Girl!" she called "There is somebody at the back door!" She waited. "Mother! there is somebody at the back door! Where is the girl?!"
'The girl'! Jemima and Anæsthesia were the same age and had gone to school together; but Anæsthesia got a patrician thrill in referring to the dowdy creature snootily as 'the girl'.
Silence.
Anæsthesia sighed.
"Then I suppose I shall have to go myself!" she said indignantly to nobody, except, perhaps, the Grandfather clock in the hall might have taken notice; for he was as snobbish as Miss Orr.
"It's simply not good enough! One wonders why one pays such servants!" the blonde girl chuntered as she proceeded through the little visited scullery and kitchen and toward the back door. She opened it and peered out into the darkness.
"Hello? Hello?" Anæsthesia called, seeing nothing but darkness at first "If that's you boys playing knock and run, I know who you are, and I shall certainly tell your parents!!" she threatened. Perhaps Frances' cast off dress was not as well camouflaged as Tully's usual tomboyish toggeries, but as her eyes became more accustomed to the gloom, Anæsthesia, whose eyes, perhaps, were as catty as her disposition, spotted a very still, very well hidden, but still discernible figure of a young woman.
"Who's there? Who are you?" Anæsthesia demanded "Come out girl, I'm not going to bite you! Who are you and what do you want?!" she barked, sounding very much like she probably did bite.
As the door opened, Tully held her breath, staying as still as she could, yet somehow, the young woman still spotted her. Tully had seen her around, in her pretty dresses and perfect blonde ringlets, and she seemed harmless enough. In fact, she didn't seem to be as snooty as one would expect someone all gussied up like she was would be.
And she was here for a reason, and if she didn't make more of an effort, she may as well leave.
Slowly, Tully stepped away from the shrubs and into the open, where the ambient light from the house, and the waxing Moon would make her more visible.
"Come ta see about Miss Frances," she murmured, "if she's all right?"
"Ladies should be seen and not heard"
"Come ta see about Miss Frances," she murmured, "if she's all right?"
"All right, well come along in then. You won't see her sulking about out side will you now?" the fancy girl said, somewhat briskly, but also with a slightly bemused smile; somehow Anæsthesia felt like she was talking to a five year old and found herself holding out a hand as one might to a toddler.
Anæsthesia led Tully through the more utilitarian sections of the house into a big hall with an enormous grandfather clock ticking away everybody's lives and an impressive staircase which they climbed. All along the way Anæsthesia was filling Tully in with the facts, at least from her point of view.
"I assume that you are Miss Nevada? Well, I am sorry to hear what happened to you; molestation by some uncouth man is, I am afraid, a constant fear and danger for very pretty young women such as ourselves. I am very glad to hear from Mister Reeve that the brute managed to die providentially by his own hand" she said for starters. Reeve was making sure that story got around and stuck - like a knife in an artery.
"You will be pleased to hear that Miss Grimes is doing well considering her very serious injuries: and so she might, she is being treated like a royal princess: both Doctor Danforth and Mister Reeve have been positively doting upon her, as have my mother and Miss Wigfall." She gave a little sniff: all the attention in the house that was usually devoted to her had been diverted for the time being to the invalid. "I myself had to empty her bedpan yesterday! Me! I mean, really!" There was a little something in her complaining, though, that she was rather proud of her contribution, and fancied herself something of a new Florence Nightingale.
They reached the top of the stairs and Miss Orr made a shushing motion with her finger to her lips.
"Miss Grimes will be very happy you have come, she has been asking after you constantly, but we did not know where to find you; but you must not overtire her." She gave a little nod, so as to say 'is that all right?' and then squeezed Tully's hand before leading her in.
Inside, Frances was propped up in bed in a posh nightie, running her hand over a big book that Tully would have recognised as one of her New York Five Point volumes. Probably some part of the Bible.
"I have someone here to see you, Miss Grimes" announced Anæsthesia quietly.
Fancy-girl's words made good sense -- Tully wasn't going to see Frances unless she took those steps -- so she moved forward and let the other girl lead her, listening to her prattle, not understanding some of it, but starting to mutter, "Was me that kilt him," but Anæsthesia continued to rattle on, so she shrugged, looking around the big house, finding it a bit too familiar from her childhood. Still, she thought that it might be a nice way to live.
She stopped at the doorway to the room, staring past Anæsthesia to the bed where Frances propped up. doing something with a book -- not reading nor looking at the pictures, since she was blind -- but it was good to see her with color in her cheeks, looking almost like an angel in her pretty nightdress, and Tully suddenly felt filthy and out of place.
Shaking her head, she turned away to start back down the stairs and flee, tears blurring her vision...
"The Law may very well 'be an ass', but a man can travel a mighty long way on an ass."
Lewis Reeve came out of the little downstairs room that had been Richard Orr's office and saw Tully half running, half tumbling, down the big staircase with Anæsthesia standing confused at the top landing calling "Miss Nevada! Come back! What on Earth are you about?!!"
In her distress, the waif, looking strangely incongruous in a dress, was easy to catch in his arms, though he held her only lightly.
"Tully, it's all right!" he said, trying to get through to the emotionally distressed. "It's me, Mister Reeve..." he called up the stairs "Ann, tell Miss Grimes that Miss Nevada will be up in couple of minutes!" "All right, Cass." Hmmm, those two were familiar enough with each other! But was Mister Reeve right to sound so confident in what he said. He could only hope so.
"Please, Miss... Tully. Just come in here where we can talk privately, and hear me out will you?" he asked plaintively. "And let me get you something to eat and drink huh? You look half starved." He didn't mention dirty as well: somehow the grime didn't show half as bad when she was dressed as a boy.
She was halfway down the stairs when she was stopped, and Tully was about to deck the man when she realized who it was, and that it was someone she relaxed -- this was someone she trusted, someone who had been kind to her and was a friend to Frances and Arabeller...he was safe...
"Tully, it's all right!" he said, trying to get through to the emotionally distressed. "It's me, Mister Reeve..." he called up the stairs "Ann, tell Miss Grimes that Miss Nevada will be up in couple of minutes!" "All right, Cass."
Standing still and stiff during the exchange, leaning against Lewis's shoulder, then allowing him to guide her to a chair, where she sat obediently, actually relieved that she had been stopped, and that someone was going to give her some options and knock some sense into her head!
"Please, Miss... Tully. Just come in here where we can talk privately, and hear me out will you?" he asked plaintively. "And let me get you something to eat and drink huh? You look half starved."
"That'd be good," she muttered, looking down at the floor, "if it's not a problem." At that, she looked up at the man intently. "But I ain't no charity!" She reconsidered then, that her attitude was putting her in peril of losing a meal, and a chance to see Frances, and relented.
"I'd be appreciative of somethin' ta eat," she said, more loudly, actually speaking to the man, "an' maybe a place ta wash up some? I don't want'a be gettin' Miss Frances all dirty in her pretty bed..."
"The Law may very well 'be an ass', but a man can travel a mighty long way on an ass."
Reeve was glad Tully had agreed to stay for now, although he didn't trust her not to make a bolt for it when he wasn't looking. Frances, dear Frances, had told him what little she knew about the girl while he had been looking after her, and how Tully had saved her life the night of the big storm, when the tree had fallen on top of her.
"That'd be good," she muttered, looking down at the floor, "if it's not a problem." At that, she looked up at the man intently. "But I ain't no charity!" She reconsidered then, that her attitude was putting her in peril of losing a meal, and a chance to see Frances, and relented.
"It's not charity when you do something for a friend. You're a friend of Miss Grimes and I hope you will consider me a friend too." he smiled.
"I'd be appreciative of somethin' ta eat," she said, more loudly, actually speaking to the man, "an' maybe a place ta wash up some? I don't want'a be gettin' Miss Frances all dirty in her pretty bed..."
"Sure, listen, we'll both have something. Then you can have a wash and brush up if you like. I'm going to ring for Miss Wigfall, if that's all right? You know her, don't you, from the other night?" he didn't really want to bring up the memory of the attack right now, but he also didn't want the frightened rabbit to be jumpy that someone she didn't know was coming.
He pulled on a bell cord and if you listened very, very carefully, you could hear a tiny sound of a bell tinkling somewhere. Then eventually footsteps and Jemima's distinctive flat voice calling "I'm coming!" plus a faint cry of "She never comes when I ring!" from Anæsthesia upstairs, which made Cass smile a little.
"You know, Frances is going to be so thrilled you came her tonight, she's been asking and worrying about you. And listen, I haven't told anybody else about what happened that night, what you did to protect her and yourself, and I don't think you should tell anyone either. And that includes Jemima and Frances herself. I've smoothed everything out with the law and..." he cut off when Jemima entered. Miss Wigfall didn't say any thing, just smiled to see who was there.
"To be honest, I didn't think you'd come back, but Jemima and Frances did: woman's intuition, I guess." Reeve grinned.
Reeve's voice was so gentle and reassuring -- not in the creepy, deceptive way that some men had when they were trying to convince you that they were above-board and only cared about 'helping', when their motives were far from that -- and Tully was content to sit and listen to him.
He offered to eat with her, which she took as a gesture to put her at ease, so she muttered a quiet, "Thank ya." She didn't know who 'Miss Wigfall' was, but she kept her butt planted firmly in the chair, keeping a wary eye on the doorway, her need to trust someone vying with her trained instinct to run while she could. But she truly was hungry, and she knew that any food she got here was going to be fresh, real and endless, so she kept her seat, and let out a sigh of relief when Jemima came into the room.
"Hey." She actually smiled. "Come ta see Miss Frances, but she's so pretty an' clean, an' me..." Well, in all honesty, for living in the brush and sleeping under stairs, she was actually not so bad!
"THERE'S SOMEBODY AT THE DOOR!!!"
"Hey." She actually smiled. "Come ta see Miss Frances, but she's so pretty an' clean, an' me..." Well, in all honesty, for living in the brush and sleeping under stairs, she was actually not so bad!
Jemima nodded and gave one of her rare smiles when she saw Tully. "We'll get you cleaned up, but first I'll get you some nice pie and a drink of cocoa" she said. "Same for you, Mister Reeve?" she asked respectfully.
"That'd be great Jemima, and why don't you join us?" he replied.
The frowsy maid looked flustered as she demurred and hurried out to get their fixings and the handsome man's eyes followed her almost longingly. From what Tully had seen of the feller, it must have seemed that he was obsessed by women! But there was something about Jemima that only he knew and it was something that explained his wistful gaze.
He brought his attention back to the somewhat shop-worn looking frizzy haired girl.
"I get the impression that you don't much like to be stuck in one place too long, Miss Nevada, but is there any way you could be induced to stay in this house for a couple of nights at least? Frances has been awfully worried about you being out there on your own after what happened: she's been having terrible nightmares about the whole thing." he shrugged "Had a couple myself to be honest. I think the only person who's come through it unscathed is Jemima. She's 'unperturbable' - if you go in for big words."
Jemima eventually returned with food and drink and then disappeared and reappeared with a ewer of water a sponge and some fresh clothes.
"I'm afraid you're going to have to leave, Mr Reeve." she said, and the kindly young man complied.
Jemima tidied up the dishes, Tully's looked like it had been licked clean!
She looked over at the waif.
"Guess what? They buried that feller in an unmarked grave outside of town." she said "Just think: he'll be screaming in agony, burning in the fires of Hell this very minute!" she added cheerfully.