In Name Only (6 page)

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For the past
several days, Caroline’s routine had remained the same.  She rose early,
explored some of the grounds and returned to her room to read.  Days seemed
dreadfully long, although she had already read three novels since arriving last
week.  Caroline stood at the top of the staircase and stared downward.  The sun
had just risen and the house was devoid of the usual hum of daytime
activities. 

Yesterday, her
19th birthday came and went without any fanfare.  She didn’t blame Uncle or
Elizabeth as she decided not to say anything to them.  She was in no mood for
celebrating anyway.  Elizabeth had invited her to the sewing club. Knowing that
she would be required to remove her gloves for that activity, and that others
might judge her on the state of her callused hands, it seemed best to refuse. 
She remained in her room, reading, for most of the day.

She quietly made
her way down the staircase and out the front door, carefully closing it.  The
day greeted her with sunshine and a warm breeze. She sauntered around the side
of the house, then heard peculiar sounds coming from the back yard area.  She
followed the noises and discovered the young servant girl, Selly, retching into
the waste barrel.

“Selly, are you
unwell?”

The girl spun
around and gasped.  “Miss Caroline!”

“I am sure Uncle
will permit you to take the day off.”

Patsie stepped
through the back door.  “Now then, Miss Caroline, Selly be foin.  She’s havin’
a bit of a rough mornin,’ she is.”

“But if she’s
sick. . .”

“Sure an’ she’s
doin’ foin.”  Patsie stepped inside the kitchen.

Selly stuck her
head over the waste barrel again and retched. Caroline reached out and caressed
her back.  “Selly, you are ill.”  The girl straightened and wiped her mouth
with the back of her hand. 

“Come,” Caroline
said, “sit down.”

She led Selly
into the kitchen and onto a chair near the door.

Caroline glanced
at Patsie, who chopped vegetables at a table in the center of the kitchen, her
eyes focused in front of her. Beside her, another dark-haired servant kneaded
dough.

“This here be
Missy.  She be comin’ a couple days a week to help out with the chores.”

The girl glanced
up, offered a perfunctory smile, then became engrossed in kneading the dough in
front of her.Missy looked similar to Selly, except she was slightly taller and
older, perhaps Caroline’s age.  “Are you a relation of Selly’s?” Caroline
asked.

“No, Miss, I’m
not,” she said, her eyes momentarily leaving the dough to glance at Caroline.

“Do you feel
better, Selly?”

“Miss Caroline,”
she heard Patsie say, “don’t be after worryin’ yer head ‘bout Selly.  She’ll be
foin.”  Patsie’s tone was authoritarian, despite the two teeth missing from the
front of her mouth.

Caroline studied
the young girl, whose eyes were red and puffy.

“No, really.  I’m
certain that Uncle will allow you time to rest.”

“Look here,
Miss,” Patsie said, wiping her hands on her apron and approaching Caroline, 
“meanin’ no disrespect.  I know ye be meanin’ well, but. . .”

“Please, I want
to help.”  Caroline glanced at the other servant, who appeared to show no
interest in the conversation.

“You can’t help
me, Miss Caroline,” Selly whispered.  Caroline was struck by how young this
girl sounded.

“If you’re ill,
then I wish to help you.”

“The colleen’s
not sick.  She’s. . .”

Caroline looked
down at Selly, her small hands folded like a knot on her lap, her eyes on the
verge of tears.  This younger girl, so beautiful, so efficient, so undemanding,
was deeply troubled.

“Please.  I must.
. .” Selly jumped up, pushed past Caroline and rushed out the door. The gagging
sounds ceased and were replaced with quiet sobbing.

Caroline walked
into the back yard area.  Patsie followed her.

“Miss, I’m after
tellin’ ye already, tain’t nothin’ ye can do for the girl.  Just be leavin’ her
be now.”

Ignoring her,
Caroline gently touched Selly’s back. “Please allow me to help you.”

Selly turned
around and Caroline gently cradled her as she sobbed.  “There, there.  You’re
going to be fine.”

“No, I’m not
going to be fine.”  She leaned close to Caroline and whispered, “I’m carrying.”

“Carrying?”

Now, Patsie
leaned towards her and whispered, “With child, ye may be sayin’, Miss
Caroline.”

Caroline caught
her breath and lowered her head.  “Oh.”

“So you see?  You
cannot help me. Patsie was telling me about the midwife bringing on my
monthly.”

“Your monthly?” 
Caroline stepped back.  “What do you mean, bringing on your monthly?”

“I’d be after
telling ye,  Miss Caroline, tain’t no reason fer ye to be helpin’.”

“But doing that
would make her no longer with child, wouldn’t it, Patsie?”

“Sure an’ all,
Miss.  That’d be the whole point of it. . .”

Caroline faced
Selly and placed her hands gently on her shoulders.  “You mustn’t do that,
Selly.  What about your child?  A child is a great gift from God.”

“Miss, I’m not
married. And it’s not a child yet.”

“No, Selly,
that’s not true.  How long has it been since your last monthly?”

“Three months,
Miss.”

“What about the
father of this baby?  Where is he in all this?”

“He told me he
doesn’t know that it’s his child.”

“Oh, what a
horrid thing to say.  What sort of man says. . .”

“It’s Mr. David,
Miss.”

Caroline gasped.

“Miss Caroline, I
had never been with any other, just him.  I was a. . .I had never. . .before
him.”

“Look here, Miss
Caroline, ye be needin’ ta leave Selly be.  I told ye we’ll be knowin’ how to
fix the problem.”

Caroline stepped
forward and placed her hand on Selly’s shoulder.  Months ago, Caroline had been
given the option of coming to Uncle’s instead of working as a kitchen scullery
maid in Boston.  This girl had few choices now.  That licentious David
O’Donovan had abandoned Selly when she needed him the most. 

“Patsie, I cannot
and I shall not allow her to go through this alone.  She has no one to take
care of her.  This is not totally her fault and she should not have to bear the
entire responsibility on her shoulders alone.” 

“Well then, Miss
Caroline, sure an’ that’s not true.  Selly has us.  The midwife will take care
of it.”

“No, Patsie.  You
mustn’t take her to the midwife. I intend to help her.”

Later that
afternoon, Caroline sat under the maple tree in front of the house. She tried
to read, but her thoughts instead turned to the servant girl.  Selly was three
years younger than Caroline and yet was in a most dire predicament.  How would
she find suitable accommodations for the young servant?  She had told her uncle
that she wished to visit the minister’s wife later this week and was hopeful
that the kind woman would be able to offer some information as to where Selly
could stay for the duration of her confinement.

“Carrie!” she
heard Elizabeth calling to her.

Caroline
straightened and walked to meet her cousin halfway to the house. 

“Carrie, I must
speak with you,” she whispered.  Her cousin was frowning.

“What ever is the
matter?”

“Is it true that
you plan to find some sort of home for Selly?”

“Lizzie, the poor
girl is with child and in need of. . .”

“Yes, I realize
that, dear sister, but servants tend to their own.  You need not worry about
such a matter.”

“Lizzie, you are
my new sister, are you not?”

Her cousin’s face
brightened.  “Why, yes, certainly I am.”

“Then you need to
support me in assisting this poor girl.  I could be her right now if it weren’t
for you and Uncle.”

Elizabeth stepped
back, and at first her mouth turned into a thin worried line, then a smile
formed. “Very well.  I shall be a humanitarian.  Whatever you need, Papa and I
shall provide.”

Caroline leaned
in to embrace her.  “You are too kind.”

Chapter 4

Two days later,
Caroline descended the back staircase to the kitchen.  Although she hadn’t
taken note of the room before, she found it to be spacious with two cast iron
cooking stoves which lined the far wall and a large wooden table with a
grinding apparatus attached to it in the center of the room.  Servant bells
lined the wall above the door.  Patsie was chopping a yellow squash at the
center table and Selly was washing dishes at a long table which lined the
outside wall.  The smell of baking bread caused Caroline’s mouth to water and,
for a moment, she forgot why she had come down to the kitchen.

“Well now, top o’
the mornin’, Miss Caroline,” said Patsie.  Selly turned around and nodded her
greeting.

“Selly?”

“What is it,
Miss?”

“I intend to
speak with a woman at the church to find you a place where you can stay for the
duration of your confinement.”

“You’ve been so
kind. Thank you.”

“You should not
be going through this alone.”

Just outside the
kitchen, a loud voice bellowed. “Get the damn horse or I’ll be telling Mr.
Martin to fire your black ass.”

One of the bells
above the door began to ring.

“I must go.  I do
not wish for
him
to see me,” Selly was wiping her hands on her apron and
walking toward the stairs to the main floor.

“Him?”

“Mr. David,” she
whispered, and pointed toward the back door.

“Yes, well, I
want to see him.  I should like to tell him what’s on my mind.”

“But, Miss,”
Patsie called out.  “Sure an’ ye can’t be talkin’ ta a man by yer lonesome,
tain’t proper. I’m just after tellin’ ye that.”

“I’m not alone. 
You’ll be in the kitchen.  Besides, it’s improper for a man to not take
responsibility for his child.”

Patsie shook her
head as Caroline rushed out the doorway.  David O’Donovan was speaking to the
black servant.  She had no idea what they were discussing, but Mr. O’Donovan
had a distinct frown on his face.  She approached him, her chin raised. The
moment that he noticed her, his expression softened and he became charming,
almost inviting.

“Miss Martin, to
what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”  As he spoke, she could smell
alcohol on his breath.  She stepped back, kept silent and glared at him.

“Pray tell, have
I done something to displease you?” he asked, his mouth curved in slight
amusement.

“Displease may be
an understatement, sir.” She regarded him with the angriest scowl she could
muster.

“Well, you
certainly have gotten my attention, young lady.  And may I just say that you
are looking lovely today, despite the frown on your beautiful flawless face. 
If every girl looked as you do in black, she would want only to wear that
color.”

She walked closer
to David and whispered, “Why do you refuse to help the girl who carries your
child within her?”

His face darkened.
“Oh, so that’s what’s troubling you. Well, you know, Miss Martin, with girls of
her sort, one has to. . .”

Caroline cut him
off with a slap to his face.  Surprised, he rubbed his cheek, his frown quickly
turning to a smile.  “Oh, dear.  Would you like to slap the other side,” he
asked, then turned his other cheek toward her.

Caroline remained
silent, her eyes narrowed with contempt.

He leaned close
to her face, his voice quiet but firm.  “Did Selly tell you I was the only one?
Well, my dear Miss Martin, I’m certain I was not.”

“And you know
this how?”

“Miss Caroline?” 
Patsie’s high-pitched voice stopped Caroline from continuing. 

She quickly
leaned her head through the kitchen doorway.

“Patsie, what is
it?”

“I’m havin’ ta
tell ye, Miss,” she whispered, “a colleen shoun’t be a talkin’ ‘bout such
things.”

“I don’t care.” 
Turning back toward David, she walked close to him, the top of her head an inch
or so away from his chin.  “Mr. O’Donovan, Selly told me there was no other.”

“And you believe a
common lower class servant?” 

Caroline
cringed.  Common, lower class? 

“Of course.  Why
would she lie?”

“Well, no one
forced her.”

“Today if ye
shall hear his voice, harden not your heart.”

David raised his
eyebrows.  “I never took you for a Bible thumper, Miss Martin.”