high as I could and running to catch it, I noticed a small child approach my Auntie and tug at her dress. This I found impertinent and was shocked when my Aunt gave the child a bag of chestnuts. But before I could voice my childish rage, the very ground disappeared from under my feet, and I found myself being conveyed at speed through the park, clutched by some stranger whose face I could not see. A dirty rag was stuffed into my mouth, cutting short my yells of anger and terror. I could see little but the ground bouncing beneath my abductorâs feet, which were encased in broken-down boots made from grubby, brown leatherâmenâs boots, but worn by a woman with legs like a plough-horse. The reek of her much-patched dress wassimilarly equine, months of sweat woven into the fabric and arising from its threads like fumes of manure on a hot day. She wheezed with the effort of carrying me, and as the shock began to subside, I struggled in her inordinately strong arms.
âHold still, you brat,â she commanded, but I kicked and thrashed like a caught fish until at last we both went tumbling to the ground. I scrambled to my feet and wrenched the filthy kerchief from my mouth as I ran back to Nancy, who threw her arms around me.
âCatch her!â Nancy shrieked as the beggar woman and the child ran for the gate. âCatch her!â But the beggar woman and the child eluded capture. I clung to Nancy, unnerved by my experience. She had lost all color, and I could feel her quivering. âYou must not tell your parents of this,â my Auntie said. âYour Ma will be dreadfully upset.â
However, once home my fear dissipated, and I could not help but brag of my bold behavior in staving off my abductor. My tale did not have quite the effect I intended. My Ma fell into a faint and my Auntie immediately burst into tears.
âIt was that beggar woman who has been sitting outside our doorway all the week,â Nancy sobbed.
âAnd outside my school since before Christmas,â I added.
Silence took hold of the three of them as they stared at me.
âYour school? Are you quite sure?â Pa asked sternly.
I nodded. âShe is there most every day, selling flowers.â
My Ma started her weeping again, and I was very quickly sorry that I had not listened to my Aunt.
âTo your room, Eddy,â my Pa commanded.
âBut Pa, it is not my fault.â
âNow,â he answered.
After a day or two of much hushed discussion and tearful interludes, it was decided that I would go to a new boarding school in the countryside immediately after the holidays.
âYou will be safe from the rabble there,â my Ma whispered before kissing my forehead. âI could not bear for any harm to come to you, darling.â
âNor I you,â I whispered.
And so I was sent away from my dear Ma to keep me safe from all the wretched flower sellers of London town.
The Cooperâs Arms
Rose Street, Covent Garden
12 April 1784
My Rose, my Daisy, my Columbine,
Every flower makes me think of you. I would give you scented violets and pansies to secure your thoughts. I should send you rosemary for remembrance. Pray, love! Have you forgotten me? I wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at, but have had no word from you since Thursday. Am I but a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more? Have your affections flitted elsewhere?
A pair of star crossâd lovers we may be when under your fatherâs hand. Saturday is the day to make our own fate. Come away with meâto liberty and not to banishment. Your father will forgive you when you return a wife. What father can ever refuse the truest desires of his only daughter?
I await your letter and kisses,
Henry
20 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair
13 April 1784
Henry, my darling,
Do you think me so inconstant that I would forget you? My heart is yours only, but think not of Juliet orDesdemona or
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes