Trapped In She Town : A Romantic Novella (The Jute Mills Series) (5 page)

She walked unsteadily
over to the bed, her limbs barely able to move, and bent down to pick up the
jacket and the box with her fingers trembling.

 I’ll just run down to
the kitchen with this and get started on the repair” she stuttered “and I’ll
have it back to you ready for your morning ride.”

 “No Mary. You will
sit at the table by the window and fix the button there. I want to watch you
work. The light is much better in here than in the kitchen anyway. See, I have
lit the candles for you. I don’t want you straining those lovely emerald eyes
of yours.”

“But Sir!”

“No buts Mary” he
snapped impatiently. “Please just do as I ask. Sit down and repair my jacket.”

Mary sat down quietly
in the armchair and laid the sewing box on the table. She tried to thread the
needle but her hands were shaking too much. Edward stood behind her and his
hands moved to her bonnet removing it so her thick, glossy hair was released to
tumble around her shoulders.

“That’s better” he
murmured.”What delicious hair.” He sat down opposite her, and again she could
feel his eyes boring through her and she felt he was mentally undressing her.

She eventually managed
to calm her shaking fingers enough to get the thread through the eye of the
needle, and as efficiently as she could she had the button sewn on. She quickly
jumped up and grabbed her cap where he had placed it on the table “There you
are Sir, I hope you have a lovely ride in the morning.”

“I’m sure I will Mary”
he smirked back, and she fled from the room.

When Mary told Bessie
later that evening what had happened, her friend gave her another very dire
warning.

“You must avoid Edward
at all costs. I’m sure the mistress has noticed that he has taken an interest
in you and she will not stand for it. You will be out on your ear.”

“Oh Bessie, what shall
I do” she wailed.

But Bessie had no
answer for her.

~~~

A week after this
encounter, the household is in a flurry of activity in preparation for the
farewell dinner party to be held for Edward. Mr Muir had departed for Calcutta
the previous week and Edward was to join him. Mary had been so relieved when
she heard that he was leaving to go overseas. It was the first time she had
relaxed in the house since the incident in the carriage two weeks ago, as it
seemed that Edward was waiting around every corner for her.

All the staff had been
called to help serve the dinner, except Bessie and Mary. However they were
expected to wait in the housekeeper’s room in case there were any unexpected
tasks arising that needed an extra pair of hands.

The evening passed
without a hitch and all the guests had left for the evening. Most of the staff
were heading up the stairs to bed when Giles, with a scowl on his face, told
Mary to go into the Drawing Room and collect the last of the whisky glasses.

Mary entered the
darkened room and made her way over to the table, near the fireplace, and
started to load the glasses onto the tray she had brought with her.

 “Mary, Mary, Mary” a
deep voice boomed from the armchair in the corner. “What
are
we going to
do with you?”

Mary jumped with fear
and dropped the tray with all the glasses clattering to the floor.

 “You must know you
are driving me insane with desire. Strutting around all day with your pert
breasts bouncing, bouncing...” he slurred. Mary realised he was drunk.

“Sir, please. I don’t
want to lose my job here. Please let me clean this up and leave.” She tried to
hurry from the room, but Edward jumped from the armchair and put his arm across
the doorway, blocking her escape.

“No, No, No, Mary. You
have been teasing me for too long now, with your wild untamed hair and those
green eyes that have me under your spell. I need to know what you are hiding
below these awful looking skirts and blouses that you insist on wearing.”

“Come here” and he
grabbed her round the waist. Mary could smell the whisky on his foul breath.
“What do you think will happen if I were to tell mother that you have been
leading me on all these months, and that you are really a dirty little slut” he
bent and whispered in her ear.

Mary recoiled from him
and gasped at the outright lies. She tried to twist away from him but he was
too strong.

His eyes burned as if
with a fever, and when he smiled, he licked his lips as if he was about to devour
her.

All of a sudden, he
grabbed the front of Mary’s blouse and ripped it apart, the buttons popping
off. He drew it back over her shoulders revealing the swell of her breasts
spilling over the top of her corset.

Mary tried to think of
an escape. However all that she could think of, in her terrified state of mind,
was what would happen if Edward told the lies that he was threatening. She
would be thrown out of the house and her father would be furious with her for
losing this job. So she bit her lip and closed her eyes tight in fear.

“Oh Yes, Mary.” Edward
moaned reaching up and undoing her hair so it fell in waves about her
shoulders, hiding her partially naked breasts.

But Edward, struggling
with her corset, ordered her to undo the stays. With trembling hands she
reached behind her back and undid the laces of her corset. Edward wrenched the
stiff piece of clothing away from her and stood with his mouth agape.

“You are a stunning,
little vixen aren’t you? “ he said with a lecherous smile, staring at her full
rounded breasts and again wet his lips. “Take off your skirts” he demanded.

The tears started to
fall down Mary’s face.          

“I said take off your
skirts now. “ he snarled. “Shall I call the other servants back down now and
let them see what a brazen hussy you really are. Standing there, thrusting your
bare breasts at poor little, Edward. I wonder what mother would think of it.”

And so Mary reached
behind her, undid the buttons on her skirt and let it fall to the ground.
Edward couldn’t contain himself any longer and he grabbed at her bloomers and
ripped them down to her ankles.

Quickly pushing her to
the ground he was on top of her instantly. His hands squeezing her breasts and
pressing his wet mouth onto hers. He lowered one of his hands to loosen his breeches
and suddenly he was pushing his large, hard erection at Mary. She didn’t know
what was happening as she was pinned down and kept her eyes firmly closed. He
kept pushing away, and suddenly with a large thrust, Mary let out a scream as
she felt a searing pain shoot up through her. Edward put his hand over her
mouth to silence her while he started to grunt and kept thrusting away. Mary tried
unsuccessfully to turn her head to the side, so she didn’t have to look at his
leering face, as he rutted above her. Just as she thought she could bear the
pain no more, Edward’s groans became quicker and he released himself into Mary,
collapsing on top of her.

Mary lay rigid,
feeling so much disgust, and when Edward lifted himself from her, she rolled
over onto her side and vomited.

“Get someone to clean
that up immediately” sneered Edward as he did up his breeches and headed for
the door.

Mary wiped her mouth
and tried to cover herself. She dressed as best she could with her torn blouse
and bloomers. She quickly pinned up her hair and ran to her room where she
changed her clothes. Then she ran downstairs to fetch a bucket and mop.

“What are you doing,
Mary?” she heard cook ask. Mary froze, she thought everyone had gone to bed,
and she felt like she was going to vomit again. “There’s a mess upstairs in the
Drawing Room that needs to be cleaned, Mrs Bean.” Mary managed to get out.

“Don’t you worry
yourself with it pet.” Mrs Bean replied. “Elsie, get in here. Get yourself up
to the Drawing Room and give it a good clean.”

“But Miss, I was just
on my way up to bed.” Elsie protested.

“Just get on with it
child, do you hear me?” scolded Mrs Bean.

Elsie stomped away
with the bucket and mop, glaring back in hatred at Mary.

“Is everything all
right there, Mary” asked Mrs Bean.

“Yes, Mrs Bean” but
Mary could not meet her eye. “I’m just very tired so I think I will retire for
the night” and she hurried from the room and back up the stairs.

Mrs Bean looked after
her sadly. “Looks like Mr Edward has found another plaything” she thought to
herself.

Mary went straight to
the little bathroom and spent an hour scrubbing at herself, but she just
couldn’t feel clean. Eventually Bessie knocked on the door and whispered “Mary
what are you doing in there. Come away to bed”

“I’ll just be along
shortly” she replied. “You go ahead and blow the candle out.” There was no
luxury of gas lamps in the servants’ quarters.

After 5 minutes Mary
let herself out of the bathroom and made her way along the corridor in the
dark, fumbled into the room and fell onto her bed. She turned towards the wall
and cried silently, soon falling into an exhausted sleep.

The next morning when Mary
wakened, the horror of the night before came flooding back. When she moved to
get out of her bed she felt the pain in her lower body and when she went to use
the toilet the searing pain shot through her again. She looked in the mirror
and saw how pale she looked with dark circles under her eyes. Her lips were all
bruised where she had bitten them.

“Oh my God Mary! Whets
up?” Bessie asked when she saw Mary.

“Nothing, I just slept
badly, that’s all” and she turned away and hurried downstairs before Bessie
could ask any more questions.

Edward’s departure for
Calcutta was delayed for three months to Mary’s horror, and most evenings he would
be waiting for Mary as she came out of Miss Lucy’s room. When she saw him she
cast down her eyes and walked meekly to his room. She thought of her brothers
and sisters all going hungry if she could not send the money from her wages.

She tried one time to
reason with Edward to tell him that she was betrothed to another, but he sniggered
and told her he had seen her out playing with the groomsman. She obviously
liked male attention he laughed salaciously.

Mary started to avoid
John. She stayed in the house on her days off, up in the attic, and sometimes
later in the day, after all the other servants had left for their afternoon
off, she would descend and go for a quick walk around Broughty Ferry.

~~~

One day, around two
months after Edward’s unwelcome attentions had begun, a letter arrived from
home for Mary. This was Mary’s only pleasure these days; to hear from her
family and hopefully, there would perhaps be some word from George. She had not
written to him for weeks, nor had she heard anything from him, she suddenly
realised. She didn’t know how she could ever look him in the eye again, never
mind marry him.

The letter however,
was in her mother’s scrawling hand, and was full of the usual stories of the
household, and the mischief her younger brothers had been getting into. And
then, as Mary kept reading, she suddenly thought to herself “I want to die...”
It couldn’t be true. Right at the end of the letter her mother had quickly
written, almost as an afterthought, that Beth was to be married this Sunday to
George.

Her George... and
Beth... 

It couldn’t be.

She kept reading the
lines over and over again, sure that there must be some mistake. But eventually
the words sank in, she knew that it was true; her little sister Beth had
married her sweetheart George. Married him yesterday as the letter was
postmarked the previous Tuesday and it was now Monday.

Mary didn’t know how
she could cope any more. She lay down on her bed, and when Bessie came to get
her at tea time, Mary would not budge nor answer her.

Bessie reported
downstairs that Mary was sick and she was allowed the rest of the evening off.
“Mary dear, maybe you should go home for a few days” Bessie said. But Mary knew
that was the last place on earth that she needed to be. She felt so betrayed by
the people she had loved and trusted the most.

Two days later, Bessie
tried again to get Mary up and out of bed and to eat something.

“Please Mary. I’m
worried about you. Mrs Muir said you could have two days to recuperate, but she
is expecting you back on duty tomorrow morning. I’ve brought a bit of soup for
you. Will you give it a go please?”

Mary slowly sat up in
her bed, but pushed away the spoonful of soup Bessie offered her. ”Mary please”
pleaded Bessie.

“I’ll be up and ready
for work tomorrow morning, Bessie.” She said robotically “Just leave me for
now.”

The next morning, Mary
was up and pulled on her uniform. Bessie gasped in shock when she saw the state
of Mary’s hair before she managed to pull on her bonnet. All her beautiful
long, tresses hacked off.