Situation: Margaret has left Milton for London after her father’s death. She is living with her aunt. Fanny has married Watson and is living with him. Marlborough Mills is not in crucial financial difficulty yet, but John is distracted by Margaret leaving and unhappy. The Boucher’s only have 2 children Nicholas took care of. Tommy and his little Sister Emily. Tommy is working at Marlborough Mill.
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Chapter 1: Ashes to Ashes
John stood in his mill, watching the work go on. Everyone was busy to fulfil the orders for this month. John glanced around the mill floor. His gaze halted as he spotted the door. He suddenly remembered how Margaret had swept in that fateful morning and seen him beat Stevenson. Not the best first impression he could have made. Their relationship had its ups and downs from this moment on, but there had been more downs than ups surely. John regretted that. He regretted that he hadn’t been able to control his temper or hadn’t acted as more of a gentleman. Maybe Miss Hale would have… He stopped his line of thought then and there. Margaret wouldn’t have married him even if he had been the perfect gentleman. He was a mill-owner, a tradesman. And he also still remembered vividly how she had been held by this stranger late at night at the station…
“Master!” the shout of Nicholas Higgins interrupted John’s line of thought. “There’s a fire! The canteen’s on fire!” he shouted. John paled and rushed down the stairs. Already all the workers who had heard were rushing out of the Mill. John met his overseer Williams just at the door. “Master, the children are having their break.” The overseer voiced. John cursed in a very ungentlemanly fashion and pushed through the door, Higgins and Williams following close behind.
Outside the courtyard was already thick with smoke coming from the canteen. A group of children was standing outside, looking frightened and some were coughing violently. John didn’t pay much attention to those. He only shouted an order to some of the workers, telling them to get the children away and then help with the fire. He could easily see that the rest of the children must still be in the canteen. He had to get them out. And he had to control the fire before it took over the store rooms or the factory. John rushed inside the canteen, followed by Higgins, Williams and some other brave men.
The air was thick with smoke and it took only a few seconds until John’s lungs ached and tears were streaming down his face. He couldn’t hear anything over the deafening noise of the fire cracking. He also could hardly see anything. Suddenly he found a little girl, sitting in the fire, disorientated and afraid. She was holding another tiny hand in her own but one glance confirmed John’s fears. The other child had been hit by a timber falling from the ceiling. It was dead.
John quickly grabbed the little girl and carried her outside. He could hardly see and it was hard not to lose his head and sense of direction. As soon as he was outside he saw that most men were busy trying to put out the little fire that had spread to one of the store rooms close by. He saw how Williams was carrying two more children, one injured by the looks of it. John cursed and raced back in the canteen after taking the few seconds to tie a piece of cloth in front of his face. Still, the smoke and heat were unbearable.
John brought six more children out before he stopped for a few seconds, exhausted, his lungs burning. “Master, Higgins is still inside. He is trying to find his daughter!” Williams said. John nodded and within moments he was back inside with Williams Looking for Nicholas Higgins. John caught a glimpse of someone moving further inside the burning building and hurried towards the shadow. “Higgins!” He called. Finally he reached the man. Higgins was madly trying to move away some burning timber. John tried to stop him but then spotted that two children and a woman were trapped behind it. The woman he quickly recognized was Higgin’s daughter Mary. Together they moved the timber away but a dangerous crack told them that the ceiling wouldn’t hold for much longer.
