Pauper Princess

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Thank you." I smiled at Julia- though I did not know her well, she had been nothing but kind to me in our limited conversations.

"Of course." Julia sent me a shy smile in return as she handed me the piece of the bread she had stolen earlier that day- she did not speak much to anybody but her brother.

Julia was the only other girl I had seen taking shelter in the Old Factory. Her and her brother were runaways from an orphanage in Guilford. Not only had the treatment there been horrible, but boys and girls had been constantly separated and unable to speak to each other. Her brother, unable to tolerate never seeing Julia in addition to their parent's deaths, had snuck into the girl's dormitory one night and the two of them had escaped together. They had been on the streets for almost a year before coming across the Factory.

Despite her timidness, Julia frowned and spoke to caution me. "They are still looking for you. It has been months."

I sighed. Eli, John, and some of the other children had been keeping me updated on the posters that were posted on every storefront and police station. The police had even come here once, calling out my name. But we were always prepared for such things, even before I was such a well-known face. As soon as John and I had spotted the officers approaching and sent down a warning, the other children had scrambled to join us on the roof, bringing along all signs of us occupying the factory as we holed up and waited for them to leave before finally returning to our shelter.

We all had something to hide from- some of the children were afraid of being returned to an inhumane orphanage or a workhouse. Some were on the run from abusive families, or oppressive boarding schools that they had been sent off to. Almost all of the children here were on the run from the law, forced into a life of petty crime.

My crime was not petty. I seemed to be running more than the rest seeking refuge here now.

Everyone knew my face.

At least I could find a rare reprieve- Eli had offered me a pair of pants and a shirt that he had somehow acquired. With my hair wrapped in cloth, or tucked into the shirt with a cap atop my head, I looked enough like a boy that nobody had yet questioned my identity.

But, unfortunately, the threat of being caught kept me away from Main street, which was the best spot to pick pockets or steal food. It was where all the vendors set up their stands, and where the crowds all gathered, making it easy to disappear into the masses as needed.

So, I was stuck picking the odd pocket, or stealing the odd scraps off a windowsill. But these homes that I had to pray upon now were poorer, on the outskirts of my city, so I made certain not to take too much from them- just a crust of bread, or a handful of shepherd's pie. It was hard to hold back at times, but the other children at the factory were generally merciful- everyone shared what they could with the less fortunate.

The less fortunate; the criminals, the sinners- sharing their scraps with the even less fortunate. Meanwhile, the wealthiest of people hoarded all of their money, while also calling themselves good Christians.

The irony of this was not lost to me.

As if to add on to my fears, officers were doing more rounds in the area. Eli insisted that it was because of me- because they were trying to crack down harder on criminal activity now that it had been established that such criminals may target the wealthier homes and snatch children straight from their beds.

They had simply gotten lucky that it was not a real noble child that had been taken.

'Are you certain they would hang you?" A boy named Henry asked- he was not the first. Many of the other children had questioned the legitimacy of my fears, pointing out that what I had done had been in self-defense... and that, really, he had caused his own death. In addition to that, I had been adopted as a member of a noble family, and would surely be granted leniency as a result.