Raven and Rue // Lindensea 1

Chapter 6: The Way to Camden Town

"Ah, you poor wee bairn," lamented Mrs Bennett. "Left penniless, and forced to leave the hall of your fathers."

The pair of them had walked away from Pip's childhood home early that morning, Pip wearing his black velvet suit, Mrs Bennett in her tartan skirt. Each of them carried a few belongings in a leather satchel, worn slung over their shoulder, and by now they had reached the village, a good mile from the house.

"But where are we going, Mrs Bennett?" asked Pip, because with so little time to prepare, their destination had never been discussed.

"To Camden," replied Mrs Bennett, stopping briefly to get a stone out of her shoe.

Camden! The kingdom's capital, and a name Pip had learned in a dozen nursery rhymes at his mother's knee.

Which is the way to Camden Town
To see the king in his golden crown?
One foot up, and one foot down
That is the way to Camden Town.

He had heard of it in so many rhymes and tales that it barely seemed a real place, but rather a city out of myth and legend. Now he was actually in a nursery rhyme, putting one foot in front of another in order to reach Camden Town.

"But that is many miles away!" Pip said in distress. "Must we walk all that distance by ourselves, wearing out shoe leather?"

"Nay, laddie," Mrs Bennett reassured him. "We have only to walk to the crossroads down there. That's where we catch the omnibus."

She pointed to a place where two roads crossed each other, about two hundred yards downhill from the last house of the village. In a couple of minutes they had reached the place where the omnibus stopped, although there was nothing to mark it except the familiar signpost pointing TO CAMDEN.

"So all this time, Mama and Papa could have taken me to Camden by just walking to the omnibus stop?" Pip said in surprise, suddenly realising that his little world had been closer to the wide world than he ever imagined.

"They would never have taken you on a public conveyance," snorted Mrs Bennett. "And your Ma and Dadda weren't ones for mixing with folk grander than themselves."

That was true, Pip thought. In all his life before, he and his parents had been the people at the top – the most well-born, the handsomest, the best-dressed, and seemingly the wealthiest. The idea that he might see great nobles and even royalty in Camden was an exciting one.

He was still mulling this over when he saw the omnibus approaching, pulled by four strong-looking bay horses, and soon enough, it pulled up. The driver had long grizzled hair and wore dark green velvet livery, a heavy brown coat over him for warmth.

"Good morning, my dame," he said, raising his battered top hat. "Will you be taking the omnibus to Camden today?"

"Aye, that we will," Mrs Bennett said. "My old feet cannot walk so far these days."

Seeing Pip was patting the horses and talking to them in a low voice, the driver asked, "You like horses, little boy? Want to sit beside me all the way to the great city?" There was something in his smile Pip didn't like.

"Away with you," said Mrs Bennett, bristling at this impertinence. "How dare you speak to my grandson like that? Pip, get on the omnibus at once before this lackwitted creature takes any further liberties."

Mrs Bennett climbed aboard the omnibus with Pip following her closely. She took two silver coins from her purse, which was all the bounty Mr Pike had bestowed upon her, and gave them to the omnibus conductor, a rather scruffy fellow in a green linen uniform. He wordlessly pointed to two seats they could sit in, and then the omnibus began moving. They were on the road to Camden, Pip leaving his old life behind forever.