The next day, I made a promise to myself that by the time the sun had set beyond the trees, Dr Ealing would know the truth about me and the factory.
Of course, that was far easier said than done, especially as Miss Jenkins was determined to make me pay for the trouble I had caused the day before. Even before I was given my chores in the garden, something I was looking forward to immensely, she had me complete the breakfast washing up for both us and the main household. I did the task with no complaints, knowing I deserved the punishment that was being given to me, especially after all the trouble I had caused the previous day. I would have cleaned out the privy if it meant Miss Jenkins no longer looked at me with disappointment, I hated seeing how much I had upset her.
As I finished up my task for that morning, continuously having to brush the back of my hand across my forehead to keep my hair out of my eyes, a set of footsteps travelled down the stairs to the kitchen. Drying my hands on a cloth, I turned towards the doorway, as did Miss Jenkins who was transferring flour into from a bag into a container. Dr Ealing appeared in the doorway, adjusting his suit jacket and tie, a briefcase in hand. Since I had started working for the family, he had never been down to the kitchen, I had rarely seen him outside of his office. Miss Jenkins glanced at me, as though she thought I might have had something to do with his visit. I just shrugged my shoulders and dropped the cloth onto the side, hoping it was a social visit and that I wasn't in trouble.
"Dr Ealing! How can we help you?" Miss Jenkins said, still giving me the side-eye.
"I was wondering if I could borrow Rosie for the day. I know she has chores in the garden to complete, but I'm heading into my office today and it has become a bit of a mess. She'll be busy all day, but I could really do with a hand or I won't be able to find any of my paperwork," Dr Ealing said, fiddling with his as though he couldn't get it to sit straight.
"If you need her, I'm sure we'll be able to manage for one day, especially if she would have been in the garden and of no help in the house itself."
"Excellent. Rosie? Are you up for a day in London sorting through paperwork?"
"If you need me, I'm there," I said, shrugging my shoulders.
"Great, the carriage is waiting for us outside."
Sending a small wave towards Miss Jenkins, I followed Dr Ealing out of the kitchen and up the stairs, following close behind him as we entered out onto the hall and headed towards the front door. The idea of spending the day in London was a welcomed relief, it meant I was away from Matilda and, with any luck, away from Mr Warrington and Alexander. It meant I didn't have to watch Miss Jenkins eyes follow me around the kitchen, watching my every move to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. I would take organising paperwork over spending another day under Miss Jenkins watchful eye any day of the week.
I followed Dr Ealing out of the house and into the bright sunlight, somewhat surprised that it was so warm after the weather we had had the day before. Following Dr Ealing, he led me towards the carriage I had cleaned the previous day, the door left wide open. Dr Ealing gestured me inside and I scrambled up the small step and into the carriage, where I was greeted by Robert's smiling face. I knew, even after I had agreed to go, that Robert was going to be there. He was, after all, following in his father's footsteps and attending work with him only made sense, but I wished he wasn't. All I wanted was one day without the possibility of something going wrong and leading to me getting in trouble. As much as I hated to admit it, Robert was always around when something happened.
Taking a seat across from Robert, I tucked my skirts around my legs, watching as Dr Ealing climbed in after me and took a seat beside Robert. He placed his hands on his knees and gave the call to the carriage driver, the carriage suddenly lunging forward in motion. I sat with my hands knotted in my lap, my eyes drawn to the window as the wheels were put into motion and we wound our way up the gravel path and towards London. Watching the trees go past the windows, I was reminded of my first journey up to the Ealing house. It had only been a week, but it felt like much longer, as though I had been with the family for far longer. I had hoped that would become real, I just had to get through the week.
The carriage moved through the countryside and eventually passed into the busy London streets, the ride becoming remarkably bumpy as the wheels moved onto the cobblestones. I continued to watch the world go past the window, people walking across the stones, moving between stalls and stopping to purchase various items. Eventually, the carriage came to a stop and after a little movement, the door was opened by the driver and Dr Ealing and Robert climbed out. I followed behind them, almost tripping on the hem of my dress as I stepped off the step and onto the cobblestoned ground.
With the carriage door closed behind me, I followed Dr Ealing and Robert through the streets and towards the building that had been my saving grace just a week before. I followed them up the stairs and into the room, my eyes adjusting to the darkness that had settled over the hallway. Standing off to the side, I watched Dr Ealing and Robert move into a larger room, following close behind them. We stepped into a large, rectangular room, with light pouring in through the large window facing out onto the busy London streets. Dr Ealing glanced at me and removed his suit jacket, pushing the sleeves of his shirt up as though he was about to do something, but he just placed his briefcase on the floor.
"I'll be working here today rather than doing door-to-door medical care, though if an emergency crops up I will have to leave. All I need you to do is a little cleaning up, my desk would be your best place to start, I can hardly find anything in that mess," Dr Ealing said, gesturing widely to the desk at the far end of the room.
"Yes, sir," I replied, though I wasn't entirely how much I was going to enjoy sorting out the desk, it looked as though it was just paper, no desk.
"Maybe mother was right, you should get a housekeeper," Robert said, folding his arms over his chest and smirking at the state the room was in.
"Perhaps she was, but no matter, we have Rosie to help."
"I might be good at cleaning, but this is going to take some time, I can't even see the desk," I said, joking slightly.
"Yes, I see how bad it has become. If you need any help, just ask Robert. He's here to study, but I'm sure he won't mind." Dr Ealing raised an eyebrow at his son, as though chastising him for not studying the day before.
"Not at all."
Not wanting to wait any longer, I simply nodded in response and walked towards the desk, my eyes scanning over the mountain of paper and abandoned plates. It looked as though it had been untouched for several weeks, causing me to wonder how he had been able to do any work if his desk wasn't even visible. Glancing up slightly, I watched Robert settle down on the sofa near the window with his books whilst Dr Ealing examined several jars that lined the walls. I turned my attention back to the desk, seizing a hefty stack of paper off the top of the pile and thumbing through it, trying to make sense of the words written on the page.
I had little to no idea what any of the paper said, or what it meant, but nonetheless, I pushed through, starting up several separate piles along the floor. All of the old plates had been stacked off to the side, so I continued to grab several handfuls of paper and putting them into piles. Some of the sheets were personal documents, containing information about patients, some were scribbles that didn't make any sense no matter how hard I tried to decipher them, and some were blank. By the time I was finished, I was surrounded by different stacks of paper, each meaning different things, with no idea where I was going to put them or what to do with the ones I didn't understand. Cleaning I could do, especially if it meant putting things back where they came from, organising was a whole other story and something I had never done.
Pushing myself up, I tip-toed over the paper piles and towards the desk. Despite the paper having been moved, there was still an awful lot on the desk, including plates, mugs and empty ink bottles. I moved the empty ink bottles out of the way placing them on a small cabinet just off to the side of the desk. The plates were stacked up and moved to the same cabinet, along with the mugs. With the desk cleared of anything that didn't seem helpful, I started to move the pens and the ink bottles to the far end of the desk, lining them up with the bottle with the least amount of ink closest to the chair. Why he needed so many ink bottles was a mystery.
"It looks as though you're making more mess than making it any better," Robert said, peering over the top of his book and laughing at me.
"Just you wait, this is only the first step. Creating more mess means I'm doing something right," I replied, shrugging my shoulders.
"If you say so, it's not as though I know much about cleaning, so you can say anything, and I'd have no choice but to take your word for it. How are you getting on?"
"Good. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the paper, but you can help with that."
"Do I really?"
"Yes, Robert, you do. I need to go out for a little while, that was Mrs Lewis at the door. Her son, Nathanial, isn't well. Suspected influenza so I must go now, he's only three. If anyone turns up for medicine, I trust you to help them, Robert. For the time being, help Rosie sort the paperwork and then get back to studying," Dr Ealing said, appearing in the doorway. I had been so wrapped up in my work that I hadn't noticed the knocking at the door or his disappearance to answer it.
"Of course, Father. I can handle medications and paperwork, you need to go. We'll be fine," Robert said. He closed the book and placed it on the sofa beside him, pushing himself into a standing position and gesturing his father towards the door.
"Very well. I'll be back soon."
Dr Ealing grabbed his suit jacket and slipped it on, quickly grabbing his briefcase and leaving Robert and myself alone with a mountain of paperwork and not enough room for it all. Robert crossed the room and joined me beside the desk, his eyes raking over the sheets of paper to try and get an understanding as to how my filing system, or lack off, was organised. As he tried to figure it out, he rolled one of the pens back and forth with his fingertips, destroying the organisation I had just done. I scowled at him, my eyebrows furrowing together to get him to stop moving the pen without actually saying anything.
It didn't work.
He continued to roll the pen back and forth as he read the last sheet of paper, he was chewing on the side of his cheek as though he was in deep thought. He was looking at sheets of paper so what he was thinking about was beyond me, though I still didn't disturb him. I let him continue to play with the pen as he finished reading the last sheet of paper and turned to look at me, still chewing on the inside of his cheek.
"Well, I think I can help with some of this," Robert said.
"Care to elaborate?"
"If you insist. The blank sheets of paper can go into the cabinet, that's where they should be. I don't know why he's keeping them on his desk. The patient records can go in the top drawer, that way he can find them when he needs them. He should have taken Nathanial Lewis', in case it isn't influenza, no matter. As for the others, I have no idea what they mean or why he has them. Probably best you keep them on his desk, just in case their important."
"Thank you. What about the empty ink bottles? I can't leave them there." I gestured to the collection of empty bottles on the side table.
"Wash them out and then put them in the cupboard, Father uses them to keep medicines. Just make sure there isn't any ink in them."
"I figured that out already," I said, laughing slightly.
"Just checking."
"Shouldn't you be studying?"
"You're no fun."
Robert stuck his tongue out at me before negotiating his way around all the paper and returning to his seat on the sofa, snatching his book up rather dramatically. Shaking my head, I started to place the paper stacks in their assigned spots, making sure to not get them too mixed up as I went. Slowly, but surely, order returned to the desk and we could finally see the desk that had been hidden by a mountain of paperwork. Across the room, Robert started humming to himself, his eyes glancing up from his book to watch me, the humming getting louder. I narrowed my eyebrows at him, but ignored the humming, focusing on the task in front of me. I wanted to have the desk finished by the time Dr Ealing returned.
I grabbed the collection of bottles off the cabinet and carried them to a small room off to the side where there were a sink and an assortment of cutlery. Robert was still humming in the other room, his humming quickly turning into talking as he started to read out large chunks of his book. Having no idea what he was talking about, and not really wanting to, I ignored him and washed out the bottles, leaving them to dry on the side. Returning to the room, I grabbed the plates and mugs from the same cabinet, ignoring Robert as I returned to the side room and washed them up in the sink, also leaving them on the side to dry off.
When I returned to the main room, Robert was still reading, though by the tone in his voice it was obvious he was getting bored with either the reading or being annoying. Still, trying to ignore him, I brushed any spare rubbish off the table and into the palm of my hand before dumping it in the bin. I also took a cloth from the other room and wiped down the desk and the small candle holder that was sat amongst the other items. Wax had dribbled down the candle and into the stand of the holder, collecting in little droplets around the candle. Putting the cloth down, I scraped my nail along the wax, chipping it away and putting it into the bin.
"Okay, I'm bored," Robert said, slamming his book shut and sighing loudly.
"Well, why not find something entertaining to do?" I suggested, glancing up from the candle holder.
"You're hilarious. What are you doing anyway?"
"Picking the wax off the holder, it's quite fun."
"How on earth can that be fun?"
"Why don't you see for yourself?"
Robert narrowed his eyebrows at me, as though thinking it was some sort of joke, but nonetheless started to take tentative steps towards me. He had every right to be suspicious, I only told him it was fun to get him to stop talking. It was remarkably difficult to concentrate on anything with him muttering away about having nothing entertaining to do, at least this way he was doing something helpful. Slowly, Robert crossed the room until he was standing on the other side of the desk, his eyes staring at the candle holder in front of him. Holding back a smirk, I pushed the candle holder towards him, testing him to see if he would actually do it or know I was lying to him.
I watched as Robert reached across to the candle holder and run his nail along a small pile of dried wax that had collected along the rim. The small pieces of wax flicked off the holder and onto the table, scattering across the wood. As he continued to scrap his nail along the metal, sending small pieces of wax flying, I couldn't help but notice the small smile that was tugging on the corner of his lips. What I had intended to be a joke became something Robert actually enjoyed doing, so I left him to it and finished cleaning the top of the desk, straightening the sheets of paper and pens to make sure they looked okay.
As I was finishing up, the front door opened and closed, the sound of Dr Ealing removing his jacket and placing his briefcase down filled the quiet space. He walked into the room, confusion etched on his face as he saw Robert playing with the candle holder. "What on earth are you doing?"
"Taking a break, it's actually quite fun," Robert said, shrugging his shoulders. "How's Nathanial?"
"Definitely influenza looks to be a mild case so he should make a full recovery, though I'll have to check in on him for the next few days, just to make sure he recovers."
"Influenza's the worst."
"I've never had it," I said.
"Really? Even in the workhouse?"
"No, a lot of other people had it, but I never did."
"Huh. Be grateful, influenza is not a fun experience," Dr Ealing said.
Back at the factory, there had been an outbreak of influenza that spread through the dormitories at a rapid rate. Almost everyone contracted it due to us living in close-proximity in conditions similar to a pig farm. I had never got it. It had missed me entirely and whilst most of the girls suffered through it, I had to work twice as hard on the factory floor to make up for the work that wasn't being done. With almost everyone out of action, the foreman was harsher than ever, any slight issue would mean punishment because he couldn't risk losing a day's work because of the epidemic. It was a chaotic time, and one I didn't want to repeat in the near future. The only good thing was that I hadn't caught influenza as not everyone made it.
"You've done a good job, Rosie. I can see my desk for the first time in months!" Dr Ealing said.
"Let's hope it stays that way," Robert muttered, grinning at me.
"Very funny. As you've done such a good job, why don't you go over to the bakery and buy us some buns? It's just down the road so you won't have to go too far."
"Okay."
"Great. Here, take this and take your time, enjoy the walk." Dr Ealing pulled his wallet from his trouser pocket and handed over several coins.
"Thank you."
Tucking the coins in my skirt pocket, I left Dr Ealing and Robert and left the building, running down the front steps and into the busy London streets. People were moving along the cobblestones, looking through shop windows and talking to owners of stalls that lined the streets. Carriages and horses moved through the people, dropping off men in top hats or picking up women and children. It was loud and busy and just how I had imagined it when I looked through the small window at the top of the dormitory. The only difference was Isabel wasn't with me.
As I made my way through the streets, I could see the top of the tower that had been our dormitory, the small window just visible amongst the stone and shadow of other buildings. It looked so far away, but it wasn't. If I followed the road a little further, beyond the bakery and the alehouses, I would find the iron gates that hid the factory. Seeing the tower that had been my room for seven years, it was odd to me that no one had ever asked any questions about it, wondered what it was for and why it would be part of a school for unruly children. I suppose they might of and we just never found out, but it was an odd thing to have.
"Rosie? Is tha' you?" a voice said behind me. Turning slowly, I came face to face with someone I was convinced had died, someone who's chance of survival were slimmer than my own.
"Mathias?"
~~~
A/N - We are back with our newest weekly update! I'm not going to lie, it's concerning how fast we're getting through the book now that I'm up to weekly updates unlike month long gaps between chapters, always makes a book last longer...
Anyway, since I last saw you, we went up to 5K! Now, I have set an insane goal of getting 10K reads by the end of 2019 and any help in reaching that goal would be insane so please assist where possible!
Back on topic! What did you guys think of the chapter? Robert playing with the candle wax was my favourite thing xD And what about that ending? Is it Mathias or someone else?
Comment your thoughts!
Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to Lazy_MeChatterbox who has been quietly voting on chapters since the book began! I appreciate the ongoing love!
First Published - February 19th, 2019