Page 166 of The Pearl Sister
‘Goodness, what on earth has happened?’ She drew Eddie to her, with Sarah still attached to her. ‘Why don’t we go and sit down and you can tell me all about it.’ She steered both children in the direction of the drawing room and sat them down on either side of her.
‘Oh Missus M, we’ve ’ad the most ’orrible time of it at the orphanage.’
‘Orphanage?’ Kitty could see Sarah was near to tears.
‘Yeah, ’cos it was all a lie, see? The others got taken by families but me an’ Eddie, there weren’t no one waiting for us. We was taken with a load of other kids to this ’ome run by nuns.’
‘Are you hungry?’ Kitty asked.
‘We’re blinkin’ starvin’, Missus M!’
Kitty rang the bell for Nora and asked her to plate up some bread and cold meats for her guests. After Kitty had watched the two of them stuff the food into their mouths as though they were famished scavengers, she asked Sarah to tell her slowly what had happened.
The tale of woe at the St Vincent de Paul orphanage spilled out of Sarah’s mouth. ‘They worked us like slaves, Missus M, and if we refused, we’d get beatings, or we’d ’ave to stand still for hours and no one were allowed to speak to us. They wouldn’t even let us get out of bed to go to the toilet after lights-out. Little Eddie ’ad no choice, ’e ’ad to wet the bed – all the little ones did – and then they’d get beaten for it. All of us old enough to carry a mop and bucket ’ad to be up before the crack o’ dawn to start scrubbing, and all we got to eat was stale bread.’ Sarah took a moment to breathe, her face pinched with fury. ‘And the worst of it was, Missus M, those nuns, they called ’emselves Sisters of Mercy, but they ’ad none. One of ’em – Sister Mary – would pick on one of the little girls every night, and take ’er to a room, and . . . oh Missus M, I can’t even say it!’ Sarah covered her face with her hands.
With each word she uttered, Kitty’s horror grew. ‘Where exactly is this place?’
‘It’s in Goodwood. We took a few wrong turns getting ’ere to you, but I’d reckon only ’alf an hour’s straight walk away. If you can’t ’ave us ’ere, we understand, but neither of us are going back there.Ever,’ Sarah added firmly.
Kitty turned to see Eddie, whose head was nestled in the crook of her arm. He was fast asleep.
‘I think it’s high time the two of you were in bed, don’t you?’
‘You mean we can stay? Just for the night, o’ course, but please, Missus M, don’t tell no one we’re ’ere if they come callin’. The nun said we’d end up in prison if we was to run away.’ Sarah yawned then, her tiny heart-shaped face almost disappearing behind her mouth.
‘I won’t call the police, Sarah, I promise. Come now, let’s get you both to bed. We will talk in the morning.’
Carrying Eddie up the stairs, Kitty took them to the old nursery that still contained the twin beds that Drummond and Andrew had slept in as children. Laying Eddie on one bed fully clothed and tucking a sheet across him, she indicated Sarah should sleep in the other.
‘Thank you, Missus M, I’ll never forget what you’ve done for us tonight. Ever,’ Sarah murmured as her eyes drew shut.
‘Dear child,’ Kitty whispered as she closed the door behind her. ‘I can never have done enough.’
* * *
‘I can hardly believe it,’ said Ruth, Ralph’s wife, the following afternoon, as they sat drinking lemonade on the terrace, watching Eddie play with Tinky, the King Charles spaniel. ‘Are you sure that this girl isn’t exaggerating?’
‘Quite sure. I spent a lot of time with her on my voyage over here, and I believe every word she says.’
‘But they’re nuns . . . women who have pledged their lives to do God’s work.’
‘In my experience, pledging one’s life to God does not necessarily mean that one acts in His name,’ Kitty replied with feeling, as she watched Eddie reaching out to try to catch a butterfly.
‘What will you do with them?’ Ruth asked.
‘I haven’t decided yet. I certainly won’t be sending them back whence they came,’ Kitty said as they watched Eddie run around the garden after the butterfly. His laughter stopped abruptly as he tripped over a patch of stony ground and fell.
Before he’d had time to utter a cry of pain, Ruth was on her feet and running towards him, her arms around him as she took him on her knee. The child buried his face in her chest as she murmured words of comfort. An idea began to form in Kitty’s mind.
* * *
‘’Ere, Missus M, I made this for you to say thank you.’
Sarah shyly handed Kitty a square of material, one edge embroidered with her initials, woven into an intricate design of pink climbing roses.
‘It’s beautiful, Sarah, thank you. You’re a very talented young lady.’
‘That’s not what Sister Agnes used to tell me,’ Sarah snorted. ‘She said I were a wretch of the earth, along wi’ the rest o’ us.’
