CHAINS TO FREEDOM.✔

Chapter Eight

Alice stepped sideways through the dining room door. Her stomach brushed against the frame. She loved this room. Its grandeur never ceased to overwhelm her. It was a room that received you and took you into its realm. The heavy ivory damask curtains cascaded from their crest to lay their hems gracefully in pools on the floor.

A piano stood against one wall. The rest of the room was filled with a beautiful polished timber table and chairs with matching sideboard. At either end of this sideboard stood two tall slender vases. The setting sun kissed their amber curves and danced among the fairies congregated at their base. Every day Alice selected a bunch of the latest blooms from the gardens to fill them.

The room was lit by a crystal, candle chandelier, which hung over the centre of the table. Its light spread a warm welcoming glow around the walls. Paintings of lakes and river scenes, each in spectacular gold embossed frames, gave insight to other places.

A grandfather clock stood on guard in the corner, counting the seconds, measuring them; then ruthlessly pushing each one aside. Alice loved the way it marked the rhythm of time.

Time, she thought. It has no guilt, no regrets. It takes the second, relishes in that moment then continues on its journey. This is what she wanted to do, have no regrets, relish in the time which was hers, and continue on her journey through life. She sighed...memories held on to her. Alice knew a time would come when she would have to finally mark each one and move on.

Louis and Pead were seated at the table. The room had given them the pretense of being good friends. They each leaned casually back in their chairs, with a glass of brandy. Their conversation was relaxed. It didn't matter that Alice was there to hear what was being said. She was invisible to them.

"Well, Louis about the women. Which one will it be?" Pead lifted his tumbler.

Alice listened with great interest but made sure her face showed ignorance to what they were saying. The master was acquiring a new convict? She reflected back to when she had been chosen by Louis, what now seemed a lifetime ago.

The female factory was overcrowded and noisy. A stench hung heavy in the air. Women scrambled from their flea infested bedding when the guard called for a lineup of those younger than twenty-two, with some housemaid experience. She stood with dignity and held her head high with pride.

"I haven't decided between the brunette and blonde." Louis paused. "Have you got any details about them, Pead?"

Dignity. The word brought more memories to the forefront of Alice's mind. Memories of her mother and words she had spoken.

"Of course I have. What exactly do you want to know, Louis?"

Mother, soon she herself would be a mother. Like her mother had done for her, she would sacrifice all she had. All her dreams for her child.

"Everything you have."

Yes, thought Alice, I did have dreams.

"Mm...let me see." Pead searched his bag for his paperwork. "Here they are. The brunette's name is Maria Summers, aged twenty-seven. She has two children. They're still in England. Religion, Catholic."

Alice no longer heard what the men were saying.

"She's serving seven years for theft and prostitution. No education. Her conduct had been good until she was found drunk and with one of the male convicts in her bed."

There was a time, back in her childhood years, when Alice had wanted to be an actress. She watched the pantomimes on the streets of Dublin. The women and men, their faces, heavily made up, the wonderful clothes with beads and sparkling cloth. Clothes, which only kings and queens might wear. Had she been older and looked more closely, she would have noticed the lost buttons and torn thread. Her childish eyes saw only what she wanted to see, the wonder of it all, people throwing money into a red velvet bag which lay opened on the ground. It seemed like an awful lot of money and a wonderful way to make it.