Redeemed From the Ashes—Chapter 20—In Thee I Did Trust
Evelyn arose early before the sun made its usual appearance. This time she didn’t pack an overnight bag, knowing the remnants of her relationship with her mother might all go up in flames. She put on a simple day dress, neatly put up her hair in a curled bun, and slipped on some slipper-like shoes. She grabbed her small satchel and tied up its long drawstrings. She slipped it into a secret pocket existing beneath the folds of her dress.
After her preparations, she pensively sat upon the sofa staring at the wall in front of her. What help could she ask from anyone? She was to do this alone. This was one of the scariest ordeals she thought she would ever have to go through. No one had ever crossed her mother, and she was about to do just that.
Oh, God, please help me. I don’t know what to do.
She could hardly believe she was pleading to a God whose existence she knew to be true but whose involvement in human affairs she thought to be dead. But she was hanging on at the end of a string, and she was desperate to reach onto any ledge presenting itself.
After a suitable amount of time had passed to allow her mother to wake and dine, she stood up and left with a shallow prayer floating on the wind.
She arrived at the docks to find Mr. John Cox just about to leave. “Mr. John Cox!”
“Oh, come on in.” He waved her over.
“How are you today?”
“Good, by the way, from now on you may just call me John.”
“Thank you. It will be easier for me, my not having to say your full name.”
He left her side to write in his log. He returned shortly. “So you’re going to see your mother today.”
“Yes, but I’m not looking forward to it.”
“You’ll be all right.”
“I hope so. How is your companion?”
“To tell you the truth, not so well. He hasn’t even left his room since you and my brother dined with me last night.”
“That isn’t normal?”
“No, he always comes out for breakfast.”
“Have you ever seen his face? Every time I have ever seen him, I haven’t seen a smidgeon of his features.”
“No, I haven’t either. He always does a very good job of hiding himself. He must have gone through an awful lot to always want to conceal himself from other people. Let us hoist away.”
Not much was said between the two. Partly because Evelyn was too distracted with her own thoughts; she would not be able to utter any intelligent conversation and partly because John knew the struggle which existed within her mind. He did not want to interfere with any such turmoil.
At the end of their course, Evelyn readied herself to leave. She turned from the side of the railing overlooking the mighty ocean. “Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” He watched her steps, full of trepidation, slowly walk away. “Wait!” He waved her over.
She came back.
“Evelyn, I just want to say that...it is worth all the pain.”
She nodded her head. “I’ll try to remember that.”
She arrived at her mother’s imposing house. She opened the gate and walked through, brushing past the out turned hand of an angel statue. Once again she asked for help from above. She rang the doorbell. The door was swiftly answered by the maid.
“Miss?” The maid’s eyes widened in fear. She took a quick glance behind her back.
“I’m here to see my mother.”
“I—I am sorry, she is...indisposed right now. She cannot have any visitors, good day.”
“But...” the door was quietly shut in her face. The maid had seemed to be terrified of her presence. Her mother had probably threatened to dispose of the maid if the maid had even thought of letting her in. She left dejectedly, head hung low. As she walked around Dartmouth, she thought that if she couldn’t see her mother through the front doors, she would sneak into the house unnoticed and talk to her mother then. She did not travel all the way here to have the door slammed in her face.
During these pensive moments, she had not noticed that she had strayed into the uglier side of town where most of the poor lived and where the macabre stayed vigilant. As a lady of good status she immediately turned to leave the area, but a slithering shadow to the left of her vision caught her attention. She hid behind the corner of a building as she strained to see what had caught her attention.
The street was fairly deserted; so no distractions were about. The man looked vaguely familiar; therefore she decided to move in a little closer, her curiosity piqued. The man swivelled his head to the right, looming into full view. Gerald! What was he doing here? He furiously knocked on the door in front of him.
The building was quite run down. Some of the outer shutters were hanging at odd angles on their hinges, and the house didn’t seem to be well insulated. It almost looked as if any large gust of wind could knock it down to the ground.
When no one answered, he banged upon the door. The door was opened cautiously. She could not see who stood within the threshold of the building. Gerald reached his hand into the outrageously large overcoat he was wearing and revealed some sort of package. He and the mysterious person exchanged some pleasantries. Then Evelyn heard a woman’s laugh. He nodded his head as the door closed. Once it did, he left quickly almost running toward the better side of town.
What was Gerald doing here of all places? She knew a woman had secretly met him behind the door. Was he in a secret relationship with another woman? Her cheeks were becoming hot; she slightly trembled at the thought that he could betray her in such a fashion. He knew she was supposed to have seen her mother yesterday, and that is why he came today. There would be no way of her ever finding out. He had planned it perfectly.
She memorized the details of the building’s looks and where it was located. She then went to follow her beau. The path he was taking was absurd. He wound through the streets, entered random shops for a minute or two and exited them. He continually glanced behind him as if he knew he was being followed. Evelyn made sure to keep herself far away so that he would never notice her face in a crowd.
However, at one point he entered a very crowded area. She lost sight of him for a second, and he was gone. She panicked for a minute, knowing that if she were not careful she could be found out at any moment. She was determined to know what he was doing. She craned her neck, trying to find him through the cracks of people’s linked arms. But she couldn’t find him. Suddenly, she saw him coming her way. She quickly grabbed a newspaper off a stand and opened it up to cover her entire face. After a few moments, she had the courage to peek around her disguise. He had passed her and was now continuing his journey to wherever he was headed. He left the central part of town and stole his way through a side street.
I’ve seen this place before. But where?
A rough oak door, the smell of camphor—it was the hag’s residence! She remained at her post around the corner of the side street until she saw Gerald enter the preternatural house. Once the street was clear, she slinked her way down the row of homes and halted at the open window from which she heard two voices straining against the other.
“Please tell me.” The intensity and clear desperation which coated his raw voice almost compelled Evelyn to save him from certain hurt. But she remained at her post, her curiosity governing the eavesdropping in which she indulged.
“What do you want to know?”
“Has my oldest sister received the money I sent to her?”
“Of course. All of our dealings are honourable. We haven’t intercepted any such correspondence if that is what you fear.”
“This wretched business!”
“This business will come to an end shortly. ‘Tis only for a little while longer.”
“Yes, yes it will be. My family, are they well?”
“Well as can be. Does she know?”
“No, no she does not. I intend to tell her sometime. But...I don’t know when.” He fiercely pulled on his hair. “Is there ever a good time to tell her such a secret as this?”
“It is your burden to bear. Tell me, do you really think she will continue to care for you, even love you after she knows...this. Your large heart is your weakness. More likely than not, she will leave you and never want to see your face again.”
“Quiet, you hellion! I don’t wish to hear any more spiteful words fall off your slippery lips. I have faith in her, faith that she could still love me despite these circumstances, faith that she will understand the moral reasons why I have committed such crimes.”
“Do not be fooled by blind love! Now leave me and aggravate me not with your delusional fantasies of...unconditional love.”
“True, my business is concluded with you. I will leave you. Forgive my intrusion, good day.”
Panic flooded Evelyn’s body as she realized there was no crevice in which to hide herself. She was open bait in a barren street. Just as Gerald opened the door, Evelyn suddenly spied a stack of crates five feet away. She swooped down around it and pressed her hand upon her chest, lest she let out a gasp of alarm. The door banged open, and she heard his shoes clack upon the cobblestone street. A pause, no sound. Then the clacking of his footsteps neared her hiding place.
Oh God, please spare me.
She could hear his laboured breathing beating in time with hers. She then heard his footsteps fade away; and only then was she brave enough to peer around the crates. His posture usually poised and gentlemanly ached with pain and frustration. Once he exited the small street, she left her hiding spot to continue following him. She followed him to the ferry which he boarded. In a minute, the ferry disappeared into the fog, swallowing into the mist the man she thought she knew inside out, the man that she knew she still loved.What a conundrum! Why all the running around? And that...woman, the woman, she decided to go back to see just what kind of a place he had just visited. She eventually after some trial and error found her way back to the place where she had first seen Gerald.
Some anger had started to settle in her mettle; she marched up to the door and knocked. The door opened almost immediately. There to greet Evelyn was a woman in her twenties with black curly hair tied halfway up. She had smeared red rouge all over her lips, and one of the sleeves of her dress was half falling off, exposing some part of her breast.“Yes?” Her breath reeked of alcohol.
What could Gerald have had to do with her?
“I saw Doctor MacCrae pass by here about forty-five minutes ago.”
“Oh, you mean Gerald.”
She knows him on a first name basis?
“May I ask what business he had here?”
“Well, I...he—you need to leave.”
“I want to know what he was doing here.”
Just then she heard a man call down to the woman as he descended the stairs behind the front door. “Roberta, get back up here.” In the shadows, Casby’s face appeared.
Casby?
Roberta started breathing heavily. “Goodbye.”
“Wait!” Evelyn protested as the door slammed shut in her face. She was stunned by this strange experience. Casby—what was he doing there? What ever had happened? Was there some connection between Gerald and Casby? Nothing made sense. She would clear her head with a long walk to her mother’s home. She was so surprised at the courage and determination she had shown in wanting to know Gerald’s business, yet did she have any right to snoop around?
She figured it would be about the time the maid would start preparing a dinner for her mother. She would not enter through the front door but sneak around the back. She huddled the side wall of the house and intently listened for movement in the kitchen. She had no need to. Pots and pans were clanging around; the maid was busy. She then sidled around the corner toward the back door when she ran into Mr. Thompson, the manager. She gasped. Her heart sank as she realized she had failed in her attempt to enter the house unnoticed. She expected him to escort her off the premises immediately.
Instead, he put a finger to his lips. “It’s all right. I know you mean well.” He gently led her to the back door, poked his head in first to make sure the way was clear, then motioned for her to enter.
She cautiously stepped past the doorway which led to the kitchen and crouched around various rooms until she entered the living room where her mother sat upon the divan reading a book of poetry. “Hello, Mother.”
Evelyn’s heart nearly burst as the thwack of her mother’s shutting book sounded as a gong, its reverberations penetrating any chinks in her armour.
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