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* * *
“What happened? What have you done, Billy?” Jennifer shouted.
“We did what must be done Jennifer. Writing pamphlets and getting people riled has not worked. We need to make a statement. Those men need to lose something, they need to lose their money. This is the way,” Billy said with rage in his voice. Jennifer had never seen him so angry, so frightening.
“But there are people in there. They will die. We must go back, Mariah...”
“No, you cannot go back. We cannot go back.”
“I will not let them die. We must go back and help,” Jennifer shouted.
“No, you will not.” Timothy grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her against the brick wall of the alley. There was murder on his face. “ You will speak nothing of this, do you understand? If you rat us out, we will go after your family in Cottered. We know all that there is to know about you. Even if we are behind bars, our network reaches far. Therefore you will say nothing. You will not go back there. You will act as if you were sitting quietly at your machine when the fire broke out, and you escaped with those that escaped. Then you will go home, and look for work elsewhere. That is what is to be done. Do you understand, this Jennifer?”
Jennifer was trembling, she was terrified of this man. She looked to Billy for comfort. Billy turned his back to her, allowing his goon to do the dirty work. Rage filled her heart. How could she have been so stupid? Getting mixed up with this radical group. Violence was not the answer. But now she had no choice, or they would hurt her family. How stupid she had been to tell them everything about her, where she was from, why she was sending money home, all of it. She did not know that she could not trust them. Jacob had been right, the less people know about you the better.
“I understand. I will say nothing. But I should probably go back, and be outside with those that are coming out of the factory, or they will wonder where I was. Do you not think that is smart?”
Timothy looked to Billy, Billy turned and nodded his head.
“Fine. But say nothing.” Timothy said. Then he turned to Billy and the third man, “We must get out of here straight away. Go.”
Together the three men continued down the alley, running. Billy did not even turn to see Jennifer, not make that eye contact so that she could allow him to know he had wronged her.
But there was no time to waste, she had to get back to the factory. She turned and ran down the alley, and onto the busy street.
There were crowds gathered. Some were looking, others were taking buckets of water and running. Everyone was trying to put the fire out.
As she turned and saw the building, she froze. The entire building was up in flames. They licked out of the windows of the top floor and the roof.
“Mariah...”
She ran around to the front of the building. It was complete chaos. Women were still coming out of the front door, coughing and falling to their knees. In the crowd, she heard a woman shouting. She turned to see her lodgmate Charlotte, crying and screaming out for the men holding her back to let her go.
Tears flowed out of Jennifer's eyes. She had done this. This was all her fault. She was now a murderer, an outlaw. She had been foolish.
She watched as Charlotte broke free and ran to the women that were out front of the building. Jennifer knew she could not go to them, for Charlotte would wonder why she was coming from outside of the building and not inside. All she could do was stand by and watch. As the fire wore on, her heart broke into a million pieces, and she grew numb.
Before long, she could not watch any longer. She walked home to the workhouse. She sat on her bed, staring at Mariah’s bed. Jennifer was frozen numb.
At nightfall the door opened, surprising Jennifer. She expected it to be Mariah.
Charlotte entered. “Jennifer. You are alive,” Charlotte embraced her.
I do not deserve your embrace. Jennifer did not return the embrace
Charlotte had tears in her eyes. “So you have heard? Mariah is dead.” Charlotte’s voice trembled.
Horror crossed Jennifer's face. “No, not Mariah. I did not mean for anyone to get hurt. It was not supposed to happen like that. No one was supposed to get hurt.”
“What?”
“No one was supposed to die. It was not supposed to be a big fire such as that,” Jennifer became hysterical upon hearing the news.
Charlotte’s face grew dark. Jennifer knew she was starting to understand her meaning.
Whack. Charlotte slapped her hard. “What did you do, Jennifer?”
“It was not all me. It was Timothy Malard and...” Jennifer held her cheek.
“You set this fire? You killed Mariah!” Charlotte shouted.
“No. I did not mean too. That is...”
But Jennifer could not get a word in as she received the wrath of Charlotte’s grief and rage.
The door burst open quite suddenly.
“Jennifer Bronson. You are under arrest for arson of the Miller, Lewis, Rice, Huntley & Dawson factory as well as your companions.”
Policemen poured into the room.
Two of them grabbed Jennifer and Charlotte. Charlotte had a look of shock on her face but said nothing. Jennifer did not want Charlotte to have anything to do with this. She was innocent.
“She did not have part in this. That woman is simply my roommate,” Jennifer shouted.
“That will be for the judge to decide.” The police took Charlotte anyway.
Whitechapel Prison owned by Lord of the Manors of Stepney and Hackney
One week in prison passed while Jennifer awaited her sentence. She had kept quiet about it all; there was no point until she was in front of a judge. The only matter she had continued to protest was the fact that Charlotte was innocent.
Jennifer sat with so much guilt on her shoulders that she lost the will the live. She had been responsible for Mariah’s death and now responsible for Charlotte facing life imprisonment, as well as losing the chance to send money home to Adam for his medication. In this manner she was responsible for the lives of three, and that was unbearable.
Jennifer moved to Charlotte in the dark and dirty prison cell made of cold grey cinder block. Charlotte had not spoken a word to Jennifer, though Jennifer apologized and tried to explain.
“What do you think will happen to us?” Jennifer asked.
Charlotte stayed silent and then moved away from her and sat on another bench entirely. Jennifer sighed.
“Miss Charlotte Sutterfield,” a guard shouted as he hit his club against the bars.
Jennifer panicked. Had they come to take Charlotte away? No, not before she could go before a judge and prove Charlotte innocent. She looked at Charlotte who sat in a daze and did not move.
Jennifer moved to her and shook her a bit. The guard called again, “Miss Charlotte Sutterfield.”
Charlotte stood up and walked to the gate. It opened and Jennifer never saw her again.
* * *
“Miss Jennifer Bronson! You are being charged with arson and the murder of fifty souls. I sentence you to ten years transportation. You will be shipped to Australia to work where you can not cause harm in London again!” the judge’s gavel came down hard and jolted Jennifer.
This was to be expected. For Jennifer had not blamed anyone, for she could not put the blame on Billy, and Timothy, not after the threat that they made toward her family.
She had attempted to clear Charlotte's name, but the judge mentioned it was not necessary for Charlotte had been released. Jennifer was glad for it, she did not know what friends Charlotte had, but in truth they were quite influential. But it was just it should be, for Charlotte was truly innocent.
The pamphlets that they had found underneath Jennifer's mattress only made her fate sealed; she was labeled a radical. Indeed, she was, but in writing and belief only, not in violence. Though she said she did not set the fire, it did not matter. Someone had witnessed her coming out of the door in the back of the factory, and men with her. Since she would not identify the men, she took the sole blame.
Now, she would be shipped far away to Australia, never to see her family again. Never to send money home to take care of Adam. She could only hope that the news would reach them, and that they would at least know that she had not abandon them on purpose. Perhaps Mr. Proctor would take it into his heart to see to Adam his medication. She could only hope.
For the next day, she would be in a wagon wheel to Brighton, where she would board a ship, with the rest of the prisoners, and cross a vast ocean to the other side of the world.
* * *
chapter
