Chapter One

 

June 1803

 

Anna Silverstone dreamed of another life. It was not because her fingers were calloused and her body ached. It was not because sweat and dirt stained her dress. It was not because those around her died young due to the terrible conditions of the workhouse.

The truth was, Anna needed to escape because her family had always been poor, and she feared they would always remain so.

The air was stifling and sweat beaded Anna’s brow. Dust mixed with tufts of cotton filled Anna’s eyes and nose, making her cough.

Once a large stable with the stalls removed, the workhouse was located no more than four miles from Anna’s home, which made it a convenient location despite how much she despised the backbreaking work. Heavy wooden beams crossed the low roof, and slits at the tops of the walls allowed in just enough light to see by, making the single open room feel much smaller than it was. It did not help that a dozen large looms in two lines facing one another ran down the center of the room, taking up a majority of the space, a woman at the helm of each.

Wiping her brow, Anna realized that she had another problem. With her flaxen hair, deep-blue eyes, and high cheekbones, her eldest brother, Thomas, was certain that her beauty would attract a wealthy suitor. This, in turn, would fill his coffers and provide him and his siblings a way out of the destitute lives in which they lived.

Many men, married and bachelor alike, offered her congenial smiles while their eyes told a different story.

You’re worthy of my bed, but you can never become my wife.

One man, in particular, spent all too much time ogling her, and he repulsed her more than any other. Mr. Albert Harrison, her employer, stood across the workroom, staring at her unabashedly. With nothing more than a few blond wisps of hair upon his otherwise bald pate, he had an appalling habit of licking his lips while he leered at her, which only added to his vile nature and caused her to shiver in disgust.

If he spent his time simply watching her, she might have tolerated his behavior. Yet, one day, three months earlier, he had moved from his usual place beside the wall to stand behind her.

Doing her best to ignore him, she concentrated all her attention on the movement of the loom, praying he would move away. He then leaned in close, his hot, foul breath on her neck as he whispered his desires in her ear. His words had been crude and made her cheeks heat, and she refused him immediately.

Mr. Harrison had not been pleased, which came as no surprise. After all, he was nothing more than an overgrown spoiled child. The workhouse had been a part of his meager inheritance, and he used it to prey on the fears of those who were in his employ. Yet, just like most other men like him, what he did not seem to understand was that Anna feared no one.

He had retreated to his place by the wall, and Anna dismissed the encounter. For she, nor any other woman in his employ, could raise an alarm, lest they lose their position that very moment. Plus, who would come to their rescue if they did? No one.

Beside Anna worked her friend Betty Voss, her dark hair pulled back with a kerchief to keep it from catching in the loom. Seven years Anna’s elder, Betty appeared far older. With deep lines around her eyes, her bone-thin fingers worked deftly, making certain that each weft thread lay properly between the taut warp threads.

Back and forth they worked, numbing minds and tiring eyes, to complete the various fabrics sold to linendrapers throughout the country.

“He’s been staring at ye for nearly ten minutes now,” Betty whispered as she leaned in to make a return pass of the yarn. “He ain’t made any of his offers again, has he?”

Anna shook her head as she pulled the thread on her loom tight. “Only the once, and I pray he doesn’t do so again.”

Other women had taken the offer Mr. Harrison had made in exchange for better pay and other favors. Anna held no judgment against them for doing so. But to the man who gave the offer? Indeed, she did. She, however, would never participate in any such barter, no matter how much Thomas schemed for more wealth.

Cutting away the final threads of the fabric, Anna followed Betty to a crude wooden table to place their finished product atop the others. Movement from the corner of her eye made Anna draw in a deep breath as Horace, a young boy of seven, ducked beneath one of the nearby looms.

He really should be more careful, she thought. Indeed, those who did not show the machines their proper respect had the scars— and at times missing fingers— to prove it.

“You’ve fifteen minutes to eat,” Mr. Harrison barked.

Anna and Betty collected their meager meals and followed the others outside where the air was clearer. Nearly three dozen were employed at the workhouse, mostly women and children who worked the looms, while the men deigned to pick oakum or to see to any heavy labor.

The ground was dry this late June. No rain had fallen for nearly two weeks, and an unusually hot breeze whipped dust up around them. Beneath one of the trees, Anna stooped to pluck a blade of grass. Releasing it, she watched it flutter away.

With a heavy sigh, she turned to find Molly Gibbons, a red-haired woman known for a gossiping tongue and loose morals, joining three workers beneath a nearby tree.

“Rumor has it that Mr. Harrison’s lookin’ to sack people today, or at least until work picks up again. I’ll tell ya one thing, it ain’t gonna be me. What about you, Anna? Do ya think you’ll be here tomorrow?”

Anna fixed her skirts around her, knowing full well why Molly was so full of certainty. “I feel secure in my position,” she replied. Unwrapping the food she had packed earlier that morning, she nibbled at a corner of a hunk of bread. “Beyond that, I have no control. I may take many risks in life, but engaging in any form of debauchery with the likes of Mr. Harrison is not one of them. I refuse to stoop to the levels some do.”

Betty roared with laughter, and Molly turned away, scowling.

“Did ye ask him for time off to go to London?” Betty asked.

This caught Molly’s attention. “London? What business have you in London?”

Anna attempted to quiet her friend with a glare. The last thing she wanted was Molly’s opinion on the matter. Yet it was much too late to stop the onslaught now.

“Rumor has it that her father lives there,” Betty continued. “She’s goin’ to London to meet him and see if he’s any money for her. Let’s hope she uses it to buy this place.”

“Not that again,” Molly said with a shake of her head. “I’m tellin’ ya, you’re nothing special. Mum told me the same stories as a child to make me feel better about bein’ a bastard. Heya, Susan, weren’t your da a soldier but died before marryin’ your mum?” she asked one of her companions.

“’Tis true,” Susan replied with a smile that revealed several missing teeth. “He done died in France defendin’ ‘is country.” Her burst of laughter said she did not believe a word she said.

“How is it then,” Betty argued, “that Anna can perform a perfect curtsy. Or that she can read’n write? Ye’ve to have smarts to do that, and she got ‘em from her father.”

Molly snorted. “Fathers are irrelevant if you ask me. And smarts only come from luck. Some have ‘em and some don’t. It’s that simple.”

Anna refused to argue either way, for she knew the truth. Whether any of her intelligence came from her father remained to be seen, but it had been her mother who had taught her how to read and write. She had also learned how to set a proper table and even a few words of Latin. The definition of beauty and elegance, Rebecca Silverstone could have been many things, but Anna was certain she had not been a liar.

Anna tore off a bit of mold from a corner of the cheese and tossed it aside as Molly continued her tirade.

“’Tis all right to dream, Anna. We all do. But ’tis time you faced the truth. Your father’s not an earl, and your mother only told you lies to protect you from the truth. That might make her a good woman, but she still told a fib.”

Anna made a fist but refused to respond. Her mother had revealed on her deathbed how Thomas and Anna were conceived. According to her, she had been in a secret romance with an earl who professed his undying love for her. Sadly, as time progressed, he was given no choice but to enter into a marriage of convenience with a lady from his class. Thus her mother was left brokenhearted and caring for his children alone. Since that revelation, Anna had dreamed of searching out her father.

“Would it not be well worth our troubles if we were to find our father?” Anna had argued when she and her brother had broached the subject. “After all, if we do learn he’s an earl, surely he can provide some sort of financial support.”

Thomas had refused to discuss it, which only confounded Anna. His goal in life was to save enough money to become a part of the landed gentry, which would take a great deal of work on the part of all the Silverstone children.

In Anna’s opinion, proving their bloodline would open a whole new world. Yet, until she had the proof she needed, she kept secret the name of her father.

“I don’t care what ye think,” Betty snapped, bringing Anna back to the present. “Her father’s an earl, and she’s gonna leave here and never return, ain’t ye, Anna?”

Anna gave a small nod as she watched Mr. Harrison walk over to Geraldine Malley, a widowed mother of three. “Indeed, I’ll leave this life behind one day,” she replied as she glanced at the other women chatting with one another as they ate. “Not only that, but I’ll also marry a handsome man who has a strong will and great courage.”

To this, Molly snickered. Anna ignored her, turning her attention once more to Geraldine, who now stood with arms around two of her children, both under the age of eight. The youngest, a boy named Samuel, wore shoes with so many holes, his toes stuck out the tips. With gaunt cheeks and threadbare clothes, they looked very much like the children of the other women who worked there. Not for the first time, Anna was grateful for what little she had.

Standing, Anna drew closer to the widow and her children, straining to hear what Mr. Harrison said.

“I’m sorry. Your children may continue working, but there’s no position for you until September.”

With a choked sob, Geraldine pulled her children in closer. “Please, sir, we can barely afford to live as it is. If I lose me wages, I’ll not be able to pay the rent, and we’ll be tossed outta the house. Please, I beg of ye, be merciful.”

Mr. Harrison crossed his arms over his chest and eyed the woman up and down. “Perhaps we can speak privately and come up with a solution that will work well for both of us.”

The look of consideration and fear that crossed Geraldine’s face made Anna want to strike the taskmaster, and she was not opposed to using violence to put him in his place.

She had done very much the same thing just last year when a well-dressed man had pinched her bottom as she walked past him in the nearby village of Wanesworth. A quick fist had the man doubled over in pain with what was most certainly a broken nose.

Sadly, this was no alleyway, so striking Mr. Harrison was not the best of choices. Instead, Anna joined them, keeping a tight rein on her emotions. “Excuse me, Mr. Harrison, but I meant to ask permission to have a few days away. Geraldine is welcome to take my place in my absence.”

Mr. Harrison’s lip curled. “You’re willing to give up your work till September, are you? And what will your brother have to say to that, eh? Won’t he be angry? You’ve younger ones relying on you, don’t you?”

Besides Thomas, Anna had two other brothers— Christian, who was fifteen, and Henry, eight. The younger boys did not have an earl for a father but rather a drunk who had died six years earlier from a knife to the heart during a fight at the local tavern. Since then, Anna had done all she could to care for her siblings.

She had put aside a bit of savings over the past two years to pay for her journey to London, but that would have to wait. Her conscience would not allow Geraldine and her children to suffer.

“I’m sure there will be no issue,” she said.

“Then I’ve no reason to deny your request,” Mr. Harrison replied. He raised his voice. “Everyone, back to work.”

Several women groaned as they pulled themselves from their seated positions. Geraldine whispered a quick “Thank you” before she and her scrawny children hurried into the building.

With a sigh, Anna explained to Betty what had transpired, and soon, she stood outside alone. The walk home would take her just over an hour, if she maintained a leisurely pace. She was in no rush to give Thomas the news. He would be raving mad when he learned she had given someone else her place, and doubly so when she revealed that she had money hidden away.

Yet, that was her life— hidden farthings, burlap dresses, and dreams that gave her hope. And as she made her way down the road toward home, Anna began to wonder if the dreams she wished for would ever come true.