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"I want to know to whom else you have given money."
"I am afraid perhaps you will be angry with me," Petrina replied, "but one evening after I had
met Ethel I . . . walked down Piccadilly to see for . . . myself what was happening."
"You walked down Piccadilly?" the Earl ejaculated. "Alone?"
"No, not alone," Petrina answered. "I am not as foolish as that! I left the carriage at the end of
Bond Street and made Jim the footman walk with me."
"Jim had no right to do anything of the sort!" the Earl thundered.
"You must not be angry with him," Petrina said quickly. "I forced him to do so, I said that if
he would not accompany me then 'I would go by myself."
The Earl opened his lips to rage at her, then controlled himself and merely asked:
"What happened?"
"I talked to quite a number of women, one or two of whom were rude, but the others when
they realised I wanted to help them answered my questions and told me how they had started
on the life they now lead."
"And you gave them money?"
"Of course! And most of them were very grateful. They said it meant that they could have a
night off and go home early to bed."
The Earl doubted that this would happen and was sure that the money had been taken from
them by their procurers, who invariably had them watched.
Though he did not say this aloud, Petrina went on:
"One of the girls told me, which I did not know before, that she would not be allowed to keep
the money herself and so I arranged for her to meet me the next morning in the Park. Afterwards
I did that with quite a lot of them."
The Earl put his hand up to his forehead as if to iron away the lines of perplexity between his
eyes.
He was quite certain that Petrina would not have succeeded in helping the wretched
prostitutes at all, as she hoped she was doing.
The procurers, male and female, kept a very sharp eye on the women who brought them
enough money to keep carriages and own villas in respectable suburbs.
He remembered someone in the House of Commons saying there was no record of even one
of these harpies being carted off to gaol.
They were the owners of the brothels and also of the wretched creatures who walked the
streets usually in a state of intoxication.
They handed over their pitiable earnings in return for a roof over their heads until they were
too unattractive or too disease-ridden to continue their nefarious trade.
"I helped the women in Piccadilly," Petrina was saying, "but I wanted most of all to help
those with children. They now recognise the carriage when it appears in Bond Street and there
are usually two or three waiting for me."
She glanced at the Earl nervously as she explained:
"As your grandmother, if she is with me, gets into the carriage, I have little packets of money
ready to put in their hands."
She looked at him with beseeching eyes as she said:
"I am afraid I have spent rather a lot, but every time I put on a pretty gown or wear some of
the wonderful jewellery from your collection, I cannot help thinking how those poor women
have to earn money and how many children go hungry."
There was a little sob in Petrina's voice and suddenly her eyes were full of tears.
She jumped up from the chair to walk to the window so that the Earl should not see her
crying.
He watched her silhouetted against the sunlight, which turned her hair into a halo of gold.
Then he said quietly:
"Come and sit down, Petrina. I want to talk to you about this."
She wiped her eyes surreptitiously, then did as he told her, returning to the chair she had just
vacated.
"I understand your feelings," the Earl said, "but I wish you had trusted me and told me how
deeply you felt about these women."
"I thought you would stop me," Petrina answered. "Papa always said it was throwing away
good money to give it to beggars, but I . . . had to help them."
"I can understand your wishing to do so, but in the future it must be in a more practical
manner."
Petrina looked at him.
"I was thinking," she said slowly, "that when I am twenty-one and have my own money I
could build a home or a hostel where these women could take their babies for food and shelter."
"That is a very good idea," the Earl answered.
He did not wish to disillusion her by explaining that many of the babies she thought she was
helping were merely hired out for the day, passing from one woman to another and used only as
a method of evoking charity from those who had a soft heart.
"Do you mean you would help me?" Petrina asked.
"I will certainly advise you how to give your money to charity in a reasonable and sensible
manner."
"I want to help the girls like Ethel who have a baby by . . . mistake when they are not
married."
"That should not be difficult," the Earl answered. "There is, as a matter of fact, I believe, some
assistance being given already to unmarried mothers."
'There is?" Petrina asked. 'There does not seem to be much sign of it."
"That is true," the Earl agreed.
He knew that Petrina had no idea of the magnitude of the problem which she had stumbled
upon by accident, or perhaps it was because she was more sensitive than other women in the
Beau Monde.
"I think you will find," he said, "that Churches like St. James's in Piccadilly are well aware
that these women, especially those with children, need help. I think the best thing you can do at
the moment, Petrina, is to discuss this matter with the Vicar."
He saw that she was not very enthusiastic about the idea and added:
"I am quite sure you will find that the reason his work is not more extensive is simply lack of
funds."
"Then I can give him some of my money."
Petrina's voice was suddenly breathless.
"Certainly," the Earl agreed, "as long as you discuss it with me first, and we are both
convinced it will be put to the very best possible use." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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