''I've brought you some apples, bread, and butter,'' Emily said lifting the bag onto the table. The warder came across and looked.
When it was time to go, Emily clung to her father and had to be pulled away from him. When she was outside in the fresh air, she vomited. ''Don't worry about it, young lady, it gets us all like that the first time,'' a fat lady with a dirty coat said.
*****
''Emily, Emily,'' Helen shrieked as she bounced into Emily's bedroom. Emily was lying under the covers thinking about her father and the awful place he was in. ''We're going to a party, look.'' Helen looked at the bed and saw Emily's face appear.
''That will be nice,'' she said in a melancholy tone'' She hadn't slept and she had dark rings under her eyes.
''Emily, I'm going to take you in hand. It's no good, I can't stand by and watch you torture yourself anymore. Now sit up and listen to me.''
Helen was nineteen and full of life. She'd had a privileged upbringing in a large house, with servants and acres of garden to play in. Her mother Beatrice, Emily's mother's sister, had married a stock broker who'd died at a young age and left her a fortune. She'd never remarried and brought Helen and James up by herself. ''We've been invited to a party by Roger Carruthers, it's his twenty-first birthday. Do you know the Carruthers family?''
''No, I don't,'' Emily said looking at the gold colored card in Helen's hand.
''Well, they are very rich, and all of society will be there. I know you are feeling melancholy about your father, but you can't do anything about the situation. You need to start eating more, you're so thin. We'll find you a beautiful dress and a lovely pair of shoes, and we'll go to the party and enjoy ourselves.''
Enough Emily told herself. Helen was right, she couldn't change the situation, so she would begin to live her life. ''Do you have a dress I can borrow? All my dresses went into the auction when they sold our house.''
''We will do better than that. I'll ask mother if we can go shopping. We'll both buy a new dress and new shoes and new everything,'' Helen threw her hands into the air in a gesture of jubilation. Emily laughed, Helen's mood was infectious.
Helen somehow managed to convince her mother that she and Emily desperately needed a new dress each, and new shoes, and if mother could possibly afford it, new shawls. Aunt Beatrice was concerned about Emily and thought it would do her good to go out into town and be treated. Helen jumped up and down when he mother nodded in agreement. ''Can we go today mother, please?'' she begged.
That evening, Emily and Helen stood in Emily's room and looked at the spread of new clothes in front of them. Two dresses, two pairs of shoes and two magnificent shawls. ''Come on, let's dress up,'' Helen suggested. When Emily nodded, she rang for her lady's maid. When Jane arrived, she was confronted by two giggly girls standing in their undergarments. Jane was twenty-three and had been with the family for two years. She was from Yorkshire, a no-nonsense woman with a dry sense of humor.
''Right, Miss Helen, stop dancing around and stand still,'' she said as she put the dress over Helen's head. It was a navy blue and made of satin. Helen raised her arms, and it fell down over her. ''Mrs Jones really has a good eye, doesn't she,'' Helen said of the lady who owned the dress shop in town.
''She does. You look lovely,'' Emily said looking at the way the dress hugged Helen's large cleavage. Jane fastened the back of the dress, and Helen did some twirls in front of the mirror.
Jane turned her attention to Emily whose dress was red. Jane liked Emily. She was a sensible woman who had the same kind of humor as she did. Unlike Helen, who Jane found shallow and excitable, Emily had depth to her character. She was intelligent, well read and interested in more than parties. Whenever Jane helped Emily to dress, she was impressed when Emily talked about the situation in the Crimea and the plight of the poor. Jane also liked dressing Emily for another reason. Emily was a beautiful woman with a perfect figure, and she carried her clothes so elegantly. Helen was stocky, but Emily was tall and slender, with a decent bust and curvaceous hips.
Helen looked on jealously as Jane fastened the back of Emily's dress and stood away to look at her. ''You look very elegant, indeed,'' Jane said. Helen wondered why she hadn't said that about her. Emily looked in the mirror and gasped. The dress flowed over her beautiful body touching all the places gentlemen so admired. Emily liked the color, it was between deep red and maroon. The edging around the puff sleeves was the same color as her eyes, Mediterranean blue.
*****