Secrets and Sins by Lizzie Lane

Author:Lizzie Lane [Lane, Lizzie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781804159378
Publisher: Boldwood Books

Captain Sylvester Travis Dartmouth frowned at a stubborn stain that his batman had failed to remove from the cuff of his jacket. A poor job indeed. The man would have to go. He’d given him a chance and he’d blown it. The likes of him, working class with a horde of children, were best off holding the front line so their betters wouldn’t have to.

Sylvester believed in spending on himself. In his opinion, servants should work for their keep, just enough to keep them clothed and fed. The new Labour movement that had sprung up thought otherwise, but their protests were weak and easily suppressed. They really had to accept that the plight of labourers and servants in general had not changed for centuries and it wasn’t about to change now. Not in his opinion anyway.

Stepping away from the main entrance to the hospital, he took a deep breath before lighting a cigarette. My God, but he needed a smoke. The fresh air was an added benefit. He couldn’t stand that sterile smell of carbolic and whatever other stuff they used to clean the wards and treat people. Obnoxious smell whatever it was.

The road outside was noisy and crowded with trams and horse-drawn trade vehicles, street vendors pushing two-wheeled carts, and flower sellers offering posies to passers-by. He wished he could sweep them all away and leave only the buildings, some of which he would delight in knocking down, and some he could almost worship.

He turned and looked up at the imposing entrance to the hospital. He thought the building excellent and wasted on sick people. It would take a few more cigarettes and a cab journey to his club to get rid of the stench of sick people in poor clothes. Moreover, more were coming in.

Two children were helping a thin woman up the steps to the hospital entrance. Her face was sunken by sickness and her clothes were as black as her hair, clean but shabby. He assumed she was Jewish from Russia or Germany, a peasant victim of persecution that had sent the Jews fleeing in terror. As if we haven’t enough of our own peasants, he thought to himself.

The woman nodded to him, a courteous nod that he was used to getting from anyone from the lower classes.

He grimaced in response and said aloud, ‘Damn it, there will be more peasants and foreigners in this country than us before long.’

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