The Scarlet Women by Jane De Vere

Author:Jane De Vere [De Vere, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Corgi
Published: 1968-12-31T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Emilianne saved some of the gold and hid it in a bag beneath her pallet. The rest, with her characteristic generosity, she distributed amongst the girls, buying them gifts and far prettier gowns than the Council provided. At first, in the surge of power she had felt, she thought of leaving the brothel. But common sense prevailed; she knew a harlot’s life was hard without a protector such as the Council. Many lone prostitutes were disfigured or beaten by perverted customers and had no one to defend them or their rights. Also she felt a nervous fear of living alone for she had become used to the companionable atmosphere of the brothel: one which could not be duplicated outside. She decided she would save some money for the purchase of a house and food when she was too old for whoring.

‘I am not foolish enough to think that gold could buy me friends in the city,’ she told Avice. ‘The friends I have here are worth far more to me. They were kind when I had nothing.’

‘And you in your turn have shown kindness to me when I have been so in need of it.’ The two women smiled at one another.

A particularly jarring note from Jania’s lute made them look in her direction. Her face had taken on the vacant look of an idiot child, and the emptiness was made all the more garish by the lush colouring of her skin and hair.

‘Poor Jania,’ whispered Avice, hating to see such a lovely creature lose contact with reality. ‘Is there nothing that can be done to help her?’

‘We have tried to help her by persuading her to talk about herself but she doesn’t seem to want to recall much of her past. Sometimes she talks very intelligently, but never about herself. There is nothing any physician can do for sickness of the mind, so the Patronne tells us. As it is, Jania fits neatly enough into our routine, and it is only once or twice a year that she becomes really unmanageable.’

‘What happens then?’

‘Oh, La Patronne has her locked in her room until the fit passes. We push food through to her, and she recovers quickly enough when her lute calls to her. She can’t bear to be parted from it for long.’

‘Shut in her room!’ Avice was shocked. It seemed coldly cruel, yet what else could be done for such as Jania? She wished she knew of some tangible way of helping the sick woman, and she resolved to assist her in any way she could. Perhaps if she could find out what had caused Jania’s mental unbalance, then she could exorcize this from the girl’s mind? She knew the palliative effect of talking over one’s troubles, and she also knew that the worse one’s troubles were the harder they were to discuss. There must be something really tragic in Jania’s past, she thought.

Avice was surprised by the intensity of the love which grew inside her for her new friends.

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