live?”
The carriage slowed and Mr Belfroy opened the door to the sharp noises of the docks. “I shall rent an adequate apartment in town. My needs are small since I have withdrawn from society. I much prefer to have things this way. There is no point in trying to persuade me, my mind is made up.” He descended from the carriage and then helped her down.
Nicola gazed around in disgust. She had only been to this foreshore end of the Rocks once, with Frances, and had never wanted to repeat the visit. She was amazed at the difference a few hundred yards could make, for up on the hill, wealthy families lived in style. Yet down at the water’s edge, the worst kind of debauchery occurred. The fresh salt breeze from the harbour couldn’t remove the rot of human refuse. Mean little alleys criss-crossed the streets at this point of the harbourside. Docks and wharfs had long been established here, but with the flourishing industry came the lowest aspects of society, who frequented the public houses, brothels and opium dens. Effluent and general rubbish crammed the sides of the road, the buildings were rundown and in various states of ruin. The smell of rotting refuse filled her nose, making her gag. How could anyone live in such conditions?
“This way, my dear.” Mr Belfroy took her elbow and guided her around the stinking piles of goodness knows what and into a laneway boarded by stone terrace houses rising up the steep incline. “The hostel is further along, and, if one can be generous enough to say so, it’s in a slightly better street than this one. Only, the carriage is too wide for it.”
She nodded, holding a handkerchief to her nose and prayed they wouldn’t be attacked and robbed. A mangy dog peed against a wall and from the opposite side of the street a rough-looking man emerged from a doorway and stared at them.
At the end of another dirty, neglected street, Mr Belfroy entered a two-story building. Its upper floor held a balcony from which hung copious amounts of washing.
Inside the dimly lit corridor, they made for a decaying staircase. At the top, a man and a woman, barely decently covered, leaned against a wall chatting. Nicola glared, fighting the urge to speak her mind about their slovenly ways, but Mr Belfroy turned left and she shuddered at the thought of being left behind. In another room a door was opened showing a couple kissing on an unmade bed. Nicola stared at the sensual way the man stroked the woman. Her stomach tightened for she immediately thought of Nathaniel West. Hurrying along, she blocked out other images and sounds coming from various rooms. It seemed the place was nothing more than a brothel.
The second last door on the right was open. Mr Belfroy knocked but the woman on the bed didn’t respond. “Miss Rogers, I have returned as promised.”
Nicola entered the badly lit room and crept closer to the rusty iron bed. “Miss Rogers, I’m Nicola Douglas.”
The woman, her eyes sunken and with dark shadows bruising the delicate skin beneath, turned to stare at her. “You must go away.”
“Why?” Nicola crouched beside the bed.
“Because I am bad, terribly bad.”
“I’m sure that is not true.” Nicola smiled in reassurance. “Come, gather your things. I wish for you to return home with me.”
“You don’t know what I’ve done…I carry a child.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“I was wanton.” Her face screwed up in misery. “He promised to marry me, but he abandoned me. I had nothing…He took my money, everything and left only empty promises. I hate him, but not as much as I hate myself for my weakness...”
“Come, let me help you.” Nicola aided the thin woman, dressed in rags, to stand. Her body was wasted from starvation, yet her stomach was large with child. Images of Emily clouded Nicola’s mind as she helped Miss Rogers out of the room. Could she really go through it again? Was she strong enough to bear this woman’s burdens too?
“I shall give the child away to the orphanage,” Miss Rogers murmured, slipping her feet into scuffed shoes. “You will help me to do that?”
“Yes.” Nicola aided her to the door, filled with despair for this poor woman.
“Thank you. Then I may start again, move away... I always wanted to visit Africa, or even India... Yes, that is what I’ll do.” Decision made, Miss Rogers breathed a deep sigh and sagged against Nicola as though the