Page 90 of When We Touch

They’d found a woman from whom to rent a room.

The room was quite terrifying. It smelled like a sty and the floor was thick with rat excrement. But it was a base. And from there, they had easily found peddlers selling the lowest grade of cloth and clothing, and it had been even better that their newly purchased skirts, petticoats, and bodices fit so poorly. A little soot on Fiona’s face, and she had really appeared the part.

“You,” she’d informed Arianna, “are simply too pretty.”

“A lovely thing to say,” Arianna had acknowledged. “But not true. So . . . here we go.”

And they moved out on the streets, and now, into a pub.

“I’ll never be able to drink this wretched gin!” Fiona said, as they ordered, and took their glasses to a crowded table.

“So don’t drink it!” Arianna hissed in return.

“Well, ’e don’t strike in daytime, do ’e, luv?” a woman next to Arianna said loudly. “We makes our money in the day, then!”

“And drinks it by night!” her companion said, causing her to roar. Then the first woman turned, studying Arianna, and scowling.

“Eh! ’Ere’s a pretty one fer ye, Maeve. Will ye looky ’ere? Where’d ye come from, luv? I’ve not seen the likes of ye on the streets in a fair while, I can tell ye!”

The woman had frizzy red hair and a gaunt face. She was long past her prime, and further past whatever looks she might have once had herself.

To Fiona’s amazement, Arianna was ready with a reply. She scowled fiercely as well. “I had a job in the city, I did. A fair enough one. Only the old buzzard wot hired me thought that I was for the likes o’ him!”

“Couldn’t ’a been worse than wot ye’ll find on the streets ’ere, deary!” Maeve cackled.

Arianna made a face. “Didn’t say I wasn’t willing to take his shillings, did I? ’Twas his wife wot threw me out!”

“Ah!” Both women clucked in sympathy with her.

“Still, ye are a pretty thing,” the first woman said. “And ’tis dangerous in these parts, now, ’adn’t ye ’eard?” She shivered.

“I know . . . have you heard of any other work?”

Maeve made a noise. “Ye’d be seein’ one o’ us two scared enough to be doin’ it off the streets were we to know about it, luv.”

“You know, I’ve thought about goin’ straight to the police. Sometimes, I’ve kind of a special sight,” Arianna said.

“Special sight? Wot’s that?” Maeve asked.

“She’s one of those medium people, you know, wot talk to the dead!” the first woman said. Then her eyes widened and she smiled. “Suppose I find ye a job, one that pays well? I get a cut on it, right?”

“Certainly!”

The woman produced a raw, work-worn hand. “I’m known as Red Hannah. My ’air, you know. My friend ’ere is Maeve. Maeve the Slave, some of the boys calls ’er.”

“ ’Ush it, ’Annah!” Maeve growled, and Hannah grinned. “Don’t know about yer friend ’ere, the silent one,” she said, indicating Fiona, “but there’s word out that there’s a fellow putting together a business. ’E’s one of those spiritualists. ’E’s been around, looking for a girl, and ’e hasn’t liked a one of us, but ’e’d like you, I think. You make sure I take a cut, and I’ll set you up a meetin’.”

“I swear, you’ll get your cut,” Arianna told her solemnly. “I’m Annie.”

“Another Annie!” Maeve moaned.

“ ’Ere, then, this time, say . . . four days from now,” Hannah said, sizing up Arianna again. “Be ’ere, now!”

“I’ll be here,” Arianna said, then she rose. “It’s gettin’ dark. We’d best be looking for a bed, Janie.”

Arianna had to jab Fiona, she was looking at her so strangely.

“Yes, yes! We’d best find a bed.”