Georgina

GEORGINA - Chapter 1: Spoilt Girl

Georgina looked from the upstairs window of her bedchamber at the dreary mill workers trudging to work.  She wasn't usually up this early but she had been awake with excitement for much of the night following the news that her father was going to let her go on the "Grand Tour" in the summer, with her older brother Rufus, his tutor, the elderly Colonel Wilson and his much younger wife, Charlotte.  Vienna, Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and, she fervently hoped, Venice!  She broke away from her daydream and looked again at the shabby crowd entering the gates of her father's cotton mill.  Why did they have to walk past the front of their house, it was so depressing!  No doubt her father enjoyed being able to watch the minions over whom he now held so much power.  But Georgina couldn't wait to leave dull Lancashire for the colour and excitement of The Continent.

Georgina had enjoyed collecting together the essentials for her forthcoming trip: guide books, a silk lined canteen of silver cutlery, a fine  embroidered toiletry case to contain her absolutely essential make-up and perfumes.  She wondered how she would cope with getting dressed without her own personal maid, would hotel maids even speak English!  Rufus was like a child at Christmas showing off his pair of gilt patterned pistols, large black medicine bag and carefully researched details of steamer routes.  Georgina was a bit concerned when he explained how their two carriages would be dismantled and carried in pieces over the Mount Cenis Pass to Turin on the backs of mules.  She was slightly relieved to hear that their party would be carried in chairs fixed between poles by their Swiss guides and not suffer the indignity of sitting on one of the mules.  Although her father had given Georgina a fine dappled mare last year she had not really taken to riding at all and, though she did very occasionally get the groom to walk it around the grounds for her, she had never even got around to giving it a name!  She then started to daydream about watching the rippling muscles of handsome muscular Alpine chair bearers carrying her towards snow topped mountains.

It wasn't long afterwards she noticed her father was becoming increasingly morose and grumpy and reluctant to discuss details of her forthcoming trip.  One morning, six weeks before their planned departure, Georgina was suddenly ordered to go with the groom and Rufus to the stables and take the horses for a ride up to Hather Moor.  That was most definitely not her idea of fun but her father was most insistent.  Although it was a dry day there was a cold wind, after only a few minutes Georgina was getting painfully sore buttocks and then slightly twisted one of her delicate ankles when dismounting for the lunch which had been packed off with them.  As the groom led the horses back to the stables Georgina determined to tackle her mother firmly about father's unreasonable behaviour, however as they entered the house she heard her mother sobbing and her father arguing with the butler, who then turned and stormed out of the house brushing them aside. 

Her mother entered the hallway wiping tears from her eyes and sent her children to their rooms saying there would be no tea today but sandwiches would be sent up to them.   Distressed at seeing her mother so upset Georgina lost her earlier resolve and obediently obeyed. 

Long after dark no sandwiches had arrived so, feeling hungry and tired, Georgina timidly went downstairs looking for her maid.  Hearing her mother again crying quietly Georgina cautiously tiptoed towards the drawing room, but was intercepted by Rufus who instead led her to the library.

There he shakily explained that recently the Earl of Rawtenstall had ordered their father's mill to stop drawing the water essential  to power it from the River Douglas, because it was affecting the flour mills which were part of the Earl's estate.  Their father had brusquely told the Earl he had no need of his water as water wheels were old fashioned anyway and he was already planning to install steam engines to power the factory.  Unfortunately the bank, instead of loaning him the extra money to invest in steam plant, declared that his business would be unprofitable without the free use of the water power and immediately recalled all his existing substantial loans.  His appeal to the Bank's directors fell on deaf ears, which wasn't surprising considering that the Earl of Rawtenstall was its main shareholder!  As soon as the butler was aware of her father's predicament word had spread fast among the household staff, who were already owed several months pay, and they had all left fearing trouble from the mill workers once they learnt the news.

It felt strange putting herself to bed without any help and Georgina lay awake too troubled to sleep for much of the night.  She eventually fell asleep just before dawn only to be awoken soon afterwards by angry shouting outside.  She looked out to see the workers angrily massed before the locked iron gates to the mill.  As some of the angry mob started climbing over the wall surrounding the factory she hastily started to dress herself, hurriedly pulling on a petticoat.  Without her maid to fasten it she couldn't put on her corset so she quickly pulled on a cream skirt but couldn't arrange it so that it didn't drag on the floor.  Then she had difficulty doing up her bodice, eventually giving up leaving it unfastened at the top .  Outside she could hear glass breaking as the angry mob started hurling stones at the large windows of the cotton mill.  Glancing in the mirror she looked a mess, the poorly fastened bodice seemed to expose too much of her shoulders so she grabbed a shawl to cover them.  The sound of smashing glass suddenly got much louder and with horror she realised the the rioters were starting to direct their fury towards the house.  She grabbed a comb and frantically tried to get her tangled light brown hair into a presentable state, she so needed her maid to put it into a bun.  Rufus burst into her room, wide eyed he grabbed his sister by her slender wrist shouting "They're breaking into the house, they've all gone mad!" 

She pulled herself away from him and desperately pulled on the first pair of shoes that came to hand.  "Come on, you stupid girl" he yelled, then dashed back into his own room.  From downstairs came the sound of more glass breaking and of wood shattering.  Georgina again struggled to get her bodice properly fastened but as she released it it loosely slipped down again, and looking in the mirror it wasn't even straight!  Now she heard her father shouting furiously but slightly incoherently downstairs, no doubt he was drunk.  Frightened, she ran towards her parent's chambers in search of her mother.  The shouting and crashing got louder and she could no longer pick out her father's voice downstairs, Rufus emerged from his room brandishing his brace of pistols and joined her running along the corridor.

Entering her mother's room they saw her face down on the bed sobbing.  As Rufus tried to rouse her the mob followed them in, he grabbed his pistols and turned to face them shouting to the women to get out while they still could.  Georgina grabbed her mother by the arm and pulled her to the window which she struggled to slide open.  There was about a six foot drop onto the roof of the stable block, Georgina was thankful she had not been cornered in her own room at the front of the house from which there would have been no escape, but her mother shrank back sobbing "No, I can't."

Looking back into the room Georgina saw the angry workers closing on Rufus, several brandishing substantial pieces of wood from smashed furniture.  "Stop, or I'll shoot" he said, slightly uncertainly.

"Not all of us yer won't" snarled one of the men as Rufus backed off slightly.  With horror Georgina suddenly realised it was likely that Rufus didn't have a clue how to fire the pistols, in any case he'd probably had no time to load them.  After again failing to get her mother to climb through the window Georgina hoisted the hem of her own skirt up towards her waist and scrambled out, dropping feet first onto the sloping slates below.  When her shoes touched the sloping roof they slipped and as she slid down, losing one of them, she heard an explosion in the room above followed by furious yells.

She continued to slide on down the roof, rolling from her side onto her stomach as her fingers clawed at the smooth slates.  She heard her mother screaming "No, leave him!" somewhere above.   Her finger nails broke and tore as she failed to stop her feet from sliding off the edge of the stable roof, above she heard more furious shouting and a high pitch animal scream.  The front of her bodice caught on the iron guttering then ripped as she tumbled backwards into the yard.  Her bare left heel struck the hard cobbles first before she landed hard on her arse, luckily her shawl came between her skull and the ground, probably saving her life. 

Dazed, she stared upwards as two heavily built men started scrambling out of the window shouting "one of the bastards is getting away" before one dropped down onto the roof below. However the slates shattered under his weight and he fell through the roof up to his armpits.  Coming to her senses Georgina shakily scrambled to her feet, kicked off her remaining shoe, and painfully limped away towards the cover of the woods above the house.

As she tried to hurry into the shelter of the woods without putting any weight on her left heel Georgina twice tripped over the hem of her skirt which quickly became ragged and torn, with bloodstains from her bleeding heel.  Her heart pounding she gave up fleeing and crouched down looking back towards the house for the expected pursuit, but no-one seemed to be coming after her.

It was a couple of hours before the mob started to disperse.  Only a few stragglers, drunk on the contents of her father's wine cellar, remained by the time the Duke of Lancaster's Yeomanry,  who had been summoned by the Constabulary, arrived on the scene with the Magistrate who started loudly reading out "Our Sovereign the Queen chargeth and commandeth all persons..."  In her dishevelled state Georgina hesitated to approach the Magistrate reading out the Riot Act, who was a good friend of the Earl of Rawtenstall, and instead determined to make her way to Colonel Wilson's.

As darkness fell it started to rain and Georgina had only covered half the distance to the Colonel's house, having made slow progress with her bare injured feet, tripping several times on the sodden hem, until it tore and shreds trailed behind her.  She had to leave the road several times to avoid other travellers, finally, exhausted, she took shelter for the night in an almost empty coke store behind a roadside blacksmith's forge.  

She awoke startled by the sound of the smith opening the doors at the front of his forge in the morning and in daylight was horrified at the soiled state of her dress after lying asleep on the coke dust.  She ran limping past the astonished blacksmith who stood open mouthed at the apparition that had emerged from the back of his yard.  As soon as she was out of his sight she collapsed sobbing against a hedge at the side of the road and inspected the wound on the heel of her almost black left foot.  She slowly hobbled on to Colonel Wilson's house, carefully letting only the toes  take any weight on her injured foot.

It was with immense relief that she finally pulled the bell chain at the front door of the Colonel's house.  The maid who answered looked at her uncertainly, Georgina hoarsely pleaded "I need the Colonel's help, please, tell him it's Georgina Hudson.'

The maid disappeared leaving Georgina standing on the doorstep holding onto the door-frame for support.  It was several minutes before Charlotte, Mrs Wilson, came to the door and looked disdainfully down at Georgina who tearfully told her "They've murdered my parents and wrecked our house, please help me!'

'They're not dead, I've heard all about it.  Though your brother's in a poor way with a broken arm and leg they say.  Not that your upstart father didn't have it coming.  Thinking himself better than the rest of us, coming from the gutter to build himself an empire using other people's money" sneered Charlotte.

Horrified at the callous reply Georgina sobbed "Where are they, please where's my mother?'

"Sent packing by Earl Rawtenstall after all the trouble they've caused.  Your grand house and the mill were built with money he lent and now your workers have wrecked them!'

"Please what am I to do?  I must speak to the Colonel, please, no don't send me away" cried Georgina.

"The Colonel's resting" Charlotte dismissively replied.  "Why don't you try the workhouse, they'll soon put you in your place" and laughing cruelly she shut the door in Georgina's face.

Stunned Georgina sank to the ground with a rising sense of panic.  Conscious of the stares of two children across the road she got to her feet and limped away.   Having learnt that her parents were still alive after all she headed despondently back towards her home.

The sodden torn bottom of her skirt and petticoat clung uncomfortably to her legs and she realised the trailing shreds of the voluminous skirt looked pathetically ridiculous.  After first checking no one was watching, she tried to tear off the hanging strips of ruined silk and lace but collapsed in tears as she realised she had made even more of a mess of the skirt and that now much of her petticoat was visible through the rents.  Biting her bottom lip as she again painfully put her weight on her lacerated feet Georgina continued her slow progress towards home. 

She carried on until well after dark, trying to ignore the hunger gnawing away at her belly, her throat dry with thirst and rising panic at her situation.  Finally giving in to exhaustion she scrambled off the road where a small stream passed beneath it in a stone arch.  She scooped some of the water up in her cupped hands and desperately drank the slightly smelly silt laden liquid, spilling much down the front of her bedraggled clothes.  Exhausted she curled up and slept fitfully.