Tales of Romance in a Virtuous Era

By Susan Williams

Can Dreams Come True?

Mary is a parlour maid at number 12 Regents Park, and her days are filled with hard work and misery. Made worse by Master William’s advances.
Master William takes great pleasure in making her life a misery. To the extent that she is afraid to be alone with him.
Her only solace comes in the form of her boyfriend Edward, but even he has hidden depths.
As time goes by, Mary becomes weary and depressed, as there seems to be no way out for her; and with Master William trying to get her into trouble at every opportunity with the Mistress of the house, will Mary find the courage to stand up for herself?

Diversity

Grace works as a parlour maid for Mr and Mrs Turlington, and although the work is hard, she finds solace in the fact that Master Luther is kind to her.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of Luther’s sister, who is unpredictable and seems to dislike Mary intensely. To the extent, that she goes out of her way to hurt her mentally and physically.
Ann’s behaviour towards Grace becomes even more unpleasant, when she realises that Luther has romantic feelings for Grace; resulting in Luther having to chastise Ann for her unreasonable behaviour.

Is Ann a naturally malicious woman who likes to make Grace’s life miserable, or is there another reason behind her behaviour?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Williams
• Release date: May 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781370438440

Susan Williams

Hi, I live in Dorset, England and I was a Teaching Assistant. Due to Covid 19 I have decided to retire. Not sure what the future holds with regards to work, but for now, I'm concentrating on my writing and other hobbies.I am married and have two wonderful sons.I enjoy, reading, writing, playing darts, crafts, exploring coffee shops and mooching .

Book preview

Copyright Susan Williams 2019

Smashwords Edition

Can Dreams Come True?

Mary slowly opened her eyes and as she did so, she quickly pulled her arms back under the blankets. It was the middle of October and her tiny attic room was freezing, so much so, that small icicles were starting to form on the window ledge.

Reluctantly, she pulled her arm out from under the covers and patted the top of the bed in search of her dress. Silent tears started to fall unchecked down her cheeks when she realized, it wasn’t there. She scanned the room and was alarmed to find that the dress was hanging on the back of the door; she’d put it there to dry the night before and had forgotten to put it back on the bed.

Grumbling inwardly, but knowing there was no other option, she heaved her weary body out of the bed and ran to the door, retrieved her dress and flung herself under the warm covers. Her hands were trembling so much that it took her a good five minutes before she was able to undo the buttons, and when she finally managed to put the dress on, she lay under the covers for a while, reflecting on the futility of her life.

Her life was hard, monotonous and soul destroying, and she wished more than anything, that she was back home in her mother’s kitchen in the county of Kent. The aroma of freshly baked bread would often waft through their one-bedroom cottage and for a moment, she wanted her old life back so badly, she could almost taste it.

But fate had dealt her a cruel blow. She had lost both her parents to an illness that had swept through their village. Her mother had gone first, closely followed by her father and being an only child, she had no one to care for her. Aunt Edith, a friend of her mothers had offered to take her in, but she had opted to come to London instead. A decision she had regretted ever since.

She sniffed, then wiped her hand across her wet nose and cursed. Her youth was being tainted by hard work and a greedy mistress and she felt much older than her one and twenty years.

Ten minutes later, having overcome her feelings of despair, or rather, put them to one side, Mary walked downstairs and into the kitchen, and while cook prepared the kippers for breakfast, she started to clear out the grate.

‘It’s blooming cold today,’ cook said happily.

Mary grunted and muttering profanities under her breath she carried on with her duties. She could never understand why cook was always so cheerful.

Seeing the look of despair on Mary’s face, cook said politely, ‘It’s no good feeling sorry for yourself. You must accept your lot.’

Mary remained silent; she wasn’t going to indulge in idle chatter when there were so many chores to do. Besides, she was meeting Edward this afternoon and if she didn’t finish her work on time, she wouldn’t be able to go.

She’d been seeing Edward for six months now and he was proving to be a gentleman. He’d never once tried to kiss her. He wasn’t like the other men she’d know, not that there had been many. Her experience was very limited in that department, seeing that she very rarely went out. That was until Dolly the scullery maid, had taken her to the park one afternoon on her day off. That’s where she had met Edward. She smiled when she recalled how he’d bravely walked up to her and asked her is she would like to walk out with him, even though they had not been formally introduced.

Edward had told her that he was an apprentice working in a lawyer’s office but would never tell her where he worked; and she often wondered how he managed to take her out for dinner and the theatre on an apprentice wage.

‘Hello Mary.’

Mary looked over her shoulder to see Master William standing behind her, and she immediately stood up and turned to him in readiness for what was about to happen. William took a step forward, forcing her to take a step back.

‘Please don’t start sir. If you make another move towards me, I swear I’ll scream the house down.’

‘Oh Mary! Come now, you used to like my advances.’

‘I was fourteen. You took advantage of me.’

‘Oh Mary, you know I like you.’

‘Enough to marry me sir?’ she said bravely.

But as soon as she’d said the words, she wished she hadn’t. She had a nasty habit of speaking out of turn and she was certain, that one day, her careless tongue would be her downfall.

‘You know that is out of the question. I have no means to support you. I would be disinherited and then where would I be?’

‘Which is why I will not lie with you sir. You took advantage of a naïve young servant girl but no more. Thankfully, we only had a few stolen kisses, else I could have ended up with child, like all the other women in the workhouse.’

‘Do not flatter yourself, you mean nothing to me,’ he said sarcastically, moving closer to her, forcing her to move to the side. She’d become rather adept at dodging his advances.

Not liking how the conversation was going, William bade her farewell and went off to find his father, leaving Mary to finish her work. Thankfully, she was making good time and after she’d dusted the morning room, polished the silverware and scrubbed the back steps, she was finished for the afternoon.

But life never ran smoothly for her and just as she had finished washing the concrete steps, the housekeeper told her to change into a fresh pinafore. Lady Helen wanted to speak with her.

Reluctantly, Mary put the mop and bucket in the scullery and heaved her tired body up the stairs. She was due to meet Edward soon and if she didn’t hurry, she knew she would miss half an hour of his attentions, and that was the last thing she wanted; for knowing she would see Edward, was the only thing that kept her going.

Besides, she had a new dress she wanted to show off and she couldn’t wait to see Edward’s face when he saw it. The mistress had thrown it out, but she’d managed to persuade the rag man to give it to