The Beloved Read Free Page A

look after the child found Alice to be nothing but sweet and lovable. In truth, Temperance could not bring herself to even like her daughter. Temperance felt different towards her eldest child, Eli. If love made your insides turn soft for a moment, then Temperance assumed she loved her son. She could feel his adoration of her: it poured from him. He would hold his arms out to her and when she picked him up he would press his velvet cheeks against hers as he wrapped his little arms around her neck. He was a beautiful boy. He had inherited Temperance’s auburn hair and green eyes, and Arthur’s soft nature. Eli grew into a gentle and caring young man and, best of all, his love for Temperance never wavered.
    Alice, on the other hand, grew worse the older she got. Once the girl learned to speak, there seemed to be no way of training her tongue. She questioned her mother endlessly and challenged her on every decision.
But, why must I wear that? Why can’t I play outside with Eli? Why can’t I go and see Papa now? Why do you love Eli more than me?
The girl was insufferable. She didn’t act at all like a young lady should; she was ridiculously untidy and raced around the house like a common street urchin. Temperance despaired of her. She could barely bring herself to look at the girl at times. It didn’t help that Alice looked so different. She hadn’t inherited her mother’s ethereal beauty, but neither did she take after her father’s side of the family. Alice had an intensity to her. Everything about her was more than it should have been. Her hair was blacker than coal, her skin creamier than the freshest milk and her eyes sharper than a kitchen knife. If Temperance believed at all in changelings, she would have sworn that Alice had been swapped for an otherworldly creature at birth.
    It was Alice that Temperance was thinking about as she stood admiring herself in the mirror. The damned girl was suffering from hysteria, she was sure of it. She was sixteen now and should have long since ceased to be a thorn in Temperance’s neat side. But she was so wilful. Everything with her was a battle. She should have been completely corset trained by now. But no, Alice being Alice, she would take the thing off at night, complaining that it was too uncomfortable to sleep in. Of course it was uncomfortable. A good, straight and comely posture could not be gained without a modicum of discomfort. But Temperance had got her own way as usual. She saw to it herself that every night now, Alice’s hands were strapped to her bed. There was no tampering with corset laces now. A few more weeks should do it, then hopefully Alice’s wayward mind would be restrained, along with her figure.
    Temperance checked the clock on her mantelpiece. It was seven o’clock. Time for the day to begin in earnest. She would go and untie Alice first, say goodbye to Arthur before he left for Bristol, then instruct the cook on exactly what was needed for Lady Egerton’s visit.

Three
    I smell Mama before she even enters my chamber. The cloying scent of her lavender announces her arrival at my door. My body tenses and I am aware that I am holding my breath. I turn my face away from the door and listen as the key clunks in the lock. I hear the rustle of her skirts as she walks to my bedside. She lifts the covers from me and runs her hands down the length of my body to feel the sheet beneath me. I feel the cool of her fingers on my wrists and she makes a tiny grunting noise as she pulls at the buckles and frees my hands. Then she is gone. Without saying a word. But she’s left her lavender scent behind and I need to rid my room of it.
    First though, I pull the chamber pot from under my bed and relieve myself, thankful that I didn’t wake to cold wet sheets again. Whenever I have disgraced myself in this manner, Mama has me carry the bundle of sodden linen down to the kitchens so all the servants may witness my