Didactic fiction; Domestic fiction; Girls -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction; Poverty -- Juvenile fiction
Juliet was so fearful lest she might let slip a cup or saucer that she
spent about half an hour in washing the crockery. While she did this
at a side table, Mrs. Bosher was ironing linen at the table in the
middle of the room. From time to time the sharp, sensible eyes of the
woman rested upon the face of the girl, and at such moments the top of
the black bonnet nodded as if it were alive.
When Juliet had finished her task Mrs. Bosher said, "Now, you shall
have bread-and-milk for supper, and then go to bed."
"I don't like bread-and-milk," returned Juliet, "and it is too early
to go to bed."
"Indeed. What do you like for supper? And at what hour do you prefer
to go to bed?"
"I like bread and cheese; and we went to bed at ten o'clock when
uncle's work was done."
The bonnet nodded faster than before.
"You will eat bread-and-milk or nothing, and if your aunt let you sit
up till ten o'clock I am not so foolish."
A basin of the food which Juliet declined to eat was set before her.
She was very hungry, but having refused it already she let it lie
untasted. Meanwhile Mrs. Bosher lighted a lamp.
"It is nearly nine o'clock. Now you go to bed. Come along."
There was a door which Mrs. Bosher opened, revealing a flight of
stairs. She pushed Juliet up them, and though the girl would have
liked to rebel, she did not dare to do so. In fact, she thought the
wisest plan would be to go quietly up to the bed-room, and, as soon as
Mrs. Bosher herself was in bed, to get out by the window and make her
way back to Littlebourne Lock. There was a full moon, and the night
was almost as light as the day.
So she let herself be pushed upstairs into an almost empty little room
in the roof, and when she heard the door locked upon her she laughed
silently, thinking that the cruel woman had done the very thing her
prisoner wished her to do. Mrs. Bosher's heavy steps went down the
wooden stairs; the door of the house was opened, shut, and locked, and
Juliet's spirits rose when she knew that she was alone. She might as
well run away at once.
She looked at the window. It was in the roof--a skylight. There was no
means of getting up to it, and no means of opening it that Juliet
could perceive. Oh, she was caught in a trap! One or two large stars
stared down through the small panes, and the diffused light of the
moon was enough to show the girl how hopeless was her condition. She
was in prison, caught, with no chance of escape. What a terrible
position she had brought herself into! If her aunt could see her! If
her own dear mother could see her!
Juliet threw herself on the little hard bed and wept bitterly. Not a
sound could she hear! Alone, hungry, miserable!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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