The Passions of Bronwyn

by Martina Martyn

  After a couple more drinks they were all feeling a bit merry so decided that they had better start the journey home. They managed to get a train more or less straight away. It was less crowded this time and they all got a seat. William put his arm around Wyn and pulled her close.

  ‘This feels nice,’ he said as she snuggled closer to him. He put his hand under her chin and pulled her face up so he could give her a tender kiss. Wyn looked over at Betty and Ned who were both fast asleep. ‘Look at those two,’ she said, ‘I think we must have worn them out.’ ‘They’ve had too much ale more like,’ he replied. When they reached the station they had to shake the other two awake, luckily they only had a short walk back to the house. Ned didn’t even try to talk Betty to going into his room this time as he was so sleepy, he just gave her a quick kiss and left. Betty walked into the house and straight up to her bedroom. William took Wyn into his arms and kissed her very passionately letting his fingers run over her nipples. ‘See you tomorrow,’ he said. Wyn gave him another quick kiss and walked up to her bedroom. She got undressed and got into bed naked. She could still feel William’s lips on hers and his touch as he had rubbed his fingers quickly over her nipples. She let her fingers touch where he had, which made her body start to throb. She moved her other hand further down her body to the heart of her sex. She started moving her finger round and round while at the same time she took a nipple between her fingers and squeezed. A feeling of pleasure went through her body and she started moving her fingers around her sex faster. She could feel the sensations in her body intensifying until it felt like her body was exploding in pleasure. When she came back down to earth, she felt pure contentment and drifted into sleep with a smile on her face.

  The next morning they all met in the kitchen. After Wyn and Betty had cleared away the breakfast things they all sat around the table drinking tea. ‘Where shall we go today?’ William asked them.

  ‘I want to go down Brick Lane,’ Betty told them. There’s a lot of different things to see there.’ I went once years ago and always meant to go back but never got around to it. She went on to describe all the places she knew down the lane, ‘and when we’ve had enough of that,’ she continued, ‘there is a famous tavern in Wapping called The Prospect of Whitby.’

  ‘I’ve heard of that,’ William interrupted, ‘sounds like a good idea to me.’ He looked at Wyn and Ned. ‘What do you two think?’

  ‘Fine by me,’ said Wyn.

  ‘Yep and me,’ Ned agreed.

  ‘That’s decided then,’ said William, ‘when we’ve finished our tea we’ll go.’

  A few minutes later they were all ready to go. ‘Have a good day,’ Mrs Davis told them as they walked out of the door. It was a lovely spring day and was quite warm with wispy white clouds in a bright blue sky. They all felt very happy to be out. They walked down to the station where they were lucky to get a train straight away. When they got off the train they had trouble getting through the crowds and out of the station.

  ‘I didn’t realise it was going to be so busy,’ said Betty.

  ‘Just keep walking,’ Ned told her, ‘it might be better when we get away from here.

  When they finally managed to push their way through the crowds, they started walking down a long road with lots of stalls selling all kinds of interesting looking things. Wyn and Betty couldn’t stop touching everything until Betty suddenly stopped walking and pulled Wyn into a shop selling bagels.

  ‘I remember these,’ she told them, ‘you’ve got to try one’.

  She walked up to the counter and asked for four salt beef bagels then handed one to the others. Wyn took a bite, ‘ooh this is lovely,’ she exclaimed, we’ve got to take some back home for later.’

  At the top of the Lane were the stalls selling antiques, further down there were more stalls selling clothes, furniture, bric-a-brac, books and a lot more. The market was spread out along Brick Lane and spilled out onto the side streets. At the bottom there were some wonderful fabric stores. Wyn and Betty were still having a wonderful time looking at all the goods on sale but William and Ned were getting bored.

  ‘We’ve been here for a couple of hours,’ William moaned, ‘let’s go and find this Tavern you were talking about Betty.’

  ‘It’s a bit of a walk,’ she warned them, ’but it’s worth it once you get there,’

  They started walking and ended up in the dockyards of Wapping. There were warehouses on both sides of the road and it was full of men with carts and wagons moving big bundles of goods.

  ‘This is a bit rough,’ Ned commented,

  Just keep on walking,’ replied Betty, ‘it’s just over there,’

  ‘They looked in the direction she was pointing and saw the tavern. Wyn was relieved as she was getting tired.

  They could see The Prospect of Whitby in front of them.

  ‘Looks alright,’ said William, ‘let’s go in and find out.’

  They walked in and looked around them. The landlord who served them saw their interest.

  ‘It’s an old and historic tavern that was formerly known as the Devil’s Tavern on account of its dubious reputation,’ he told them. ‘Unfortunately all that’s left from the building’s earliest period, is the 400 year old stone floor. In former times it was a meeting place for sailors, smugglers, cut-throats and footpads.’

  ‘What a wonderful story’ said Wyn.

  ‘That’s not all,’ continued the Landlord. ‘In the 17th century, it became the tavern chosen by the hanging Judge Jeffreys as he lived nearby, there’s a noose hanging by a window over there commemorating him. Even Charles Dickens and Samuel Pepys are known to have drunk here. There was a fire here that century and the tavern was rebuilt and renamed The Prospect of Whitby.’

  Ned had stopped listening as he’d had enough of the history lesson

  ‘I’ve started losing the will to live,’ he whispered, ‘I don’t want a history lesson, I just want a drink, let’s just sit down and have a drink.’

  Wyn thanked the Landlord then they walked to the back of the tavern and sat down at a table overlooking the river. Wyn and Betty looked out of the window at all the activity on the river. It was very busy with boats and barges taking people and goods up and down. There was a lot of shouting and Wyn even heard singing coming from the closest barge. She saw a woman doing her washing in a bucket on the deck. She was the one singing.

  ‘This is amazing,’ she said, ‘they are living their whole life on a boat. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

  They all jumped as the woman suddenly stopped singing and shouted at someone else on the boat. ‘What are you doing? You stupid man’.

  Wyn and Betty looked in the direction of the person she was shouting at. They were shocked to see a man, who was obviously drunk, staggering onto the deck totally naked. He leered suggestively at her and started touching himself.

  ‘Get your clothes back on you drunken old sod’ she screamed at him. ‘You’ll be arrested if you’re not careful,’

  She walked over to him and pushed him back inside. There was a loud thud as he landed on his back in the boat.

  ‘I think it’s just as well that we can’t hear what he’s saying now,’ laughed Betty.

  The woman had followed him down into the boat and a few minutes later the boat started to rock from side to side.

  ‘Oh my!’ exclaimed Betty with a knowing look on her face, I wonder what could be happening now.’

  Wyn, William and Ned couldn’t reply. They were all laughing too much.

  ‘Oh my said Betty when she had finally pulled herself together, ‘I’ve never seen anything quite like that before.’

  ‘Me neither agreed Ned. ‘You don’t get a lot of that in the country.’

  ‘No, just murder, kidnapping and attempted rape.’ laughed William giving Ned a shove.

  Ned just smiled sheepishly but didn’t reply.

  They were all quite sad when it was time to leave as they didn’t know when they would next have time off. They walked
slowly back through the dockyards, fighting their way through the Dockers who had now finished work and were all on their way to the taverns around the docks. There were the sounds of women from the nearby flats shouting at each other and their grubby looking children who were playing in the street. William was holding on tight to Wyn’s hand so he didn’t lose her and Ned was doing the same with Betty. When they finally got through, it was getting dark and they still had quite a way to go to get to the station. ‘We’d better walk a bit faster,’ William said, 'we need to get the train.’ When they finally got to the station it was completely dark and they were very out of breath. They had to wait awhile for a train and were all very relieved when they finally got home. Ned and Betty were whispering by the kitchen door and when William and Wyn were otherwise occupied, they slipped away to Ned’s room over the garage. Wyn finally realised Betty was no longer by the door and said to William that she must have already gone in.

  ‘Come on then,’ William said, let’s go in, it’s getting a bit chilly out here.’ They walked into the kitchen but it was empty.

  ‘She must have already gone to bed,’ Wyn told him.

  ‘Good,’ he replied, ‘we’re alone at last.’ He pulled her towards him and put his lips on hers. She opened her mouth to let his tongue in and they started kissing with more passion. He slipped her shawl off her shoulders and moved his hand slowly over her body. She moaned as his hand moved up inside her skirt, up further into her knickers until it found her sex. He started moving his fingers round and round making her moan in pleasure. He took her hand and put it on to his very erect member. Do it he urged her, make me come, please do it, I need you. He moaned as Wyn took him into her hand and started moving it up and down faster and faster. Ooh that’s it he said, oh yes that’s it. As she moved her hand harder and faster he was moving his finger the same way. They both started to feel the pressure building until, as one, they bodies exploded in absolute pleasure. ‘Oh Wyn, you make me feel so good, I really want you so much.’

  ‘I know but we can’t,’ she replied.

  ‘There must be a way,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to try and find something.’

  The next morning when she saw Betty she asked her why she had gone to bed without saying anything.

  ‘I didn’t go to bed,’ Betty replied, ‘I went back with Ned to his room.’

  ‘Oh Betty,’ Wyn said, ‘what happened? You didn’t did you?’

  ‘Oh yes I did,’ replied Betty ‘and it was wonderful, better than I ever thought.’

  Wyn looked shocked so Betty carried on. ‘It’s alright we were safe, you remember I had to go and take something for Mrs Brompton to Mrs Harvey next door, well, I got talking to one of the maids in there and she told me how to stop yourself ending up with a baby and that’s why I didn’t stop Ned, it was getting harder to stop anyway, we both wanted it so much so when we got carried away, I let him. I didn’t mean to but couldn’t help it. Oh it was so wonderful, I didn’t realise just how nice it would feel.’

  ‘Well tell me then,’ said Wyn, ‘how do you do it?’

  ‘I’ll tell you later,’ Betty replied, ‘all I will say for now is that it involves water and a sponge.’

  That sounds a bit strange, Wyn thought, I’m not sure that sounds very safe. I think I’ll wait to see what happens with Betty before I say anything to William.

  ‘Come on Wyn,’ Betty said, ‘stop dreaming, we’ve got to get back to work and then look through the documents again.

  Wyn followed her out of the kitchen and asked, ‘was it really that good?’

  ‘Ooh yes,’ replied Betty dreamily.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  When they had finished their household tasks, Wyn and Betty went back to the study and started looking through the documents they had found to see if they could find any information about who the body in the basement could have been. They were looking at documents that were dated about twenty years ago as this was when the coroner said the body was probably from.

  ‘There aren’t so many,’ Wyn said, ‘we should be able to find her.’

  ‘Here’s one,’ exclaimed Betty, ‘her name was Mary Childs, she was only sixteen years old and disappeared twenty one years ago.

  ‘This is her,’ said Wyn, ‘there can’t be any doubt, we’d better tell Mrs Brompton about her.’ They went to the drawing room where Mrs Brompton was sitting doing her correspondence. ‘Excuse us Mrs Brompton,’ Betty said, ‘we’re sorry to disturb you, but we think we may have found out who the body in the basement was.’

  ‘Come in,’ they were told, ‘tell me.’

  ‘Her name was Mary Childs and she disappeared twenty one years ago,’ Wyn told her.

  Mrs Brompton repeated her name quietly to herself, thought for a few minutes and then said ‘she must have been here before I was because I don’t remember her. We need to find out more about her so I think maybe you should keep searching through the documents and also get William to do a further search of the basement. What was the document you found that mentioned her?’ she asked.

  ‘It was a copy of a letter from George Brompton to her family telling them that she was unwell so couldn’t go home for the weekend,’ Betty told her.

  ‘I wonder what he had to do with it,’ Mrs Brompton pondered, ‘Oh lord!’ she exclaimed as she had a sudden thought, ‘I think it must have been his baby. It makes sense, that’s why I didn’t know anything about him. The family must have pretended he never existed, but did they know she was in the basement? Where was she before she died? They wouldn’t have let her stay in the house. It means that there could be somewhere else down in that cellar where he kept her until she was in labour. Tell William I want to see him now please,’ she asked Wyn.

  Wyn ran down stairs to find William. ‘Mrs Brompton wants you right now,’ she told him. ‘What for?’ he asked.

  ‘Just come on, you’ll see,’ Wyn told him.

  They both ran back upstairs to the drawing room. ‘You wanted me Mrs Brompton?’ William said as he walked in.

  ‘Oh yes William, I would like you to do another search of the basement, there must be another room down there somewhere. If you find one, I want to see it, I owe it to that poor girl’s family to let them know what happened to their daughter. Start right now,’ she added, ‘take Wyn with you.’ She turned to Betty and told her to go back to the study and find as many references to Mary Childs as she could. ‘Go on then,’ she said as they all were still standing there.

  Wyn and William went downstairs to the basement. ‘Alone at last,’ William said, giving Wyn a quick kiss. ‘Now, now none of that,’ she said laughing, ‘there’s work to be done.’ William gave an exaggerated sigh and winked at her. ‘Alright come on then,’ he said. They walked down past the strong room where the body had been found and further into the basement.

  ‘There’s a door here,’ Wyn told him. William opened the door but there was nothing in there.

  ‘Not this one,’ he said, ‘keep going.’ They walked through a long room with odd pieces of furniture in it. ‘There’s nothing else here,’ William said.

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ Wyn told him, ‘bring the light closer over here, there’s another door hidden in the very back of the room. Look you have to turn the corner to find it.’

  William walked over and opened the door. They walked into a large room that had rugs on the floor and wallpaper on the walls. There were tapestries and paintings all around the room. In the middle there was a large bed with a very fancy bedspread hung over the bottom of the bed. They went closer and noticed that the sheet on the bed was covered with large stains that could possibly be blood.

  ‘I think we’ve found where she lived before she died,’ Wyn exclaimed.

  ‘I think you’re right,’ William agreed. ‘Come on, let’s go and get Mrs Brompton.’

  They left everything exactly as it was and went back upstairs to tell Mrs Brompton what they had found.

  ‘We’ve found a room they told her, it’s definitely where she
was.’

  ‘Show me,’ she said.

  They led the way back down to the basement and took her to the room. She walked in and looked around. ‘I can’t believe he did all this and none of us noticed,’ she murmured. ‘How did he get it down here, he must have had someone helping him. What do you think?’ she asked William.

  ‘I agree with you,’ he replied, ‘he couldn’t have done this alone.’

  ‘Poor girl,’ Mrs Brompton said, ‘living down here all by herself and then dying alone. Alright I’ve seen enough,’ she said, ‘I’ll let Dr Jenkins know tomorrow. He should be able to arrange an Inquest then. Come on shut the door and go and have your dinner.’

  The next morning Mrs Brompton asked Ned to take her to Dr Jenkins office again and told Wyn, Betty and William to keep going through the documents once they had finished their household duties. They rushed through the cleaning and then went up to the study and carried on looking through all the papers.

  ‘Put anything with Mary Childs name in one pile and everything else in another one. It will make it easier to go through,’ William told them.

  A couple of hours later they had finished. The pile with Mary Childs name mentioned was a large one. Wyn started looking through it. ‘Oh my!’ she exclaimed, ‘there are letters here from her to her family telling them that she couldn’t go home because she was now working as nanny to the children and couldn’t leave them.’

  ‘I don’t think there were any children here at that time,’ William said.

  ‘Good excuse though wasn’t it?’ Wyn replied. ‘There’s other letters here from her telling them all about her fictitious life but never mentioning anything about having a baby.’