The Making of a Princess. by Lorrie Mae.

Darkness of Evil. PART 4

Things for Daphne were going along fine, she had her daily routine and with the help of the girls she was improving each day.

It was the morning that she was meeting with the Duke, they had planned to have lunch together so she could talk to him without interruptions, and so today, as nearly all of the bruising had faded, she wanted to  feel like her proper self, she was feeling more like she was when at home with her parents.
Daphne hadn't been to see her parents for so long, as her duties in the Aspen home kept her busy every day, she never had a day off, her duties kept her busy trying to keep the little ones from being abused.
Daphne was thinking about how she had been able to try and help the other children and while she sat her mind wandered back into past.

When she first came to this house, she felt so alone and no one cared about her, until she found the cook Mrs. Watson, she had wandered into the kitchen and was standing at the door watching the cook make up some biscuits, the children living there had never seen a crumb of a biscuit, and the smell of them cooking in the oven made her stomach grumble, and on hearing t hat sound Mrs. Watson turned around and said "Hello, how are you, and what is your name." Daphne looked at her with eyes wide open, ; I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to creep about I was just trying to find a place to hide in, and I had to follow that beautiful smell, it has made me so hungry ,please I am so sorry, I will leave now please forgive me."

Mrs. Watson was surprised at how well this young girl spoke "What is your name," she asked the young lady in front of her, she had a suspicion that there was more to this young lady than what she was seeing, "My name is Daphne De Muir, and my father sent me here when things started to go wrong at home, Mr. Aspen said he would take me in and school me, " she said shyly. "How long do you think you will be here," the friendly lady in front of her was asking, "Come and sit with me for a minute she said, I am due for a cuppa anyway, would you like one," "Yes please if it is not too much trouble." "You can sit there next to me, the others will be busy finishing their dishes soon it's almost lunch time but I will have this with you and then get back to work, that Mr. Aspen wants his meals dead on time, all of this extra cooking for him drives me mad," she said as she set two cups and a pot of tea, the cups and saucers were so beautiful, Daphne couldn't stop looking at them, "They are so beautiful, they remind me of my parents set back at home," Daphne said quietly with tears in her eyes Mrs. Watson came around to Daphne and gave her shoulders a rub, don't cry honey, I didn't mean to upset you " she said softly, just then a voice that carried across the big kitchen, saying "What is going on here, what is that filthy child doing here and drinking from that fine cup, you have no right to be in here, get up and get out of here," and he grabbed her by her hair, it was Mr. Aspen the terror of her dreams every night, he pushed her so hard that she slammed into the solid door, a sudden headache started up in her head and it took a long time for her to get up off the floor, she turned to say "Thank you to Mrs. Watson, " and Mr. Aspen pushed her again, and she fell down on her legs and skidded along the dirty floor, she was back in that filthy place "Get up and go back to where you belong, who do you think you are, little miss you are not deserving of touching anything nice, your father threw it all away in place of his gambling ways, so you are mine, and I will be keeping an eye on you, my cleaning lady," and with that he made her move back to the filthy place where all of the children lived and play, there was no cleaning done at all, and the smell was sickening.

Daphne decided to start doing something for the other children, she gathered together some of the older children, and started to try and clean up the areas where they were eating, by cleaning the tables where the children would be eating, then again the meals that they received were just water with a few vegetables and rice . That was the standard meal every day . morning it was glug, or porridge it was called, and that was about it, Mr. Aspen was given all the things from the farms around the place, so as far as any one knew the children were well looked after, but no one had been around to even check up on the way things were going. the clothes that they wore were worn every day they never had clean ones for about a week, and then if they got dirty it was too bad you were supposed to keep yourself clean, but with nothing to keep you clean, they all went dirty.

Daphne went to sleep that night and the nightmares started up again, she was being chased by someone who's face she couldn't see, but he was on a horse and he was trying to reach her, she screamed and ended up waking everyone else up too, all of sudden there was Mr. Aspen right in front of her, he grabbed her and pulled her up grabbing her roughly by the arm, she screamed in pain, "You are hurting me, stop it,' and her attacker turned and said, "Hush your mouth you brash child, I am your master and I will be doing what I can and will, you see I am in charge."

He took her and shoved her into a cupboard which was stored with smelly pieces of clothes that were used to clean up with, but they were never washed. The smell was overpouring as soon as the door was open, he threw her inside so roughly that her face landed on the wall which tore into her as there were sharp pieces of stone, it cut into her, and she could feel a coldness running down her face, she rubbed it on her dress, and because it was so dark inside she couldn't tell how bad it all was. she made a space where she could sit and cry, because that is what she felt like, she sat and with her arms around her legs she rocked back and forth and cried a river of tears.

Mrs. Watson was worried about the young girl she had met, and she didn't like the way that Mr. Aspen had handled her, and so she asked one of the women who look after the children to keep an eye on Daphne, and so it was that she heard about the fact that she had been thrown into the cupboard under the stairs.
Mrs. Watson had put a few biscuits and a banana in to her pocket and was carrying a basket as she wanted some herbs from the vegetable garden that was near the door where Daphne was in.
Mrs. Watson came and stood against the door, l have a small package for you, I will pass it through the broken window near the corner of the stairs, and I will get word to the duke so he can come and rescue you."
"No it is OK thank you Mrs. Watson, I intend to escape tonight and run away from here, I cannot thank you enough for looking out for me."
Mrs. Watson turned around and looked at her face in the window, and what she saw chilled her to the bone, " What has he done this time, here take this and eat it all before he comes, and please don't try and escape he will kill you if he can get a hold of you, I must go now, please don't do it.
As the night was slowly closing in, Daphne sat and ate the biscuits and fruit, she was going over things in her young head, if she couldn't go through the broken window she would have to go back through the door but it was locked.
She hid the cloth that the biscuits were in inside the apron that she was wearing and waited for the right time.

Penelope was standing at the back of the place where she could sit and listen , she never liked Daphne because
of  how Daphne could make friendships  with nearly  everyone there. She was even trying to reach out and çlean up the place where they lived, it was dirty everywhere they looked, and so she had told Mr. Aspen, and she was to watch Daphne and report back to him on anything that she saw or heard.
And so began the night of Daphne's departure from that place.
As soon as it dark enough, Daphne stood up looking outside to see if anyone was out there, when she didn't see anyone she pushed the broken pieces of glass out with her hand wrapped up in the cloth that she found nearby, and then she put her cape on to protect her as she climbed out of the Window, she looked around and began to run as fast as she could, she had nearly reached the edge of the markers saying which way to go,  when she heard someone calling her name, and turning around and seeing who was calling her she saw Penelope who wanted her to stop, "I cannot stop, I must keep running before Mr. Aspen catches me," and she started toward the forest that was near the end of the cross road.
Penelope watched and realized that she wasn't coming back and so she turned and thought I had better tell Mr. Aspen before she gets to far away?

Penelope arrived in Mr. Aspen's rooms and being short of breath she stammered out as fast as she could, "What are you going on about girl I can't understand anything you are saying, you stupid person," and he grabbed her by the hair so harshly that she screamed, just as Mrs. Watson came to the door with a tray for him. "Mr. Aspen could you please drop that girl now, I cannot believe what I am seeing, and so Mr. Aspen dropped her and this
time he turned and looked at Mrs. Watson and then said, "Now tell me again slowly what you were saying," Penelope looked at Mrs. Watson and then in a quiet voice she began to tell him how that person she was supposed to keep an eye on for you, has crawled out of the window and run away, she is hard too see sir as she has a cape on, and being so dark I couldn't follow her, so I came to tell you." Mr. Aspen was quiet for awhile and then he turned around and asked Mrs. Watson to take Penelope back with her, as he had something to do.

Mrs Watson waited until they were out of earshot and then asked Penelope "Why would you spy on any of the girls for that slimy eel, I can't believe what I just saw and heard, what are you getting off him for doing his dirty work, tell me now, "