The Heart Within

Dream of Paradise

"When she was just a girl, she expected the world. But it flew away from her reach, so she ran away in her sleep. Dreamed of para-para-paradise. Para-para-paradise, para-para-paradise. Every time she closed her eyes..."
- Coldplay: 'Paradise' (Mylo Xyloto [2011])

~**~

Pantry
Mr Sneed's Undertakers
Cardiff, Wales
1869

Sensing that the Doctor had reassuring Dickens under control, she excused herself and went off in search of Rose, to see if her sister was alright after her ordeal with the corpses and her near brush with death. She finds her in the pantry with Gwyneth, who was in the process of cleaning up after serving them all cups of tea.

Gwyneth takes a box of matches from her apron and sparks a match to light yet another gas lamp attached to the wall of the pantry. Rose reaches for the tea-towel, and Katy heads for the sink, much to the dismay of Gwyneth who was unused to those whom she served helping her clean up.

"Please, you shouldn't be helping. It's not right." Gwyneth protests, looking alarmed. Rose snorts, accepting a clean, wet dish from her sister and drying it with the tea-towel.

"Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death." Rose points out.

"Besides, we do this all the time. It's kind of a nightly ritual our mum started when we were little." Katy reassures Gwyneth that it really wasn't a big deal that she let them do her chores for once.

"How much to you get paid?" Rose asked, and winces when Katy smacks her arm.

"Rose, that's really rude." She scolds.

"It's okay, miss. I don't mind telling you." Gwyneth tells Katy who shrugs and turns back to the wash bucket but listens in. "Eight pounds a year, miss." She answers Rose's question, and Katy nearly drops the plate she was washing into the bucket.

"How much?" Rose's mouth fell open in shock.

"I know. I would've been happy with six." Gwyneth elaborated, missing and misinterpreting the point of the sisters' disbelief.

Katy lets out a shaky laugh before continuing to scrub the dishes. The future as far as Rose and she were concerned had certainly changed a lot. Eight pounds a month? That was practically slave labour money!

"So, did you go to school or what?" Rose asked, still shocked by what Gwyneth had said also. The maid looked slightly offended by the question.

"Of course, I did. What do you think I am, an urchin?" Rose looked a little sheepish, as Katy smirked at her; considering that Rose barely went to school when she had to. She really didn't have the right to point fingers. "I went every Sunday, nice and proper." Gwyneth explained with a proud little smile, and the smirk fell off Katy's face.

Well, that was a depressing thought...

"What, once a week?" Rose was surprised.

"We did sums and everything." Gwyneth nodded, looking thoughtful as she travelled down memory lane. Then she wrinkled her nose. "To be honest, I hated every second."

"Me too." Rose agreed.

"What kid does enjoy going to school?" Katy pointed out, causing all three of the girls to laugh.

"Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own." Gwyneth admitted, and Rose grinned mischievously.

"I did plenty of that," Rose stated, and Katy rolled her eyes at the memory. "I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. We used to go and look at boys."