A Season for Honour

Chapter 2

'Alexander!' Captain Alexander Fallbrook was awoken by the shrill voice of his mother, calling out his name. 'Alexander,' he heard her say again, her voice was becoming louder and higher pitched, the more she repeated his name. Alex, even in his semi-conscious state, knew that he must be in trouble. His mother only ever used his full name if she was angry with him. 'Who is... this?' he heard her bluster indignantly. 'I have never been so... so... shocked,' he then heard her say irately as he opened his eyes, only to see her blurry image standing in the doorway.

Alex, who was still caught between the world of dreams and reality, could not think of a good reason why his mother had come to visit him so early in the day. His head was still heavy from the effects of the copious amounts of alcohol he had drunk the previous evening. As he turned over to see the object of his mother's indignation, he became aware that he was not alone. Lying next to him, her eyes half closed, was a woman; a woman he did not recognise. She was lying with her arm draped around his waist, in a state of dishabille.

As he looked at his bedfellow, he tried to recall the events of the previous night. The other tenants of the bachelor apartments where he lived, would not take kindly to him bringing any woman into the building in the middle of the night. Since he did not wish to move out, he tended to adhere to the strict rules of the building. Then what had happened the previous night that had caused him to put his tenancy at risk. In the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered propositioning a beautiful young woman with golden hair and big blue eyes and inviting her to go back with him to his apartments. As he looked at her now, still lying next to him half-asleep, he could not believe that this was the same woman he had smuggled into his bedchamber only a few hours ago. Her golden hair that he had thought shone in the moonlight, was, in fact, yellow and slightly brassy in colour. Her smooth, flawless skin that he had found so enticing was caked in a thick layer of white powder to hide the uneven surface underneath. And the slight pinkish tinge of a flush on her cheeks had been achieved by the crude application of two spots of rouge, that after the long night in his bed, had become smeared all over her cheeks and his pillow.

'Get her out of here,' a voice, that was not his mother's, but sounded suspiciously like his older brother, boomed from just behind the doorway. 'I will take Mama to your sitting room and give her some hartshorn. We will expect you to join us once you have got rid of that... that doxy. Then you can come and explain yourself and apologise to your mother.'

The woman, who was now wide awake, had taken umbrage at his brother's speech. She sat up in bed, making no effort to cover-up herself. 'How dare you speak to me like that,' she almost screamed, using a thick cockney accent that made Alex wince. 'I ain't no doxy,' she said indignantly, 'I'm a respectable lady. And I'd like you to remember that.'

Alex, who was feeling more than a little ashamed of himself, did not want to argue with her, or his brother, he just wanted them all to go and leave him alone. 'How much do I owe you? Alex said as he swung out of bed and walked over to his bureau where he kept his money. He opened a drawer and took out a leather pouch that contained a handful of gold coins. He took out a couple of gold sovereigns and held them out to her. He knew it was far too much, but he wanted her to leave as quickly as possible.

'Oh no, love,' she said as she swung out of bed and picked up her dress from the floor, 'you've already paid my master. If I take that, he'll only take it and expect me to give him more next time. I'll take a couple of shillings, or a few pennies, to buy some gin, but I'll take no more than that.'

As Alex looked in the pockets of his jacket for his loose change, he felt thoroughly ashamed of himself. How had his life, at the age of eight and twenty, come to this? He had propositioned a woman he had found on a street corner and had brought her back to his own bed.