The Ward of Nampara: A Poldark Fan Fiction (COMPLETE)

Chapter 4

"My full name is Emma Lilian Crawford and I'm thirteen years old. My birthday is in two months. My father is Jonathan, my mother Marian. I have an older brother named Joshua who has left to live in the colonies and a younger sister named Mary. My father has been in debtor's prison for six years, and I have been working as an indentured servant for four years."
Demelza did the maths in her head. Emma would have had to be nine or ten when she had started working.
"My family's land was stolen by Philip Crawley. My father owed debts after a bad accident left him unable to farm. My mother hired herself out as a servant to try and keep us together but, she had no choice but to have me work at Crawley's manor."
"I never saw much of Philip, but I knew to stay away from him from what the other staff said. Yesterday at dawn, I snuck out of the kitchen where my pallet was to use the privy. When I came back inside, Philip was in the kitchen. I could tell from how he was acting and the smell on him that he was drunk. He saw me and said that I had been working for him for four years...the debts were still high and he said that it was time for me to start paying him....in other ways." Emma took a shuddering breath and started shaking; the memory still fresh in her mind. Demelza poured her a small glass brandy.
"Here, Emma, drink this; it'll help with the shock."
Emma drank it slowly; her mother used to give it to her when she had a cold and she never liked the taste. Once Emma had caught her breath, she went back to telling everyone what had happened.
"Philip grabbed me and pulled me into the pantry. I tried to grab the doorframe but he slammed the door on my arm; it was heavy and I let go. He threw me onto my pallet. He put his hands on my neck and said to lie still. He let go and started fumbling with his breeches. I knew what he was going to do. I grabbed the paring knife I kept next to me. He saw what I was doing and went to grab the knife from me. I slashed him across the palm and he let go of me. I stabbed him in the shoulder and I ran. He threw a crock at me but missed and I stepped on the pieces when I ran out of the kitchen."
Ross took a deep breath; he knew things like this happened but never thought one of its nameless victims would end up in his house. He hated violence against children. He gripped the counter behind him.
"So he didn't.....?"Ross started to say; he couldn't get his mouth to say that ugly word.
"No, I got away." Emma said, feeling relieved that she had told the whole truth to what had happened.
"Where in the shoulder did you stab him?" Dwight asked her.
"On the top left shoulder; I remember hitting bone and there wasn't as much blood as I thought there would be."
Dwight put his hand on Emma's shoulder.
"Emma, I know you're scared, but what you did was very brave." He said softly. If Emma had stabbed Philip any lower, he would have bled to death.