Among the Darkness Stirs

“Madame,” the voice said.

She blinked once and then twice, looking around. She saw the train guard standing a few feet near her.

“Madame, I believe this is your stop,” he said, gesturing out the window.

Audrey blushed deeply. She had slept all the way to Norwich, and the guard had come to wake her. “Is it? I can’t believe I slept the whole way,” she said, pulling at her gloves and checking her purse and valise.

“I’ll have your bag brought out to the platform for you.”

“Thank you. I do appreciate it.”

On the platform, Audrey stood with her trunk, waiting for the porter from the workhouse. She hoped she would be able to spot him, as they had never met. After the train pulled away from the station, there were fewer people about, so she sat upon a bench to wait.

A young man thin as a rail, wearing trousers and a dusty jacket, suddenly appeared before her, looking left and right before his eyes settled on her. She had lifted her veil when she sat down so she was able to see him clearly.

“Miss Wakefield?” he asked, approaching her.

Audrey stood up to greet him and extended her hand. “Good afternoon. I’m Audrey Wakefield.”

They shook hands briefly, and the man stared at her for several moments. Audrey touched a gloved hand to her face, thinking she must have soot on her. She eyed the man with thinning blonde hair and blue eyes.

“You’re a bit of an oyster,” he said suddenly, and Audrey blushed at the compliment. “I’m Leviticus Penn. Everyone calls me Levi.” He picked up her trunk while she took her valise and purse.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Penn.”

“I said, everyone calls me Levi. No need for the mister.”

“Very well, Levi,” Audrey said.

“That’s right. Here’s the cab.” He gestured before him.

The cab was a simple horse and buggy with room for two people to sit in it. Levi secured the trunk to the back of the cab and sat beside Audrey after he finished. He took up the reins and flicked them lightly.

“So, Audrey Wakefield, you ask anything you like about the workhouse or how things are and I’ll give you the rundown. I entered the workhouse when I was seven years old and I’ve never left. My mother died when I was two and my father died several years after her. I have no relations in the whole wide world so I decided to make the workhouse my life.” He told her his life story all within a minute.

Audrey blinked, surprised by the rush of words. “So, you went from an inmate to running it?”

“That’s right. At first, I would do odd jobs about the place, then I finally asked old Master Bright when I was thirteen how I could get a job at the workhouse and stay there. He was two masters ago.”

“I see. And he told you…?” she prompted him.

“He said the workhouse needed a hardworking lad like me and so I’ve been here ever since.” He straightened his back and shoulders, telling her he was proud of that.

“How long has that been?”

“Well, let me think.” He paused, tallying up the years in his head. “Twenty years now as I’m twenty-seven this March.”

She thought he might be older, but his chatty ways and openness had a naivete about him. In reality, he was closer to her in age.

“Have you ever thought of leaving the workhouse? Finding other employment?” she wondered.

He looked shocked. “No. Never. I like my work. I have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and a bit of coin for a pint after work.”

What advice would you give me, Mr.—Levi,” she corrected herself, “about the workhouse?”

“Advice? Let me think.” He hummed, flicking the reins again. “Well, don’t let the children get to you. They can be right buggers, and that’s not your fault. They’ve had a tough life, some of them.”

“That’s very kind of you to think of it that way.” She was sure not everyone shared that sentiment.