Norrington Supplemental
Rose knew she had been foolish to venture out this late in the evening unaccompanied. And now, with all her senses attuned to what she was sure were footsteps following her down the mostly deserted sidewalk, she wished she had brought one of the maids with her. She began walking faster and so did the footsteps behind her. She was suddenly grabbed, dragged into an alley, shoved against the wall, and had a knife at her throat.
"'ello Poppet." The shorter bald one of the two standing in front of her said with a leer. The tall skinny one stood there staring at her with a nasty smile on his face.
She could tell they were ruffians by their manner of dress, their unkempt appearance, and the smell wafting off of them. She decided to try a bluff, "My Husband will be here shortly to meet me. It would be wise for you to let me go unaccosted."
The taller of them sniggered to the other, "Someone comin for her." and as she looked at him she noticed there was something wrong with one of his eyes.
The shorter one answered her, "We been watchin ya fer a good long while now Poppet, we know you're alone, ain't got no Husband or no one comin ta meet ya."
"Yeah, no one." The taller added.
The bald one spoke again, "Cap'n sent us….."
The taller one interrupted, "Benefactor's what we was ta call him, made that clear."
"I'm doin the talkin here." The short one shouted at the taller one.
"I'm just saying the Captain made it quite clear we was ta refer to him as the Benefactor, not the Captain, although he could actually be referred to as..." His speech was interrupted as the shorter one gave him a rather sharp slap to the back of the head. Rose let out a gasp as the man's eyeball popped out of its socket, rolled against the wall, and then started to roll off down the alleyway. The taller one was immediately on his hands and knees grabbing for the eluding eye, his semi-panicked tone clear for all to hear, "Me eye, me eye! Now what'd ya have ta go and do that for?"
"I told ya I'm doin the talkin here and I'll call 'em what I wants!" the bald one said in a loud irritated tone.
Rose almost wanted to start laughing at the display before her but then the knife was once again against her neck and the shorter one's look made it apparent he was not above slitting said neck.
"Now Poppet, yer Benefactor has sent us with a little message. Says 'e no longer is gonna be yer Benefactor, says 'e paid his last shine."
"He can't do that. I will make public what happened in Port Royal. The Commodore will be disgraced. He will never be able to hold his head up again!" Rose shouted.
The taller one had retrieved his eye by now and had wiped it off on his filthy shirt, popped it back into place and was standing next to the shorter one once again. At Rose's pronouncement they grinned evilly at each other and then at her.
"He said you'd say that." The bald one replied.
"Yeah, said that's what you'd say." The taller one said, receiving a glare and a roll of the eyes from the shorter one.
"He told us to tell you it's been long enough there shoulda been a wee one by now if there was gonna be and without that proof the rest is just trifles. Said ta tell ya yer livin off others is over. Said ta tell ya there's more permanent ways ta solve the problem if ya start talkin what shouldn't be talked about and don't agree ta let it drop." The shorter one gave her a vicious grin as he waved the knife around in her face. The taller of the two stood there grinning, his hand on the hilt of his own knife.
Rose was not stupid in the least and knew these men along with her 'Benefactor' were serious. She knew without a doubt she would have to come up with some other way to secure her living if she wished to remain among the living. She had been pondering several possibilities in the past few months, having made acquaintance with a couple of gentlemen of means that she had been able to interest in her. Perhaps that would be the path she would take. It certainly would be better than meeting these two again anytime soon.
She gave them her most winning smile and said, "You may tell your Employer that I will not be saying anything. My lips are sealed." Then after a short pause, "There will be no further need for any meetings between us."
"We was hopin ya wouldn't say that." The shorter one said disappointedly as he resheathed his knife, then went on in a threatening tone, "Jest remember we'll be listenin and watchin."
"Yeah, watchin and listenin." The taller one said.
The shorter one punched the taller one in the arm, "I already said that!"
And then they were gone.
She stood there for a few minutes trying to get her shaking limbs under control before she was physically able to leave the alley herself. As she walked toward home, every once and a while glancing back over her shoulder to make sure the two were really gone, she decided tomorrow would not be any too soon to put a little more energy into the pursuit of her quarry.
The End
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