A woman with deep brunette hair collapsed onto the damp cobblestone streets a little while after dusk. There were a few carriages moving quickly through the streets, but all but one stumbled upon the mysterious looking female.
"Woe!" Called the driver as he saw the body. Unaware if the girl was dead or not, and not wanting to make a mess of the street, the driver led the carriage to a halt and got off from his perch.
There was a woman, a woman of high intellect and power financially, who sat in the carriage. She opened the door and called out to the driver, "What is it Hanson?" Her voice was kind along with her tone. She was unlike most women of her stature.
"A body. Can't tell if she's dead or not," The driver answered.
The woman quickly escaped the carriage and passed Hanson as he made his way over to the girl.
The woman, who was barely conscious, slowly looked up at the woman from the carriage. She could just barely make out the face of the woman; the street lights created eerie shadows that danced on her kind and quite beautiful face.
"It's alright," The woman from the carriage said crouching down, her glorious green dress getting damp; she was coming back from a party for a fundraiser.
"Please," The woman said holding out a slip of paper. It had 500 inscribed on it and the woman from the carriage's eyes widened at the amount. She refused the slip and helped the woman from the street to her feet.
"What is your name?" The woman asked, clearly concerned of the woman's well being.
"Di-Diana," She said dazed, and leaning heavily on the woman's shoulder. Hanson came over and the two helped the girl to the carriage with her in between.
"Mrs. Haverford, what do you plan to do with her?" Hanson asked after they got the woman into the carriage.
"Bring her to the house. It's more comfortable than the hospital and we can get a better doctor to take care of her," The financially inclined woman said, looking worriedly at the now sleeping Diana.
"You can't be serious, Madame! She'll infect us all with whatever diseases she has accumulated through the streets," Hanson said dumbfounded.
"I am, and you will respect my decision, despite my gender. I do not want you to tell my husband of this woman, I will do it myself," She said, finalizing the issue and climbing into the carriage herself.
Hanson shook his head as he shut the door. Women, He thought as he mounted his usual post. With a Yaw! the carriage was off again, but with an extra passenger and a now worried Elizabeth Haverford.
Elizabeth looked across at Diana who leaned against the side of the carriage. She noticed dark circles under her eyes and hollows in her cheeks. Elizabeth had been fortunate enough to have never actually been poor and destitute. That's why she started fundraiser a for underprivileged children and blacks who were looked down upon. She never truly knew why people didn't see Africans as equals, and it bothered her immensely whenever someone laughed while insulting them.
Elizabeth noticed that the girl still had the note clutched tightly in her hand even when she was unconscious. She leaned over and opened the woman's hand, having to use slight force; in all honesty she did not want the note. All she wanted was to make sure it didn't get lost. She assumed it was the girl's life savings, and from the looks of it, she appeared to be a mill girl. Her attire was right and her breathing was wheezy.
Mrs. Haverford had heard of the mills, but had never had the chance to actually go to one. Perhaps it was time to...
Elizabeth herself soon became drowsy as the ride went on and nearly fell asleep as they pulled up to her and her husband's home.
"Mrs. Haverford?" Hanson asked, opening the door.
"Y-yes?" She asked drowsily. She had been leaning against the side of the carriage, like Diana, and jerked up as soon as she heard her name.
Elizabeth stepped out of the carriage and blinked lazily at Hanson.
"The girl, Madame?" He asked.
"Oh yeah," She yawned. "W-we got to get Diana." She looked into the carriage reluctantly and said, "Maybe we could just sleep out here tonight instead."
Hanson shook his head and helped the lady into the house where her husband awaited. He didn't appear to happy about the fact that his wife was coming home so late and she had brought home a guest.
"A man, is it?" He asked, clearly blaming her for having an affair, even though that was far from the truth. He closed his mouth as soon as Hanson carried Diana into the house.
Mrs. Haverford had collapsed into a nearby chair and looked at Diana in a daze. "We found her on-on the stree-streets!"
"Have you been drinking?" Her husband asked.
"No, I'm just extremely tired," she said with a slight laugh and let out a groan after its short life.
"Why did you bring that destitute thing here?" He asked, crossing his arms now.
"She needed proper care, so I figured that we could bring her here and call up a doctor," Elizabeth replied casually, barely looking at her husband through her eyes, which just wanted to be closed. Her husband became quite frustrated.
"You can't just bring home random people you find on the streets!" Mr. Haverford began to raise his voice at her. Mrs. Haverford did the same as her anger began to boil up inside of her; her exhaustion seemed to be depleted only moments into her argument.
"She was lying in the streets! Do you honestly believe I would just let Hanson run her over?!"
Her husband shouted back, "I would've! Give the bloody rats something to eat!"
Elizabeth looked at her husband, aghast. How could he say such a thing? She thought in dismay. He usually wasn't this angry with her.
"I don't care how much money we spend on her, I'm nursing her back to health, and whether you leave me for it or not, I don't care," She said back in her normal tone, but with a hint of a threat to it. The tension could be felt by even Diana in her unconscious state.
"Well, shall I get the young woman up to one of the guest rooms, Madame?" Hanson asked, clearly uncomfortable by the situation.
"Please," Mrs. Haverford said staring at her husband. He clenched his jaw, but the woman didn't care. She was serious about taking care of the mill girl because it was the right thing to do and defied her husbands wishes, which was always something that gave her a thrill.
Elizabeth soon felt the exhaustion creeping back into her body, but she ignored it as she passed her husband and mounted the stairs to the guest bedroom where Hanson had gone. He would have to go to Dr. Reynold's place in a few minutes and soon she would be left alone in the house with Mr. Haverford and Diana. She shivered at the thought of being left alone with her husband; that's when he usually cornered her and beat her to the floor if she was unsatisfactory. It didn't happen that often, but when it did, it was quite unpleasant to say the least, and she feared he would try to do something to the slightly malnourished girl.
Mrs. Haverford went into the guestroom swiftly, and gazed down upon the woman in the bed. For the first time, she was able to distinguish the mill girl; she had long dark brunette hair, which fell into slight curls at the end and beautiful facial features. Her nose was small and her eyebrows were perfectly groomed. Elizabeth couldn't help but think that the woman was quite attractive, and immediately began to wonder about her family and why she was out in the streets. Had she upset her husband, or possibly someone at the mills? Elizabeth soon found herself wondering about the state of the mills, and agreed that she would go back to them with the woman once she was better, if nothing had happened with her and her employers.
Diana shifted and opened her eyes slightly to find the somewhat familiar woman in the streets looking back at her.
"Where am I?" She asked in her lovely, partially deep, voice. Elizabeth went to her side as soon as she saw that the woman was awake.
"We found you in the streets as Hanson and I were heading home, which is where you happen to be right now. I do hope that it is alright that you are here instead of a hospital," Mrs. Haveford said softly. Diana suddenly became erect and looked around at the expensive room, the covers of the bed shifting with her; the girl's eyes widened as she took in her environment.
"You'll charge me more than a hospital!" Diana cried and remembered her pay slip. She looked around frantically for it then back at the supposed caretaker. Elizabeth tried to calm her down by holding her hand, but the young woman only drew it away.
"I promise we won't charge you a single penny," Mrs. Haverford cooed gently looking into the frightened girl's eyes.
"You seem to be friendly enough, but I know it was you who took my slip," Diana said with confidence, even though the truth was she didn't see the woman take it out of her hand.
Elizabeth became hot as she took the slip of paper from her small purse she had brought to the fundraiser. Diana looked at her in shock as Elizabeth handed her the paper.
"You were trying to take my money," Diana said, unable to comprehend what the betrayel the woman had already done.
"That is not true! I was holding it for you so you wouldn't drop it in the street. You're lucky no one else came along and stole it from you," Elizabeth was clearly offended by the mill girl's assumption, but she understood why she would think such a thing.
"Please, Diana, you must trust me if we are to get you better," The woman begged as she took the piece of paper from the woman's cold hands.
"I have already told you my name, it seems, unless you just read it off of this. Anyways, I believe your name is in order," Diana said with a light sigh at the end.
"Elizabeth Haverford. You are more than likely able to call me Elizabeth, though you will probably hear Hanson call me 'Madame' often."
"He is the one who brought me in?"
"Yes and he should be back with Dr. Reynold very soon."
"Why did you save me?"
Elizabeth was taken aback by the question. Why would a human save another human in the first place? It's the humane thing to do.
"We all have compassion within ourselves, whether some of us would like to admit it or not, every single humanbeing is able to do what I just did. It just takes a little more effort for some people than others to act on the spot like that. Believe me, anyone else would have done it, or at least anyone had the capability to do that," Elizabeth said as wisely as she could muster. Diana smiled for the first time at the woman, and the woman soon found herself unable to contain a smile herself.
Just then, there was a knock at the door and Mr. Haverford came in with a grim look.
"Reynold is here," Was all he said.
Elizabeth stood up from her crouching position beside the bed and awaited the doctor. Dr. Renold, a small man who was balding slightly, came into the room with a bag.
"Now, young lady, what seems to be the trouble?" He asked coming to the opposite side of the bed.
"My throat mostly," Diana said suddenly getting into a coughing fit. At first Elizabeth thought she was pretending for the doctor, but as it went on, she realized how serious it was.
"Where do you work?" He asked.
"The cotton mills in Lowell. There isn't very good ventilation, to say the least. All of the girls get a cough sooner or later. It's just since a few weeks ago, it's been getting worse than just a little cough," Diana explained.
"You mean to say that your workplace has poor ventaliation, therefore every single girl in the mills recieves respiratory problems because of it?" Elizabeth asked before the doctor could say anything. Diana nodded and Elizabeth became aggravated again. How can no one say anything? She thought.
"Just so you know, I actually stand up for rights in the workplace. Although most of my efforts are fruitless, some changes have came to be. Ventilation isn't one of them though," She said noticing the woman's face harden with anger. Elizabeth nodded, but furrowed her brow in thought as she thought of a way to help the girls.
"Anyways, Miss..?" Dr. Reynold left the question open for Diana to answer and she replied 'Goss.' "So, Miss. Goss, I am going to have you breathe in and out for me so I can check your breathing patterns. This will help me determine how bad your respiratory problem is."
After a few minutes of breathing in and out, the doctor determined she was developing something worse than the regular 'cotton cough' that the mill girls were aquiring. He perscribed her to stay outdoors more and rest. The more time she was in cleaner air, the better the woman would get, or at least that was his mindset.
Elizabeth paid the doctor for the trouble and said goodbye. She was unsure if just staying out of the polluted air would help her breathing and respiratory sytem if she was just going to go back and have to breathe in the same air over and over again.
"What is it?" Diana asked Elizabeth as she stood and faced away from the bed.
"I have never heard of the conditions of the mills before, and now that I have, I can't help but want to help you and the other girls that just work in such awful conditions," Mrs. Haverford said turning to the girl.
"Perhaps you can help me. You have the money to influence people and I'm sure you could help us," Diana said, suddenly becoming excited. Elizabeth smiled and came over to the bed once again. This time, exhaustion came crashing down upon her like a sudden wave from the ocean; she nearly fell onto the floor, but caught herself on a bedside table.
"Are you alright?" Diana asked worriedly to the tired woman. She nodded and sat on the edge of the bed.
"Would it be alright if I sleep with you tonight?" Mrs. Haverford asked, begining to blink lazily at the mill girl.
"You're certain you'll be alright with possibly catching any diseases I may be the proud owner of? And what about your husband?" The young woman asked, raising an eyebrow.
Elizabeth waved it aside and yawned. "I'm still in the house, aren't I? You aren't a man anyways, so it should be alright. And anyways, your illness probably only a small fever and some respiratory system dysfunctions. You are fine to sleep with. I'll pay the price in the morning."
Diana moved to the right of the bed as Elizabeth climbed in with her. She snuggled against Diana as the two of them each laid on a pillow. Diana laid her head on Elizabeth's and the two of them fell asleep soundly together.