It was a stormy night when Beadle Bamford rushed into Judge Turpin's manor.
"My lord, Lucy Barker has gone mad!" The Beadle yelled. The Judge laughed.
"What are you talking about Beadle? You haven't been drinking again have you?"
"No my lord. No one had seen Lucy for weeks, so Mrs. Lovette, called the police. They found an empty bottle of arsenic on the floor, and everything was torn apart, she ripped the wallpaper off, and there are scratch marks on the floor. She was no where to be found." The Judge's face went from glee to utter terror. He didn't mean for any of this to happen. He only wanted to love her.
"But my lord," the Beadle said, "They did find this." A elderly woman walked into the parlor with a baby in her arms.
"Johanna," the Judge whispered. He held his arms out and the baby was placed in them. He held the child close to him and began to sway back and forth.
"We should send her to an orphanage my lord. She'll be adopted immediately." The Beadle said.
"No, this was my doing Beadle. I'll watch over her." Judge Turpin looked down at the baby's large blue eyes, they looked just like Lucy's.
"Nothing will harm her. No one will corrupt her. She will be mine to love." The Judge looked up from the baby and to the Beadle.
"I need a nursery built now!" The Beadle nodded his head and rushed out the door. Turpin then looked to the elderly woman.
"You, you will be Johanna's nurse." He handed the baby to the woman and sat back down in his chair, and the thunder boomed once again.
