2.

~ "Madam, are you certain you want to drive to London?" Miles asked worriedly. "Lord Bradford just left."

"I know." Ariadne sighed. "I'll be fine, I promise. It will only be a few days."
"Allow Maura to com with you, or Maggie." the butler insisted.
"No need. I want Maura to look after Olivia and Maggie will be needed here, I'm sure." Ariadne said as she finished packing a small suitcase.
"Madam, I must insist Maggie go with you. She knows London very well and your husband would be understandably enraged if he discovered I allowed you to drive to Town all alone." Miles said.

The older gentleman looked ready to cry in frustration at his mistresses actions.

Ariadne rolled her eyes.

"Very well. Tell Maggie to pack a few things and meet me at the car. We can't waste anymore time." Ariadne said.

She felt things were moving too slowly since the phone call from this mysterious Robert Fischer.

All she knew was the Eames was in trouble, and he needed her help. She would prefer it if she could go to London alone. The fewer people who knew about this situation, the better. But Miles was right, she couldn't go to the city alone.

~ Maggie looked wind swept as she jumped into the car beside Ariadne.
"I've never ridden in a car before, madam." the pretty red haired maid said.

"Well, it's a long trip." Ariadne said as she waved to Maura who was holding Olviia. Her heart panged her a little at leaving her daughter behind. She had never so much as gone a few hours without seeing Olivia.

~ "Might I ask why we're going to Town?" Maggie asked after a few hours of driving. Ariande had been very proud of herself. She had maneuvered the roads perfectly and anyone would think she was a natural behind the wheel.
"My husband's cousin has taken ill. We are going to bring him back tot he house." Ariadne told her.
"Well wouldn't Miles or one of the footmen be better suited for that?" Maggie asked. Her big blues eyes looking at Ariadne curiously.

Ariadne stiffened a little. She didn't want to explain to Maggie or anyone else about Eames.

"Maggie, when we get to London, you will stay outside the hospital. I will go in alone. This is a private family matter. Do you understand?"

"Of course, madam." Maggie said and looked at the road. The two women not speaking again till they reached Town.

~ Ariadne had misjudged how busy London was. Not only foot, bicycle and horse traffic, but cars barreled down the road without even stopping.

"Maggie, do you have any idea where the Fischer charity hospital is?" Ariadne asked as she tried to maneuver around a horse and buggy. The large gray huffing at the car as the two woman drove past.
"Yes, ma'am." Maggie said. "It's near Whitechapel. It's not suitable for ladies to go." Maggie said.

"Well, that's where we're going." Ariadne stubbornly.

"Missus, let me go in with you. I swear to you it's not at all safe for you alone. Even in a hospital. A charity hospital like that is full of drunks and bad men." Maggie told her.

Ariadne was becoming worried as the cobbled streets teamed with people. All of whom crowded around the car.
"Very well." Ariadne conceded at last.
"Turn here. It will take us to High Street." Maggie said with a nod.

The streets morphed into dirty, rundown homes and store fronts. The public lighting was poor and Ariadne could smell a distinct tinge of raw sewage.

"Fischer Hospital is just up here." Maggie said.

"What about the car?" Ariadne asked as he noticed grimy men eying the fancy automobile enviously.

"We can ask an orderly to mind it." Maggie told her. "The car is the least of our worries, Ma'am. Best hide your jewelry now." She added.

Ariadne parked the car in front of a large dilapidated building that advertised it was the Fischer Charity Hospital.

"Stay here, with the door locked." Maggie said as she jumped out of the car and barked at a grubby, desperate looking man to back away. Her accent no longer sweet, but a rough loud voice that the people here respected.
"Get out of here!" She shouted to the man again. The miserable man moved away from the car as Maggie vanished inside.

Ariadne took the chance to observe the people here. She remembered all that Eames had told her about the poor here. His article didn't do it justice. Children were too thin, they were dirty and ran around the streets with no shoes on.

She saw people who obviously slept on the streets each night watching the strange sight of a car in this place.

"Hello." came a chipper little voice.

Ariadne jumped at the sight of a dirty little girl with bright green eyes looking at her.
"Hello." Ariadne mimicked back nervously.
"Is this and automobile? Can you drive it?" the girl asked.

"Yes, I can." Ariadne said feeling shy around the thin child who's teeth were rotting and who had nothing but rags on. A sharp bruise to her face completed the picture of misery.

Yet the child didn't look at all unhappy. She looked at Ariadne with wonder and amazement, where the others of this street looked at her with fear and hatred.

"Would you like to buy an orange, miss?" The girl asked.

She held up a bright, ripened fruit and let Ariadne inspect it.
"Oh... oh yes." Ariadne said and quickly handed the girl a few coins.

The child's eyes grew bright at the sight of so much money and she ran away from the car; leaving Ariadne alone with an orange.

"Missus?" Maggie said when she came back. "I've got an orderly to watch the car while we collect your Mr. Eames."

"Oh, thank you, Maggie." Ariadne said as came back to herself. She was still holding the fruit.
"The orange sellers got to you I see." Maggie joked. "I sold all kinds of fruit and flowers myself when I was younger."

Ariadne shut her eyes and tried to banish the image of that poor, little girl from her mind.

~ The charity hospital was over crowded and smelled of horrible things. Gas lamps were lit, but it did nothing to sooth the dark, eeriness of the halls. There were men and women crowding the halls, waiting to be seen by doctors as the coughed up wretched things.

"Cover your mouth, miss." Maggie said handing her a handkerchief. "They have the TB."

~ "I started this charity hospital after my father passed away." A well groomed but very thin young man said to the two ladies as he walked with them from ward to ward. "I wanted to do something good and meaningful with my life. Not be just another rich man's son at a social ball.

"Very honorable." Ariadne admitted as she clutched Maggie's hand in a death grip. Grateful Miles had made her take the resourceful maid with her.

Ariadne had to hold her handkerchief to her nose as she walked past beds of men who had been sick on themselves.

"They're fighting delirium tremens. A withdrawal from alcohol. We take them in to dry them out. Sometimes it's very bad." Mr. Fischer explained. "It's one of the things we do here. Try and get them to stop drinking. The drink has it's hold on the people here, and sometimes won't let go."
"Mr. Eames. We would like to see him, please." Ariadne insisted.

"He came to us about a month ago. Dropped off by the police. I was surprised he lived, to be honest. He was very ill and had been drinking heavily, which most likely caused the phenomena. He had been fighting at some pub. He was badly beaten, but still looking to fight. We had no idea who he was or if he had any family. It was only last week he gave us your name." Mr. Fischer said.

"Is he alright now?" Ariadne asked as they walked past a man who was shaking and crying.

"He will be. He will need some building up. I'm very glad you will be taking him home; we need the bed." Fischer said.

They left that horrible, smelly ward and came to a cleaner one.

There were men here who weren't sick all over the floors, but who looked too weak and worn down to do anything but wait to die.

"Here we are." Fischer said as they approached a bed.

Ariadne almost gasped at seeing Eames.

He looked like another person. Her friend had lost too much weight and he looked like he had been sick for a long time.

"Eames?" Ariadne gasped as she took his hand.
Mr. Eames was breathing hard as he opened his eyes and stared curiously at her.
"It's you." He breathed. "Have I finally died? I tried to die, but I keep failing at it."

"Eames, were taking you back home. Back to Blue Rivers. Right now." She told him as she unfolded his blankets.
"Maggie, help me." She ordered as the two women helped him to stand.

Eames was much lighter then she remembered. She could feel the loss of all that muscle she admired so much from that summer day by the pond.
"No point." Eames grumbled as Fischer called an orderly to help.

The orderly fetched a wheelchair for Eames to sit down in and prepared to wheel him out. Mr. Fischer explained the Eames was brought in with tattered clothing that could not be salvaged. He would have to leave in a hospital gown.

"No matter." Ariadne told him. She watched as the orderly loaded her friend into the car. Maggie was telling Eames, in no uncertain terms, he was not allowed to become sick in the car.
"His lordship will be cross if you do, sir." Maggie said in that rough urban cadence she seemed to adopt only when she was here.

"Hello, miss." Came that chipper voice.

Ariadne turned to see the dirty little girl with the bright green eyes and the bruise on her face.

"Oh, hello." Ariadne said feeling a sharp pain of sadness at seeing her again.

"Would your friend like an orange?" She asked hopefully.
"Yes, he would." Ariadne said and handed her more coins.

The girl handed her the fruit and promptly ran away again. Ariadne flinched as she saw the child was without shoes.

"Mr. Fischer, do you know that child?" She asked the thin young man who ran the hospital.

"That's Katie Wilder. Good little girl. Her mother passed away last year and her father is dead as well. She is taking care of her younger brother. They rent a room from Mrs. Wallets down the street." He explained.

"Does Mrs. Wallets look after them?" Ariadne asked.

"She's only their landlord." Fischer explained.

"Mr. Fischer, thank you so much for attending to my friend." Ariadne said as she removed a bank note for him. She gave it to him and he widened his eyes at the amount.

"Very generous of you madam." Fischer said and folded the note to go in his breast pocket.

"I know I have no right to ask you for more help, your work is very important, but is there anyway you can help that girl and her brother? Maybe send them to school?" Ariadne asked.

"They offer a training school for ladies maids and butlers in Town. It costs money to have them trained for service, but it would help them more then any schooling would. They would be provided room and board while they were taught to read and write. Provide the both of them with a skill."

"Mr. Fisher, I would happily pay for this schooling as well as send your hospital money each month, if you would personally see to it they could get into such a place. There will be work waiting for them in a fine home in the country as soon as they are ready." Ariadne told them.

Mr. Fischer gave her a sad little smile and nodded.

"Mr. Eames said you were an angel and I can see now he was right." The young man said.

"I'm no angle. I'm just a mother who can't stand to see a child suffer." Ariadne told him.
"There are plenty of children who suffer, madam." Fischer said. "I'll make certain that Katie and her brother are off the streets and into service training before the day is over."
"Please write to me at Blue Rivers when you have them placed. I want to know how they are doing." Ariadne told him as she gave him another note.
"Yes, madam. Now please take your friend home. It's not safe for a lady like you to be here." He told her.

~ Ariadne started the car and Maggie yelled at a crowd to clear the road.

"Thank you, Maggie. I'm very glad you came with me." Ariadne said as she glanced nervously back at Eames. Her friend had fallen asleep in the back seat.

"That was very nice, what you're doing for that wretch of a girl." Maggie said.

"I can't stand to see a child like that. She didn't even have shoes." Ariadne told her.
"I think the good Lord everyday your husband hired me to come back with my boy. I don't know where we would be without his kindness." She said.

The pretty, red haired maid looked at Ariadne.

"Or yours." She added.