An old man walked on the London streets at night. He walked slowly and without a purpose. He had lived a long life and knew of many mysteries. He was guarding a very precious secret and would die before revealing it.
Mercy sat in her room. It was a rather simple bedroom, it had a bed in the center of the room. There was a dresser in the corner of the room. There were trinkets lying on the dresser. She played with the hem of her dress. Her brother came into her room and said "Joseph is a fine man. He didn't have to come and ask for your hand in marriage."
"I had no desire for him to ask" Mercy stated.
"His father asked him to come and see you." Her brother promptly replied.
"I didn't ask him to come; I just want him to go away."
"This marriage is going to happen; he has got his mind set on it happening."
"I don't like the thought of being married to him."
"He is taken with you or at least the challenge of you." Jefferson replied.
"I don't feel the need to give up painting."
"Does he even know you paint?"
"I ran to hide in my studio and I gave him a drawing."
"What drawing did you give him?"
"The one of mother holding a rose" Mercy replied.
"Why would you give that painting to him?"
"When he followed me to the garden, I had finished drawing it."
"Why did you give to Joseph though?" Jefferson inquired
"He told me that I was a darling young woman."
"He did? Well you once were a darling little girl."
"I don't have time to think about what I was once."
"I do, when I have spare time, I think about you when you were younger."
"I don't know why you would bother to do that."
"It doesn't bother me to recall the past."
"Leave me be, I don't want to see anybody right now." Mercy demanded
Jefferson walked out of his sister room wondering what would happen to his sister.
Joseph sat there in his father's office; "How was your call to the lady?" His father inquired.
"She is more like a creature than a lady, her appearance is so untamed. Her hair is a mess and her dress barely fit her. I don't know even think she has a tailor." Joseph answered.
"That all can be fixed, but she is pretty, isn't she son?"Joseph's father responded.
"In an unconventional way, she is pretty. She is cold hearted and rejects my every advance. It's like she doesn't know how lucky she is that I am calling on her."
"She doesn't know of your status in society, she spent her whole life inside of her father's house."
"She gave me this." Joseph said as he handed his father a drawing.
"That's sweet of Mercy to give that to you."
"I want to know who the woman is."
" The woman in the picture is not to be spoken of, Mercy is an insolent girl for drawing this picture. She is an insolent girl with a good family name."
"Mercy runs away from me, when I try to get near her. She mutters when she talks to me, why do you want me to marry her?"
"A visitor is here for you." The butler said standing by the office doorway.
Joseph took this as his cue to leave and left immediately.
"If I could only speak to you for a moment."Mercy's brother Jefferson said
"Come in."Joseph's father said.
"I wanted to thank you for considering Mercy as a bride for your son; It means the world to my father." Jefferson said.
Joseph's father said "You're a brilliant young man, weighed down by your sister's reputation."
"I did not know you thought so highly of me, sir."
Jefferson looked around the office and thought about his sister living in this house. He couldn't picture Mercy living here at all."
"You have such potential to go far, if you were to follow the right path. Now if only you would give up that silly dream of being a painter."
"My mother used to paint; I learned to love art from her."
"The love of art doesn't support a family and nothing good came of your mother painting."
"I have a passion for the arts, it's the only thing I can see myself doing. My sister Mercy is talented as well."
"I don't really care that your sister has a talent for the arts."
"Of course, you wouldn't, my sister's art is her life."
"I intend on changing that."
"Mercy is quiet, and she likes to hide. She doesn't like to deal with reality."
"Is that what you came to tell me?"
"I suppose I came to speak on my sister's behalf. Mercy is only a woman and shouldn't be judged harshly for that reason."
"Mercy is merely a woman, a young woman who is to be married to my son. You are lucky someone will marry her."
"Mercy is a marvelous creature."
"She is an uncivilized heathen."
"I believe that I am done here, sir." Jefferson declared.
"Did he just ruin it for his sister?" Nicholas asked as he stood outside the door of his father's office with Joseph.
"He's a foolish boy trying to protect his own interests. He only pretends to care about his sister." Joseph answered.
Joseph stared at his brother and thought of Mercy, as Jefferson left. Jefferson had said to him. "God have mercy."
Jefferson looked at watch in his pocket and watched the carriage move away from the house. Mercy sat in her nightgown and picked up her bible. She looked at it and then looked at the curtains in her room. Mercy's long red hair was down and fell down her shoulders and back. Mercy stared at the wall and the pretty wallpaper that lined the walls.
The sun was up and the stars weren't shining. The wild one took to her natural setting, she pulled out a piece of paper and pen. The wild one began to draw the sun and the way it was rose in the sky. Her thoughts turned to the strange man that had come yesterday. He had been so kind and gentle, yet harsh at the same time. Surely he wouldn't say that she had a fit, she wasn't that sort of girl or woman. Mercy was unrefined, but fits were something else.
Joseph sat in the carriage on his way back to see Mercy. The carriage stopped and he got out, he called upon the wild one. She came to the door and looked at Joseph with a worried look in her eyes. He said "Good day my lady."
"It's nice to see you sir." Mercy said shyly.
"I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me on a walk through the park?" Joseph said.
Mercy looked at him and the paintings on the wall. "Out of courtesy, I will, it would be a pleasure."
Mercy shut the door and let Joseph lead her to the park.
"You speak so coldly to me."
"You speak so fondly of me." Joseph remarked.
"It's cold out."
Joseph offered her his arm, she accepted it. "Why did you come?"
" I came to see you." Joseph said.
= "You came to see me?"
"Yes, I did it as a favor." Joseph admitted
"Who was it a favor for?"
"It was a favor for your father's business partner."Joseph responded.
"I am being courted by a kind man, I see." Mercy replied.
"I am a kind gentle man."
"You are a strange man."
"You are an odd woman."
"For some odd reason you want to marry me." Mercy stated.
"The reason I want to marry you isn't odd."
"If you don't love me, then why marry me?"
"I am marrying you because you're brother is a fool."
"You're marrying me because my brother is a fool?"
"Your father's company is worth something, not that you would know it by the rags you wear, but he is a wealthy man involved in a tragic tale. Your brother is a fool and I have a good name. So if I marry you, it makes him look better."
"Did you go to school with my brother?"Mercy asked.
"I did."
"Do you like my brother?"
"He is a decent man." Joseph replied.
"Is that the polite answer that you just gave me?"
Joseph said "I use my best manners around you; I wish you would use your best manners around me."
"But what would society talk about then?"
" Society would talk about your charm, beauty and grace.."
"I have never possessed grace."
"You shall learn to be graceful."
"Shall I?"
"You shall."
"Is love at all important to you?"
"I wouldn't marry someone that I am not attracted too."
"I cannot say that I am attracted to you."
"Give it time, my dear." Joseph said.
"I don't know if I shall."
"What other option do you have?"
"None." Mercy sternly replied.
" I am honorable you know."
"I know."
"Then why do you dislike me?"
"I don't like your eyes." Mercy answered.
"What don't you like about my eyes?"
"They are very bold."
"That's why you dislike me."
" Yes I have never liked bold eyes on a man."
" You have intense eyes; they looked savaged in a way."
"I have a ravaged soul." Mercy said.
"Perhaps you could explain to me why your soul is so ravaged."
"I know of a tale."
"What tale."
" Kind sir, I am not supposed to tell the tale."
"If you tell me the tale, I won't tell a soul."
"I don't believe you, you will tell the first person you see."
"I swear on my great grandfather's grave, that I won't tell the tale ,you are about to tell me." Joseph replied.
"I will tell you the tale, if you insist on hearing it."
"I do insist, tell your tale."
"Are you sure you must hear it?"
"I am." Joseph said.
"It was a chilly night in London; it was the night of a grand ball. All the ladies were there in their finest dresses, all the gentlemen in their best attire. There was one but missing from the crowd. She was a mad woman who had escaped from an asylum. They say she would walk the streets of London at night. She was a pocket picketer; she stole from you what she could from you. They called her the street ravaged woman and she would try to solicit money from well to do men.
"You are nothing, but a kind sir, I have a feeling." A street ravaged woman said.
"I have no time for your kind of people." The man said coldly.
"I knew you once."
The man looked at her again and stared into her eyes. "I heard you sing a song."
To be continued...