Stiffed (Episode 5 - The Further Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid))

Continued from Episode 4 - Pawn

The story so far:  You can find out how our two heroines came to be where they are today by reading The Chronicles of a Lady (and her Maid) either here on ABCTales or in book form (link is external).  In brief, after a series of adventures, at the end of the last series, 'Ethel' and Gwladys ran away from a life of servitude at the Inn, run by her former Lord, along with his partner (and their baby), to take their chances on the road (much to Gwladys's chagrin).  After a night camping out in a forest, they entered a small town and Gwladys wasted no time in getting rid of their illegally acquired coach and horses.  Now with a place at an Inn, the problem remains  -how to fund their life on the road?  A pawn shop run by 'Anty Marj' seemed to be the short-term answer and a lengthy negotiation secured a good deal on Aefelthrith's ring, until Anty Marj suddently vanished before the deal was completed!:

Aefelthrith clambered over the counter and pulled back the dark curtaining material with evident distaste.  This revealed Gwladys standing over the prone body of the proprietress, Anty Marj, who was sprawled across the floor.
“Gwladys!” Aefelthrith raised a hand to her mouth, “What have you done?”
“I ain’t done nothin’” Gwladys shook her head, “this is ‘ow I found ‘er”
“Is she alright?”
“Doubt it, can’t find a pulse.” Gwladys peered at the body, “I reckon she got overexcited about that jewel of your’n and it did fer ‘er”
“Oh my god!  What do we do now?”
“Ah, now, that’s a bit of a poser, that is” Gwladys stroked her chin and frowned, “Y’see, by rights we ought to tell the Watch but, I don’t reckon I really want ter be found by the Watch with a dead body, ‘ow ‘bout you?”
“Oh, I see” Aefelthrith bit her lip, “No, I suppose not”
“I s’pose we could just clear off, pretend we were never ‘ere like” Gwladys mused.
Aefelthrith looked around the dimly-lit room.  There were shelves and shelves of objects all around.  Some jewellery but also everyday items like pairs of shoes, bags and walking sticks.
“There’s such a lot of stuff” She remarked.
“Hmm?  Oh yeah, she must do a fair bit of business” Gwladys said, still focused on the body in front of her.
“Successful, do you think?”
“Eh?  Werl, who knows?  Could be!  Yer ought to be able to make summat like this pay, if yer’ve got yer wits about yer”
“Only, I was thinking…”
“Thinking what?” Gwladys looked at her, quizzically.
“Well…” Aefelthrith scuffed one shoe against the other, “what if we didn’t”
“Didn’t what?”
“Tell anyone” Aefelthrith looked sideways at her companion.
“But…but…what about ‘er?  We’ve got ter do summat about ‘er”
“Yes, I know” Aefelthrith nodded, “It’s just that, well, this looks like it might be a successful little business and we…well, I, was looking for an opportunity, so…”
“Yer mean, we just sweep ‘er under the carpet and take the place over, is that it?” Gwladys looked shocked.
“Well, more or less, yes”
“Yer barmy!  We’d never gerraway with it” Gwladys shook her head.
“Why not?” Aefelthrith folded her arms.
“People’ll want ter know where she is” Gwladys pointed out.
“We’ll tell them that…she had to go away.  It’s sort of true”
“Where?”
“She didn’t tell us, and that’s sort of true, too” Aefelthrith said, defiantly.
“’Ow come we’re ‘ere, then?”
“We’re erm, distant relatives!  She asked us to look after the place”
“Oh yeah, is that ‘sort of true’ too?” Gwladys snorted.
“I’m sure it is what she would have wanted, had she been in a position to state a preference”
“Rubbish!  She didn’t know us from Adam”
“She knew we were ladies of quality” Aefelthrith said, grandly.
“I dunno about that”
“I am just saying that this is a heaven-sent opportunity” Aeflethrith said, pleadingly, “it would be criminal not to grasp it?”
“I dunno” Gwladys shifted from foot to foot, “What if she’s got family?  They ought to know, shouldn’t they?”
“We’ll tell them the same thing, if they come looking.  But, look around you” Aefelthrith indicated the dusty, gloomy interior, “Do you really think she had anyone coming in, anyone who took an interest in her?”
“Hmm, mebbe yer right” Gwladys looked dubious, “But if the Watch were to find out…”
“Then we’re no worse off, are we?” Aeflethrith shrugged, “They already want us for the murder of that Watchman, how could this be any worse?”
Gwladys screwed her face up and thought hard.
“Alright, I’ll tell yer what we’ll do” She said, eventually, “We’ll give it a go, just fer a day or two, mind?”
“Oh, good!” Aefelthrith clapped her hands together.
“if it starts lookin’ tricky, we get oursel’s out of ‘ere sharpish, right?”
“Of course” Aeflethrith nodded.
“First thing though, what are gonna do with ‘er?”
The two went to explore the premises.  The state of things was as bad as Aefelthrith imagined they would be, the kitchen in particular.
“I’ve found summat!” Gwladys shouted from the back yard.
“What?”
“There’s an outhouse, out ‘ere, an’ it’s got a thrall” Gwladys sounded quite excited.
“What’s a ‘thrall’?”
Gwladys marched back into the kitchen, brushing dust and dirt from her hands.
“It’s like a stone shelf, she prob’ly used it fer keepin’ beer, years back”
“And?”
“Well, it’s cool out there, an’ the thrall is natr’lly cool, ter keep the beer right” Gwlaldys looked pleased with herself.
“So?”
“So, we’ve got ter keep ‘er cool, ain’t we?  Use yer ‘ead!  We can put ‘er on that thrall ‘an she won’t go… off…werl, not fer a bit, any road”
“Oh, I see”
Between them, they manhandled the body from the shop to the outhouse in the yard.  It wasn’t easy and Aefelthrith found it particularly hard, dropping Anty Marj to the floor on more than one occasion.  Finally, she was established on the thrall.
“There, good as ‘owt else” Gwladys tidied the corpse up, a bit and stood back to admire her handiwork.  “She’s bloody ‘eavy fer a little old lady”
“I know!” Aefelthrith gasped.
In the distance, a faint bell sounded.
“What was that?” Aefellthrith looked around, guiltily.
“Customer!” Gwladys grinned, “Will you see to ‘em, or shall I?”
“Erm” Aeflethrith squirmed.
“That’ll be me, then” Gwladys marched back, into the building, and through into the shop.  Aefelthrith, less than keen to stay in an outhouse with a corpse, on her own, followed a few yards behind.
Gwladys swung the dusty curtain back and entered the shop.
“There’s no-one ‘ere” She said, turning to Aefelthrith just behind her.
“I’m dahn ‘ere” A small voice announced.
Gwladys peered over the counter and saw a young lad, filthy and dressed in scraps of clothing glaring at her."
“Oh, right, didn’t see yer there” She apologised.
“S’alright” The boy shrugged and said, philosophically, “’appens all the time.  Where’s Anty Marj?”
“Gone away”
“She never goes away” The boy pointed out.
“Werl, she ‘as this time” Gwladys countered. “Gorn to see family, we reckon”
“’Oo r you, then?”  The boy regarded them, suspiciously.
“We’re related” Gwladys explained.
“Distantly!” Aeflelthrith butted in, desperately trying to put as much genealogical distance between her and Anty Marj as possible.
“Why’d she ‘ave to go an’ see family, if you was ‘ere?” The boy asked, reasonably.
“’Ave you got something?”  Gwladys asked, keen to change the subject.
“Prob’ly” The boy nodded, “We’ve all got summat.  Me sister’s got worms!” He announced, proudly.
“I meant, to pledge?” Gwladys said, with as much patience as she could muster.
“Oh ar” The boy nodded, and produced a ring from a grubby pocket, “It’s me mam’s”
Gwladys picked it up from the counter, reluctantly, and gave it a good wipe with her handkerchief.
“Pawned this afore, ‘ave yer?”  She asked.
“Most weeks” The boy said, matter-of-factly, “It’s me mam’s wedding ring”
“And what did Anty Marj give yer fer it?”
“It’ll be in the book” The boy said, pronouncing ‘book’ as if it rhymed with ‘nook’. “S’under the counter” He added, helpfully.
Gwladys scrabbled around, under the counter, and found a large volume.  Opening it, she found line after line of neat, numbered, handwritten entries, separated into columns showing names, dates pledged and redeemed and amounts paid.
“What name is it?”  She asked.
“’Arry, they call me ‘Arry” ‘Arry responded.
Gwladys worked her way down the last completed page of the tome.
“is this what she paid you?” She asked, turning the book toward ‘Arry.
“Dunner ask me!” ‘Arry shrugged, “I canner read, can I?”
“Right!” Gwladys sighed, “Alright, was it this much?”  She counted a few coins out on the counter.
“Ar, that’s right” ‘Arry nodded.”
“Fair enough” Gwladys nodded.  She wrote the next number in the series from the book, down on a slip of paper and handed it to ‘Arry. “Now, see as you redeem this in time, right?
“Oh ar, I will, soon as me dad gets ‘is wages” ‘Arry nodded, “providin’ ‘e dunner get to the pub, first, o’ course!”
“There’s an extra farthin’” Gwladys put another coin on the counter, “Yer dunner ‘ave to pay that back”
“Coo! Ta missus” ‘Arry scooped the money up and scampered for the door, before Gwladys changed her mind.
Gwladys smiled and turned, only to see Aefelthrith who was standing behind her, arms folded, foot tapping and stony-faced.
“Made of money, are we?” Aefelthrith asked, icily.
“Oh, catch yerself on!” Gwladys snapped, “That bairn’s got nowt an’ a farthing’s a big thing for ‘im”
“I just do not see how we are going to turn a profit, if you keep giving our money away” Aefelthrith sniffed.
“Make a profit!”  Gwladys looked at her with astonishment, “We’ve just taken ‘old of a nice bit of gold for a few pence.  Now, if ‘Arry can’t redeem it, we ‘ave gold to sell that’ll make many times what we paid for it.  If, on the other ‘and, ‘e can cough up, we make the interest on the pence we advanced and get our money back.  ‘Ow the ‘ell can yer not make money doin’ that, eh?”
“Hmm!” Aefelthrith turned her nose up, “I’m just saying, we have to be prudent”
“No, we don’t!” Gwladys said, through gritted teeth, “Place like this, it’s everythin’ to some folk.  Without Anty Marj and ‘er like, they’d be beggin’ in a ditch.  It ain’t perfect, far from it, but it’s better than nowt.  So, if yer plan is to grind the faces of the poor into the ground, yer can count me out, got it?”
“I’m sure I do not know what you mean” Aefelthrith turned on her heel and marched off to the kitchen.
“Ar, I’m sure yer dunner” Gwladys said quietly, “an’ that’s ‘alf the problem”

You can find the previous adventures of Gwladys and Aefelthrith in both Kindle and paperback formats at The Chronicles of a Young Lady (and her Maid (link is external)