Belle - Lesley Pearse [53]
The bath was already run, and the two women began undressing Belle.
‘I can do that myself,’ she said, irritably pushing them off her. ‘Leave me be!’
They had taken her own dark blue serge dress away her first night here and given her a much nicer lightweight green one with a frill around the hem, and a collar and sash in a green spotted silky material. Scared as she was at the time, she was pleased by the dress because it was very pretty and it made her think they wouldn’t do anything bad to her if they cared about how she looked. Now she saw on the bathroom stool what appeared to be a clean, lace-trimmed white chemise and drawers, so maybe they were intending to take her out somewhere.
Belle didn’t like the way the women stayed with her till she was naked, clearly intending to wash her like a small child. But, unable to make herself understood, she had to let it go and allow it.
They scrubbed her as if she was a filthy tramp brought in from the street. Then, once they’d pulled out the bath plug, they rinsed her hair with several large ewers of warm water. It was only as they were drying her vigorously that Belle suddenly realized she’d been drugged. It wasn’t like the sleeping draught Kent had given her, she didn’t feel as if she was going to fall asleep. But she felt sort of numb and carefree, so much so that she started to giggle helplessly when the two women began drying her and helping her into the new clean underwear.
It took ages for them to dry her hair. They rubbed and rubbed it with a dry towel, then twisted her curls till they were like long black corkscrews all around her face. Someone shouted something outside the door, and Delphine shouted back.
Clearly the call had been a hurry up, for suddenly the two women seemed flustered and concerned that Belle’s hair was still damp. But they forgot to help her put on her dress again, just opened the bathroom door and, holding each of her hands, hurried her barefoot up the stairs again in her underwear.
Four days earlier, when she arrived here, Belle had noticed very little about the house other than that the carpet was threadbare, but then she was scared and most of the gaslights had been turned off. They were all lit now, however, and she saw that the house was much bigger than she’d imagined, with five or six doors on every landing, and that the wallpaper was so old and stained it was impossible to see a pattern on it any longer.
The two women opened a door on the third floor, inside which was a short passage as if it led to a separate wing of the house. At the end of this passage was another door.
Delphine opened it, and inside was Madame Sondheim. Delphine said something which appeared to be an apology, gave Belle a little push forward and left, shutting the door behind her.
It was another sparsely furnished room. There was an iron bed which was unmade except for a sheet and a couple of pillows, shutters at the windows, a washstand and nothing else. But while the room in the attic appeared quite cosy because it was small with sloping ceilings, this room was big and stark.
Sitting on the edge of the bed was a big man with a fat, florid face. He was wearing a grey suit with a grey and black striped waistcoat beneath it and he was smiling at her.
Madame was clearly introducing her for Belle recognized her name. She had butterflies in her stomach now and she tried to run back to the door, but Madame got there first and waved a key at her to show it was locked already.
Without any further ado, Madame turned to Belle and yanked the new chemise off over her head. With another swift movement the drawers came off too and she was left completely naked.
Belle began to cry and wrapped her arms around her naked body, but Madame slapped her hands away, then ran her hands down over Belle’s body, talking all the while, the way Belle had observed horse traders do when they were trying to sell an animal.
But the man’s expression was what was really frightening. He