"Well, Louis I'll have to make this worth my while, after all the trouble she's caused me. You can have her for three pound." Pead's eyes lit up with greed.

Alice did begin work at the manor the year she turned twelve. Cook was hard on her, making her start work well before the sun had risen and way past its departure. Alice cried herself to sleep each night dreaming of a better life. One as an actress.

On her day off she visited Lara and told her, her woes. Each visit Lara invited Alice to come and work with her. Alice sadly shook her head. How disappointed and ashamed her mother would be if she left the manor.

"Don't make me choke on my brandy, Pead. She's not a slave." Louis was astounded Pead had asked for money.

On one of her days off, after returning from visiting Lara, Alice found her father tending the small portion of garden he rented from the landlord to grow vegetables. She sat on an empty barrel with a heavy sigh.

He stood and looked at his daughter. She seemed smaller somehow. "What's up love?" he asked.

Alice turned her face to look at him, tears rolled down her cheeks. "Oh, Da. I hate my life!"

"But child you've a good life. A job. A place to come home to. Food in your belly."

"Da you don't understand. I'm not happy. My dream is to be an actress. It always has been. I hate cook. She's a cruel old witch who beats me if I spill a drop of water. Ma stands and watches. She hates me."

"Ah that's not true love. She wants the best for you, Alice."

"If that were true, Da she'd let me chase my dream and not make me work in that horrid place." Alice covered her face with her hands.

He thought for a while and for the first time in Alice's life spoke at length and with deliberation.

"Alice your Ma wasn't always as she is." He paused. "She had dreams of her own. Life is hard. When you get solid work you hold on to it with all your might. She hated the fact that Nan was the one to raise you. She would have liked to do that but it wasn't to be. I as her husband am ashamed and saddened that I couldn't support my family." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Be assured girl, we both love you. She doesn't like to see you beaten, but if she stood by you, it's more like than not cook would have you both dismissed." He took a large lungful of air. "Alice I'll say this, follow your dream if you can. Make her proud, but don't come crying for sympathy if you fail!"

"No, she's not a slave, but she should by rights be taken back to the factory and put in confinement on bread and water for her offences against Grayson. I'm doing you a favour, Louis. I will have to present this assignment to the Magistrate for his approval." Pead paused. "Being you, I'm sure there won't be a problem. For my efforts I feel I am entitled to charge a fee."

Alice sat stunned for a while, she'd never thought of her mother as ever having dreams. It saddened her that those dreams had never been realised. For the next week Alice thought about what her father had said. She looked at her mother differently and wondered what her dreams might have been. Alice saw how sad and unhappy her mother was, doing the same things every day, cleaning and dusting objects which were already clean. Such a waste of life. By the end of the week she had made up her mind. She would follow her dreams. If she failed, she had some experience to get another job.

Louis continued the debate. "She has no trade. You said yourself what trouble she's given you and that the factory is already overcrowded. I'd think you'd be grateful to get rid of her?"

On her next day off, Alice told Lara her plans to come and work for her. Lara was delighted and told Alice she could come and live with her if she needed. The next step was to tell her parents what she had decided. Her father said nothing. The news was not a surprise to him.

Alice's mother was disgusted and scoffed at Alice. "Good God girl. I would have thought you'd have realised what a silly notion all this acting and such is by now. You'll be doing nothing of the sort!"

Alice persisted. When Sarah realised Alice was never more serious she wept. Alice wrapped her arms around her mother to comfort her. "Ma I don't want a life like yours. I know you gave up your dreams for Da and me and Nan. If I fail, I'll not burden you, but at least I will have tried. Please understand."

"Oh, Alice, I'm afraid for you. Promise me whatever may become of you, never lose your dignity," Sarah pleaded.

Pead considered this. With more calmness in his voice said, "All right, Louis. Since you've fed and sheltered us, I'll reduce my charge to two pounds. Take it or leave it. I know plenty of others who'd jump at that. Like I say she is a virgin."

Alice moved in with Lara soon after she left the manor. Lara felt it would be better so she could teach Alice all she knew.

Teach Alice she did. Not only all the tricks of acting and make-up artistry. There were lessons to be learnt on how to swindle a few extra coins out of the spectators. Both honestly and dishonestly. If they wore fine clothes, nine times out of ten their pockets would have extra pennies just waiting for someone to claim them. Lara said never take a purse unless there was nothing else to take and always return it if you could.

Alice became quite artful and gave her parents a few treats when she could. She visited once a week and spent the day with them. They were both proud and happy for her, though they were a little suspicious of her monetary success. When they questioned her, she was so offended by their suggestion that they felt ashamed of ever thinking otherwise.

Louis knew Pead would have had some dishonest plan up his sleeve. He had no way of proving if he had a right to charge any fees in this circumstance. "As you say, Pead. I'll take her for that amount. I hope you don't have any other money making ideas at my expense."

When Alice turned fourteen her success came to an end. She was caught with her hands in a Magistrate's pocket. She became one of Her Majesty's guests in the hulks at County Cork, awaiting transportation.

Her parents were devastated.

"Are you implying I'm a dishonest man, Louis?" Pead gasped with a look of dismay on his face.

Just before her sixteenth birthday Alice became assigned to Master Louis Copeland. She often wondered about her parents, remembering the devastation on their faces when the Magistrate said she had been manipulated and easily led. He said he could see she had received a good upbringing and was from a hard working family. Because of this he would go easy on her.

Alice had learnt a hard lesson. Her dreams of being an actress behind her and the realisation she had been used. Lara had denied ever knowing anything about Alice's exploits.

Pead stood and held his hand out to Louis. "I'll write up the papers tonight. We can do the exchange in the morning."

Alice looked at her Master. He was a fair man. She would do almost anything he asked of her. She thought of Aiden. Soon she was to become his wife and give birth to his child. Dear sweet Aiden, he was shorter than she, with a heart of gold. She loved his crooked smile and tight curly hair. He was a hard worker. Louis depended on him to keep up the running of the property. He could trust Aiden to be in charge when he travelled to Hobart Town to tend to his business there.

Alice thought of her life. She knew it was complete. She would do anything for her man and child. She knew now, the sacrifice her mother had made and why she had made it. Alice wished she could talk to her one day and tell her all this and how sorry she was.

Louis stood, took hold of Pead's hand and nodded. "Alice you may serve us now. We're ready to eat." He tossed the last of his brandy into the back of his throat.

Pead sat back in his seat. Louis went to the sideboard and brought the bottle of brandy to the table.

Alice looked more closely at her master. There was something different about him. His face was softer. The creases, that lined his forehead of late, had gone. There was a smile in his eyes that only she, from all the years of knowing him, would see.

Remember the italics are an insight to a character's past life. I hope you enjoy them.

I'm off on a little holiday to visit my sister so I won't be updating for a couple of weeks.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story so far.

Once again thank you all for reading.

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Copyright © 2018 by Donna Fieldhouse. All rights reserved.

This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Characters and incidents are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblances to actual events or persons, living or dead, are entirely coincidental.