„When the cat's away the mice will play…”

It had been more than a week already since Eva and Brian got to Image, but not everything was working as it should have worked or how Eva would have liked to be: quiet and smooth sailing.

When they got there, 10 days ago, the first thing they saw was a big dust-up at the entrance of her parental house: randomly thrown things right at the entrance of the house, people entering and exiting the house and carrying things with them, as a lot of carriages with servants and masters that jammed to get everything they could get, and because of this the screams and the crowd were a simple routine there.

„What is going on?” Eva wondered, listening to the outside hustle and bustle and, looking through the carriage’s window at the big dust-up that was seen in front of her house, she wide-opened her eyes because of fear and amazement and, covering her mouth with her palm to avoid a shout, Eva managed only to whisper a strangled „oh!”

„Eva?” Brian asked amazed and scared at the same time, but receiving no answer from Eva, that was staring like a dumb through the window, Brian looked through the window from his left, but he couldn’t see a big deal: only the back of a few people. So, he slowly knocked on the carriage wall that was on the teamster’s side, informing Bardain to stop.

A few moments later, Brian got out of the carriage and took a few steps away from it, but right away he wide-opened his eyes, seeing the madness seen in front of Alfred Stonebridge’s house, but he had to recover quickly from his amazement, seeing Eva quickly descending from the carriage and moving in a hurry toward the house.

„I think you should follow her, sir. Not for nothing, but in her condition… she’s capable of everything,” Bardain said and, not knowing what else to do, he only contented himself with slowly scratching the back of his head. „Or… should I intervene?”

„Not necessary, Bardain. I’ll take care of this. Meanwhile… bring here the police. We’ll need them if we want to recover part of the things. From what I see, many of them had been taken away from the property already.”

„Yes, mister Beneath. As you wish,” Bardain rushed to answer. Later, he slowly bent and approached the carriage in a hurry that was only a few meters from them. Once sat on his place, he quickly pulled the reins, spurring the horses, and rushed to leave the property because even if Image was a small locality, it was still necessary for about a half an hour to get to the center by carriage and to call the police it was probably necessary other long minutes.

Right in front of the house and infatuated with everything that was happening around her, more… not knowing no one of those ravens that were making a feast of the goods of her parental house, Eva felt that the Sky collapses over her. But the hatred and the disgust to watch at that crowd of mad people that wasn’t bothering at all to take with them part of Stonebridge’s fortune had been bigger than her raging. So, breathing in for recovering her strength and her courage, Eva squeezed her fists, and after this, she yelled at those present as loudly as possible: „everybody to stop! None of you should take a single step out of this property or I swear I’ll break you into pieces and after this I’ll bring you to trial, to make you well-known to everyone as thieves and worthless people you are!”

People like people… listening to her shout, they stopped and as per order turned toward the madwoman with eyes popped out of her head that was standing right in front of the house and staring at them like a pitbull ready to break them into pieces, but none of them had a damn idea who she can be.

Even if they came there to get whatever they could, the majority of them had no idea about whose house it had been or who the curent owner was. But… everybody wanted something luxuriant, and Alfred Stonebridge had been an avid hobbyist of luxuriant goods, even if he had no money to take care of them as it was necessary. Yet, the things he collected had been well-kept, and an excellent master, with a little luck, could bring those things to a perfect condition. Consequently, those present had been practically fighting for each thing, no matter how insignificant it didn’t look.

Actually, they didn’t come there only because they wanted this, but they’ve been called there. Who namely called them there?! They had no idea. The only thing they knew was that they had received an invitation that was informing them that someone is selling things in the house of a rich man that recently died and because that invitation sounded more like… luxuriant things almost for free, they’ve decided, all like one, to be there, even if they weren’t completely sure what they can get there or how such madness can end eventually, but it didn’t really count - it sounded to be fun, an amusement that actually was costing a lot for many of them because even if they got there to get everything they could, the person that called all of them there and the one who was in charge to sell the things, resulted to be someone who knew the real value of the things. Thus, he wasn’t selling yet as cheap as others wanted.

***

Tightly holding one edge of a silver rush holder, while the short and chubby old man was holding one hand of it, Charlotte Wilson, because she was the responsible for selling Alfred’s things, looked like an eagle at the bold old man that dared to pay only a silver coin for the priceless thing for which Alfred seemed to have paid at least 4.

„Release it immediately!” Charlotte hissed the words toward her rival, who was also staring at her as if being ready to break her into pieces.

„You should release it first!” the old Gilbert Soreman told her in a demanding voice. „I paid it already. So, this is mine.”

„You paid it! Don’t tell me?! And… may I know to whom you paid something?” Charlotte answered him in an ironic and angry tone because the old Soreman’s boldness had extremely revolted her.

„To whom?! To whom?! It’s not your business. The matter is I paid the money and I can take my object,” and the old man pulled so hard the rush holder toward him, forcing Charlotte to take two steps in front.

The woman instead was carrying a stiff upper lip, so she didn’t get her tail down and when she stopped moving, she hardly pulled the object, this time toward her, making the old man practically jerk toward her. But, even if he was older than 70, the old Soreman was still a strong man. So, fighting with someone, especially with a weak woman, wasn’t a big deal for him and because of this he right away pulled the rush holder again toward him while Charlotte was pulling it toward her and they did this several times. Till a point when it was heard a deaf crackle first, then another louder, and, in the end, the rush holder crackled at the base of one of its hands that it seemed to have been badly lap-welded or maybe it was because of the time and… it split up into two: Charlotte got the bases of the rush holder and two of the arms while the old Soreman got only one hand and because of the used force, he rushed head over heels, still tightly holding the silver hand in his hand because stubborn how he was, to defeat Charlotte, he grabbed the upper part of the rush holder with both hands and he didn’t think even for a second to grab and its base too, at least for support. Thus, he not only suffered the defeat but also the shame, because those who assisted in their quarrel as if watching a drama, seeing him going head over heels, simply moved aside from his way and nobody rushed to help him stand up later.

And… this with not helping him wasn’t randomly because everybody knew well that the old Gilbert Soreman was a wolfish and a mean person, and not only once did they suffer because of him. So, they were satisfied to see him then laying upside down, and some of them even sketched a large smile seeing this.

Furiously blowing the hair that was falling over her face after being released from her bun during the fight, Charlotte stretched her back and arranged her limp dress. But right away she touched the right ablush cheek, feeling that it burns like hell, and when she madly looked at the one who dared to slap her, she measured noses with a mad Eva, that was standing in front of her, ready to kill her if necessary.

„Eva?” Charlotte murmured, looking in amazement at her niece because she would have expected Eva to be wherever else, but not there, in Stonebridge’s house. „What… why do you… why are you here?” Charlotte managed to murmur, in the end, while staring into Eva’s eyes.

Eva eventually answered her with other two slaps: one over the left cheek and another one over the right one, who had been also the first being slapped, and Eva wouldn’t have stopped if Brian didn’t intervene, standing between the two women and whispering into Eva’s ear: „Eva, calm down! And… think about the baby! You know very well that strong emotions can hurt him.”

„As if somebody else thinks about this, if it isn’t me,” Eva told him in an irritated voice. „But… yet, I have no intention to accept to be defeated by anyone. Especially not by this fool woman that dared to come into my father’s house and to turn everything upside down without my permission.”

„Fool? Without your permission? And who are you to ask you the permission to…,” Charlotte dared to shout, eventually, but she right away stepped back when Eva jerked toward her. Yet, Charlotte plucked up courage seeing Brian defending her from Eva. „This is my house. The house I’ve been forced to leave twenty years ago because of your mean father and of your easy woman mother who ran away with him, leaving her groom and rich life for poverty.”

„Ms. Wilson!” Brian shouted, piercing her with his glance. „I’ll suggest you keep silence.”

„Why should I do that? I’m in my house and I’m doing and saying whatever I want.”

„Your house?” Eva whispered, shaking all her body while squeezing her fists. „It had been your house until you abandoned it and you ran away like a rat off a boat that is down by the bows.”

„I’ve been forced to…”

„You’ve been just a coward that chose to save her back than to protect what was yours. Nothing else, nothing more. And now, you dared to come here and to ask for what is lost. By what right? What purpose did you come here for? For money?”

Charlotte took a few steps toward Eva, piercing her with her defiant glance. „Maybe! Yes. But anyway, this isn’t your business because this house belongs to me. Thus, I ask you to go to hell from here before to break you into pieces and to get thus revenge for what I suffered in the past because of your parents.”

„For what you suffered?” Eva said and burst into a burst of hysterical laughter, taking everybody by surprise. „Really? And … how did you exactly suffer? By marrying a wealthy priest that for sure didn’t allow you to suffer hungrily?”

Charlotte kept silent: wherefrom did this girl knows about her husband? From what she remembers she didn’t tell her about this. Or, maybe, yes?! No, she was sure that she didn’t.

„Surprised that I know? Actually, I know more than you can imagine, Ms. Charlotte Wilson because I didn’t waste time until coming here: I did my research about who you are and what exactly you can do. And the first thing I found out and that amazed me a lot was to find out that your great husband, a sainted priest of the Protestant church as he used to call himself, was in a fact an inveterate hobbyist of gambling and other kinds of perdition hobbies where he lost all his fortune, eventually. Because of this he’d been arrested, in the end, and died in a cold, wet, and dark cell for not being able to pay his debts: loans that he actually had from his former „friends,” hoping to have luck and to recover his lost fortune. What my father also did and you hated this.”

Everybody stared in amazement at Eva. Especially Brian who didn’t know anything about this, especially about who told Eva about all this: he knew her in Ms. Huntington’s house and, from what his man told him, the one he hired to take care of Eva and also to follow her wherever she goes (not to lose her again), nobody else, except the habitual tenants of Ms. Huntington’s house didn’t get in or out of the house. Then: how did Eva find out about this?”

Eva slowly pushed Brian away from her and, passing by him, she approached Charlotte who continued to pierce her with her glacial glance, despite the received blow.

In front of Charlotte, Eva slowly bit her lips because of the anger that was boiling inside her and because of the resentfulness that was taking over her at that moment. After this, she looked into the woman’s eyes, hissing the words to her, but in a superior voice: „get lost from here, Ms. Wilson, while I still have some dignity. You don’t deserve to take anything from here. And … do you know why? Only because you dared to trample under feet your brother’s memory, the one you didn’t see in twenty years and who you hated all your life.”

„Do you think so?” Charlotte told her defiantly. „I’m a Stonebridge too, Eva. I got this name since I’ve been born and I carried it in my blood all my life: this is what allows me to ask for my part because this is my parental house too. The place where I've been born and that I’ve been forced to abandon because of your parents’foolhardiness.”

„Nobody forced you to abandon this house and, from what I know, nobody touched you or asked you or your mother to pay for my father’s „mistakes.” Yes, I agree that it had been those who came into your yard and told you offending words. Maybe it had been those who hit you. But… this was all. It was bearable and… in time, everything would have been forgotten and life would have turned back to its rhythm. But instead of this, you chose the easy way: the run and the marriage, leaving this house behind you and unprotected. This was how my father found this house 6 years later: almost destroyed. He had been who rebuilt it, made stronger its base, and repainted the walls. And only after this did my father return to life the jasmine flowers plantation of my grandfather. So, you can't ask part of what you alone left behind and from what you did nothing to rebuild it.”

„Even so…”

„Even so, Ms. Wilson, you have no right to ask anything because this house and this property belong to me now as it belonged to me everything that you sold behind my back. And this is called crime - entering on private property without permission, booty, and stealing,” Brian told her in a sure tone, still sitting in his place.

Listening about „crime,” „booty” and „stealing,” those present in the room evaporated as if being petals blown by the wind and hurried up to leave the property, leaving behind what they intended to buy. Only a few that considered themselves being smarter than the others dared to take even what they didn’t pay for. But they didn’t manage to run very far, being right away arrested by the police brought there by Stan and Bardain and thus they lost even what they paid a lot of money for. After this, the respectable gentlemen had been forced to enter their carriages and go to the police station for further investigations because everybody knew Brian Beneath and the police didn’t want to make him angry.

Only Eva, Brian, Charlotte, and the old Soreman remained in the house. Eventually, the old Soreman managed to stand up and, touching his butt that was hurting a lot after the hit with the floor, he approached the other three while wagging the small piece of silver that he was still squeezing between his fingers, and yelling like a desperate: „and now that the owner is another one, who the hell will pay me for the broken good?”

The old man’s scream made the two women and Brian slowly turned toward him and stare in amazement at Soreman. He instead didn’t get his tail down: he stopped in front of the three, threatening them with the piece of metal, not longer than 30 centimeters, he had in his hand and he considered to be his property: „why are you watching me like idiots? I asked who the hell will pay me for the broken thing. Answered once and don’t make me lose my patience!”

Eva laughed instead, and this made the old man furious. „Did you dare to laugh right now? Ah, you, piece of… how a hustler like you dares to…,” but he didn’t manage to take not even two steps toward Eva, when he saw Brian in front of him, piercing him with his burning eyes.

„I suggest you withhold comments, mister Soreman. Not for nothing, but I can punch you and not even be afraid of paying for this, while you are in my house, insulting my wife,” Brian hissed at him while his hand was hardly squeezing the old man’s hand that was holding the hand of the rush holder.

„Do you think that I’m afraid of you and that I’m not capable of repeating the two-years-ago teaching action?” Eva told Soreman in a defiant tone and somehow cynical at the same time. „Today, as in the past, I can put back the bones of your back that it seemed that you broke while falling. Should I ask for the hearth to be brought to me?”

Soreman, like Brian too, turned toward her, staring at her in amazement. But… the more surprised one had been Gilbert Soreman, in the end, who suddenly swallowed his spit, listening to her words that reminded him about what happened two years ago when Eva took care to „well caress” his back when he dreamt again to be a groom and came into Albert’s house to buy Beth. And… he didn’t want for sure to feel once again Eva’s „love” on his skin. So, he slowly withdrew, looking for a shelter, and, clearing his throat, while looking at the floor, he mumbled. „Miss Stonebridge, I make a pardon for not recognizing you. But yet, before leaving, I want my money back. For what is broken.”

„And … why should I pay for what you bought to others? You can ask Ms. Wilson for your money,” Eva told him in a sure voice. „You are lucky that I have better things to do now than to remind you about old times. So … hurry out of here, old man, until I didn’t get revenge on you for what happened in the past,” Eva told him this time in a demanding and reproachful voice, practically yelling at him.

But … only death can scare an old fox… so, Soreman, wrathfully, passed by Brian, mumbling like a desperate man: „I’ll get back my money today of one of you and you won’t even say „psss” while paying me. Meanwhile, I’ll show you what means to mess with the old Gilbert Soreman, you… „high society ladies.”

But… being only one step from Eva, threatening her with the silver piece he was squeezing in his hand and being decided to hit her, Soreman was grabbed by Brian from the back of his clothes and the old man didn’t even manage to say something when he felt the bookstand hardly touching his old bones. After this, Brian put in Soreman’s hand a small bag with money, mumbling to him: „here is your payment, old thief and not even dare to touch Eva or I swear that you’ll need others to help you to gather your bones. What? To raise your hand at a pregnant woman? Not even the worse hound does this. The respect for the women that are carrying on in their belly another life should be for everybody, including such toads like you are. Now, get lost in front of me and not to see your footsteps over here ever or I swear that next time I’ll forget about my respect for elders and I’ll force you to pay me for everything you did to me and to my father in the past, as for those Eva suffered because of you. Did you understand me? I asked if you understood me, Soreman. Be wise and answer to me,” Brian shouted, eventually.

Soreman, even if he was furious that a tyke like Brian had dared to scold him, he still was happy that he got more for the broken thing than he paid for it. So, he only mumbled, „I got it.” After this, released by Brian, he crawled on the floor, on his knees, toward the second part of the rush holder that was on the floor, behind Charlotte, after she dropped it when Eva slapped her. When he got it, Soreman quickly put it in his pocket and rushed away from the room, so happy to see the beautiful adornments on the expensive piece of silver.

Nobody impeded Soreman to take the broken rush holder and not because it was broken, but because everything that had ever been touched by Gilbert Soreman was later considered worthless, and this was well known by everyone who knew well the old man: including Eva and Brian.

***

„Don’t you think that what are you doing is stupid?” Marianne asked Sophie in an irritant voice after many days when she’d been forced to come to her friend’s house and to listen to her cry that seemed more of an upset child than of an adult woman. And yet, Sophie had many days of staying in bed, denying to eat at least something light, and this was bothering Marianne a lot who had also been forced to let away her own problems and focus on Sophie’s because her divorce from Brian meant a big blow for both of them.

The divorce meant for Sophie, as she considered to be, the end of her life because she wasn’t losing her husband and the status of a married woman only, but she was also losing the „respect” of those who surrounded her, considering her incapable of controlling her husband and making her marriage work, a marriage that was non-functional right from the beginning and which blew into the air at that moment.

„It’s unfair! It’s cruel! It's inhuman what Brian did to me!” Sophie was telling through the tears each time someone was next to her and she took care to be always someone next to her, at least her servant, because she was feeling only this way that she hadn’t been completely abandoned by the world.

„Come on, Sophie! Go out of that bed, wash your face and eat something! We’ll go later for a walk. People must see you still walking head up. Otherwise, they’ll trample you under feet each time they’ll have this opportunity and I don’t think you want this,” Marianne said, standing in front of the bed, with her arms across her chest, and staring at her stubborn friend that continued in bed, with her back at the window and yammering' to herself, while powerfully squeezing the too wet kerchief.

„What's the point of showing myself to the world?? And so, my fate is sealed. They'll just point the finger at me, they will laugh at me! I don't think I can handle that,” Sophie kept crying and, occasionally, she was inhaling a little of the salts kept handy under the pillow, because only they managed to keep her afloat all those days and didn’t allow Sophie to lose her head because she was generally lacking power because of the cry and of the lack of food. „I better die than to live this shame,” Sophie told, sinking her head back into the pillow and bursting into tears again.

Sophie’s childish behavior had Marianne’s blood up because she was generally a battle axe that wasn’t allowing anything to take over her, especially the bad emotions, and she wasn’t also used to behaving like the other ladies of the high society that each time they were seeing someone feeling sorry for herself, they were hurrying up to the poor woman, trying to make her feel better by telling her good words and that it will be everything just fine, and that others are guilty of her pain and not her.

Marianne instead knew well that words are worthless, and that only facts help. So, whenever she was whipped by fate, she was fighting against it till she managed to hold the handle of the whip and hit others with it for getting revenge.

She was contemplating this time to get revenge on Brian Beneath and not for what he did to Sophie, but for the simple fact that he got the divorce and thus bringing grist to other’s mill, especially of those with a mistress. Among those who could ask for a divorce because of the mistress was Luis too, whose mistress Marianne found out that was pregnant and the last thing Marianne wanted was to give up on her status because of a bastard.

„Do you think that only you have the right for complaining?” Marianne told eventually Sophie, in a dry tone and full of reproach. „There are others in the same situation as you are, or… maybe worse.”

Sophie finally finished her poorly played drama, understanding that she can’t convince Marianne to slowly tap her on the shoulder and tell her that everything will be alright. Per contra: Marianne had in mind to take her too on the battlefield. Whose battlefield instead - she wasn’t that sure. „Others? You?” Sophie asked in a shaking voice because of the past cry.

„Not only. The divorce got by Brian gave others the chance to ask for a divorce too, and this means a precedent, and the church won’t have anymore a solid reason to deny the dissolution of marriages. Especially of those that lack children,” Marianne said, turned her back to Sophie and, slowly walking, she approached the window and looked outside at the late autumn nature that seemed more as if the winter came already, but only lacking snow. „Both of us had been lacking the blessing of being a mother, Sophie. Thus, we are easy prey for our husbands, especially living in the nowadays society.”

„Yes, but… you had at least a child while me…”

„A child that I have no idea where she can be. It’s worse, Sophie. It’s worse than if I wouldn't have given birth ever because Luis always blamed me for the fact that I lost our girl, and now that he’s expecting a new baby… it seems that he’ll forget us both.”

„What? Luis and… that easy servant… are expecting a child?”

Marianne, smiling bitterly, slowly turned toward her friend, still folding hands across her chest, and, staring into Sophie’s eyes, she said: „do you understand now why I can’t feel sorry for yourself? Because you never listened to me, you got where you’ve got, and you dragged me too in the same criminal game. But… it’s time to end this.”

Sophie stared like a dumb at her friend: she had no idea about what the other one was planning, but she was sure of one thing: it wasn’t anything good. Especially it wasn’t good for none of those involved in that war because the hatred and resentment aren’t wise advisers, more when it’s about getting revenge.