Young Writers Society

“Ooh, this is so exciting!” Anne whispered, squeezing my arm for emphasis. We were sneaking through the alleyways and back streets of Washington with Robert, on our way to a meeting with someone from the government. Earlier, Robert had told us he contacted a friend in Military Information and set up a meeting with an operative. He told us this so we wouldn’t worry about where he was. It had the opposite effect, Anne badgered him until he agreed to let us go with him.
He waited impatiently in the foyer while we went upstairs to change. I told Anne to put on the darkest, plainest dress she could find and I went to search the maids’ rooms for a dress for me. Lottie, one of the kitchen maids was about my size, though not in the bust. The black mourning dress I found in her room was rather tight, so that my breasts were in danger of popping out of the top. I kept searching until I found two cloaks and two pairs of sturdy black boots. Knowing Anne she’d probably be wearing some ridiculous pair of glittering heels.
When I walked into the foyer and saw Anne I almost dropped the clothes , I was laughing so hard. She too was wearing a black dress, hers however, was made of silk and embroidered with thousands of jet beads. As were the fore-mentioned three inch heels. At least the cloak I found was big enough to cover her dress.
“ Here,” I said, thrusting the boots and cloak in her arms, “ put these on. If we have to run, you’ll break your neck in those shoes. Make sure the cloak covers all those beads, and pull the hood down over your face, we want to be anonymous.”
Anne and I followed Robert out the back door and through the myriad side streets to an unmarked door. It appeared to be an abandoned building, however, as soon as Robert rapped a series of knocks on the door it was opened by a beefy looking man with a nasty scar running down the left side of his face, pulling his mouth into a permanent sneer.
We went through another door and it became obvious that this was not an abandoned warehouse. The room we were in was and open with many tables and couches. Some were occupied by men playing cards and drinking with scantily clad women sitting on their laps. Along the back wall was a bar and in the corner was a staircase leading to the second floor where I assumed the women conducted their business transactions.
Robert led us to a table in the back corner where a scruffy looking man sat with his back to the wall and his head hung over his cup. As we approached he looked up at us and his eyes bugged out of his head. Glancing quickly around the room, he waited until we were all seated before speaking.
“ What the hell do you think you’re doing? This isn’t tea time!” he hissed at Robert, glaring malevolently at me and Anne.
“I know, believe me , I do,” Robert said, giving me and Anne a withering look , “ but they are as much involved in this as I am. We all want to help. With the debacle at Fort Sumter and Lincoln’s call to arms, correct me if I’m wrong but, don’t you need reliable spies more than ever? Please , let us help.”
The man stared at us for a minute before nodding his head, “Very well then.” He took a sip of his drink and looked at Robert, “ We need you to travel to Richmond and use your family’s connections to secure a position in the Confederate government. Don’t look so shocked, of course I know who you are. I would never have come to a meeting without knowing who would be there.” He took another swig and looked at me, “ Are you willing to do whatever we need? No matter what we ask?”
I had a good idea of what they were going to ask. There were only two ways women could be successful spies. One was as a respectable wife or widow, the other was as a whore. I had already thought of that and was still undecided. If he had researched Robert as thoroughly as he claimed, then he had absolutely nothing on me. I would have to be very careful, this whole plan could blow up in my face if they suspected I was a double agent. I had no one but Robert and Anne to vouch for me.
“ Well, it depends,” I said slowly, “I will not whore myself out to a bunch of soldiers, exposing myself to … diseases.”
He smiled and nodded his head, “ Good enough. You won’t actually have to sleep with anyone. We’ve got a nice little operation going on in a certain whorehouse in Richmond, but we need someone to run it. The girls will give you the information they gather and you pass it on to your contact. Now as far as anyone knows, even the girls, you’re his mistress. He will come to see you three times a week. If you have information that can’t wait, publish an advertisement in the newspaper looking for a governess for your unruly children. Use the name Martha Washington, and someone will be in contact with you shortly.”
He paused to finish his drink, and then he looked at Anne. The poor thing looked terrified, her face was dead white and I suspected she just might faint.
“ Don’t worry ma’am, we don’t want you to do that. You will host parties and befriend the wives of high-ranking officials. It’s amazing how much information they have. Can you do that?”
Anne let out her breath in a whoosh and nodded her head, regaining some of her color. The man turned to Robert and put his hand in Robert’s coat pocket, withdrawing it quickly, “Once a week you will report to the… umm…madam,” he said, nodding at me, “ she will relay the information to her…patron. You have the password, and good luck.” He stood up and walked away without a backward glance, right out the door.
I watched as Robert reached in his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. He read it, his eyebrows pulled down in puzzlement. He handed it to Anne who read it aloud, “ ‘And sucked the honey which thy chaste bee kept.’ What does it mean?”
I recognized it, surprised that Anne didn’t. I motioned for her to give it to me and pulled a small box of matches out of my shoe.
“ It’s from Shakespeare,” I said striking one of the matches and holding the scrap of paper to it’s flame, “ The Rape of Lucrece ‘In thy weak hive a wandering wasp hath crept/ And sucked the honey which thy chaste bee kept.’” It only took a few seconds for the paper to curl into ash. I wiped the ashes into the empty cup and looked at Robert and Anne, “ Well,” I said cheerily , “ if the place I’m going to looks like this, I’ll have to do some major cleaning and redecorating!” Anne burst out in a fit of hysterical laughter for just a moment before stuffing her fist into her mouth, breathing heavily through her nose. Robert stared at me like I had two heads, “I think it’s time for us to go home,” he said stiffly, standing up and motioning towards the door, “ Now.”

* * * *

Later that night as I laid in bed, I replayed the scene in they study after we got home.
“I can’t believe the gall of that man!” Robert shouted, slamming his fist on the desk, “ How dare he suggest that you-”
Anne cut him off before he could finish, “ Shush, you’ll wake up the entire house. I know, really ,I do. He can’t be serious, her reputation would be ruined beyond-”
“This is an insult!”
“-no one in society-”
“He’s toying with us-”
“-doesn’t matter anyway-”
“ She won’t do it!”
“ She won’t do it!”, they both finished together. They had been pacing in back and forth in front of me and now they stopped, staring down at me wearing identical masks of righteous indignation.
“ Yes, I will do it”, I stated simply , looking from one to the other, “I appreciate your concerns, and Anne, I know you had your heart set on a nice, respectable marriage for me but, this is so much more important.”
I reached in my boot and withdrew a small silver cigarette case. It was a gift from Charles, given to me by one of the maids when we arrived home after Christmas. The note attached to it had said :
So you don’t have to hide cigarettes in your corset. I hope to see you again soon.
Your Servant Always,
Charles Beckett

Etched on the front of the case was a little scene of two people, a man with his arm around a woman, standing behind a railing that could be on a porch, but I knew was a balcony. They are staring at the sky, watching shooting stars blaze a path through the inky blackness. It was beautifully made, every time I looked at it I remembered the night we first met and my heart skipped a beat. Maybe when this was over…
I took out a cigarette and lit it, savoring the shot of nicotine to my deprived system. Robert and Anne stared at the case with carefully blank faces. They both knew I had no money to buy myself trinkets with. Anne spoke first, “ Where did you get that?”, she asked me, her voice an octave higher than usual. She would love to use the excuse of a suitor to get me out of this. Even more so if he can afford to buy unknown women expensive silver gifts.
“ It doesn’t matter where it came from , it was a gift .”
I didn’t mean to snap at her and I apologized immediately, “ I’m so sorry Annie,” I said, hugging her, “ It’s just that this is really important.” I stepped back and looked her in the eyes, holding her gaze, “ You understand what is at stake here. We need to find out what James is planning.” She nodded her head and wrapped her arms around me, whispering in my ear, “ I accept your apology, but you will tell me who gave that to you. Maybe when this is all over…” I just had to laugh, sometimes we were so alike it was scary.
I turned to Robert who was regarding me with a look of defeat, with Anne on my side he could never win.
“ I suppose there is no chance of dissuading you from doing this?”, he asked me.
“ No,” I said softly, “ but you can help me. This brothel idea is the perfect way for you to introduce me to your friend William, the one from the Christmas party. It’s pretty much the only way I’ll be able to meet him. You said he mentioned James and something about Louisiana. James was going there or from there, right?”
Robert nodded his head, clearly not happy about my suggestion, but knowing it was useless to try and deter me. We spent the next hour making plans to move the household to Richmond. I fell asleep that night and dreamed of shooting stars and warm arms around me.
* * * *

The government wasted no time. The morning after we arrived in Richmond one of the maids handed Robert a plain white envelope with breakfast. He opened it, asking her where it came from and she replied that it had come with the morning delivery of produce. As soon as she left the room Anne and I crowded around Robert.
“ What does it say?”
“ Who are we meeting?”
Robert cleared his throat, looking pointedly from us to our seats. We sat down with a huff and at the same time said, “ Well!?”
“ Give me a chance to read it first.”, he chuckled looking down at the letter. As he read it his eyebrows pulled down into a scowl, “Well,” he said looking at me, “ it has an address and a time written on it.” Turning to Anne, his scowl dissolved, replaced with a look of such loving tenderness that my heart ached to see it. I stared intently at my breakfast while I ate, I knew what he was going to tell her.
“ Sweetheart, I know how much you wanted to come with us, but I recognize the… um… locale and you can’t possibly be seen there. Besides,” he looked at me now, brows pulled down again into the scowl he was wearing more and more frequently, “ I don’t care for this plan as it is , and now that I know where we will be going, well, I’ll have enough to worry about with just one of you there.”
I knew how he felt but I refused to change my mind. It’s not like I was actually going to be a prostitute, people would just think I was. I thought it was brilliant. I pushed my plate away and looked at Anne, she was clearly expecting me to be on her side, but I agreed with Robert.
“ I’m sorry,” I said pleading, “ but you have to understand. How would it look if you ran into one of your friends’ husbands?”
She cracked a smile and nodded her head. “ I know,” she said, sullen , “but it doesn’t mean I have to like it. What time do you have to be there?”
Robert didn’t look at the note in his hands, he looked directly at me, “ We leave in one hour. Presumably, before you open for business.”, he said dryly. Standing up he kissed Anne on the cheek and left the room in a huff.
“ Marie,” Anne scolded me after he left, “you shouldn’t tease Robert like that. He is very upset about this whole affair. I think in the beginning he thought being a spy would be a great adventure, full of intrigue and danger. Now that you won’t be residing here however, he understands the peril you will be in without his protection.”
I knew she was trying, unsuccessfully, to get me to change my mind.
“ Look,” I said, rather snappy, “ I understand the dangers, believe me I do, but it is worth the risk. I need to find out what James is planning. He’s bouncing all over the Confederacy, making friends with all the big shots, but Charles said James himself is only a Private. What could possibly make a lowly Private so interesting to so many high-ranking officials?”
I wasn’t really asking her, but Anne whipped her head up, face glowing with satisfaction.
“ Money!” , she cried, “ Either he has a lot of money, or he’s promised them a lot of money. They are scrambling to find the funds to build this new nation, and wouldn’t think twice about using him for his money. If he gets a promotion soon, we’ll know I’m right. What do you think?”
“ Maybe,” I answered, “ but whatever it is, I will find out.” We made plans to meet at the milliners after my “morning appointment” as Anne called it, and I went upstairs to change my clothes and get ready to leave. I hadn’t packed yet as I wouldn’t be moving in right away. At least, I hoped I wouldn’t be.


* * * * *


Robert and I left an hour later, riding in cold silence the whole way there. We traveled through the wealthy neighborhoods to the commercial districts and into the slums. When the carriage stopped in front of a dilapidated two-story house, my stomach balled up. The peeling paint was so grimy, the original color was impossible to determine.
“ This is the place?” I choked out, incredulously.
Robert turned to me, wearing an I-told-you-so smirk, “ Yes, it is. Come, let us meet your associates.” Stepping out of the carriage, he helped me down and we walked up the sagging steps onto the porch. The door was opened just as Robert raised his fist to knock.
The woman who opened it was young, probably nineteen or twenty years old. She was a few inches shorter than me with chestnut colored hair up in a bun on top of her head. Her striking green eyes were slightly slanted, almost like a cat’s, and thickly rimmed by long brown lashes. She had a true hourglass figure with a full bust, tiny waist, and wide hips. The dress she was wearing was knee length, made of turquoise colored satin trimmed in black lace along the hem of the skirt and off-the-shoulder sleeves. The front of the skirt was shirred up, revealing a ruffled white satin petticoat.
When she spoke it was with a soft Irish accent, what my grandmother called ‘lace curtain Irish’ , “ Welcome. Please, come inside.”
We walked into a little foyer, with a doorway to the left and right, and a staircase leading to the second floor. Someone had tried to make it pretty in here. To the right of the staircase was a small table with a faux Ming vase full of fresh wildflowers. The chipped mirror behind the table had been polished to a high gloss and the bare wooden floorboards also gleamed. Though the wood was so old it had warped in places, offering the unwary person a nice trip.
The girl who let us in closed the front door and turned around, smiling shyly at us. She introduced herself as Almira O’Brian, but she liked to be called Milly, and she curtsied, inviting us into the sitting room. Robert wasn’t paying much attention, anxious for this to be over soon, but I thought it was rather odd in this setting. Watching how she carried herself, despite the ‘soiled dove’ costume, I thought she must come from a well-bred family, or else she was one hell of an actress. I would have to find out her story, I was intrigued.
Glancing around the sitting room, once again I was disappointed. If possible, this room was even more decrepit. First of all, it was hardly big enough to be called a sitting room , and second, the shabby furniture was worn and uncomfortable as I found out when I sat down on the divan. The only other seats were a couple of rickety wooden chairs grouped around an equally wobbly table. The threadbare carpet was so stained, it was multicolored . A battered table was shoved against the back wall to serve as a rather limited bar, as there was only one bottle of liquor and a few dirty glasses.
Milly introduced us to the other girls, there were six in all including Milly. I didn’t catch their names, but they were all young, beautiful, and varied. Blonde, Brunette, Asian, Spanish, Irish. They too seemed to be dressed in their finest clothes. I was surrounded by a rainbow of silk and satin, velvet and lace. They looked completely out of place in this rat hole.
After the introductions, Milly gave us a quick tour of the house. I have to say, I was infinitely more impressed with the employees than I was with the workplace. The bedrooms were barely big enough for one person, yet the girls shared, two to a room. As for the ‘office’ Milly led us to downstairs, it could have been called a closet. She sat down behind a small table that functioned as a desk, we remained standing as you couldn’t fit a folding chair in there.
“ I apologize for the lack of space in here, but I have to work with what I’ve got. Here, this should help,” Milly said reaching behind her and producing three glasses and a brown bottle, contents unknown. When poured, it proved to be a dark red port. She handed us each a glass and we toasted to new beginnings. I could tell she wanted to talk to me, but was unwilling to do so in front of Robert. It wasn’t hard to convince him to wait for me in the sitting room, uncomfortable as he was. I sipped my port, watching Milly, waiting for her to speak.
“ I was not in charge of this ‘operation’ until recently,” she informed me, “ Ida ran this place for fifty years. She took in me and my sister Maggie when our parents died on the voyage from Ireland. We were seven years old, alone in a strange new country, and scared to death. Ida said the Captain was going to sell us to a tobacco farmer, though he didn’t look like he was going to put us in the fields. She intervened and bought us instead, releasing us as soon as she got us home. She schooled us in the ways of the world and educated us far beyond what is usually given to females. Ida was from a first class family who disowned her for falling in love with a sailor. She taught us how to behave like ladies, though we knew that eventually we would become whores.”
Milly stopped talking and walked over to the window, looking out at the foul streets of this slum. “This was a nicer neighborhood back then. It’s too bad it went to hell. When Smith approached us with this plan, Ida jumped at the chance. We hadn’t been making much money with only me and Maggie here, and Smith said he was going to bring in a few more girls. Unfortunately, even after Lian, Samira, Carmen and Lizzie came here, we still haven’t had much business.” She turned away from the window, sorrow written all over her face, “Last week Ida died in her sleep, she was seventy-one years old. I’ve been running this place since, and I am happy to hand over the reins. We’ve cleaned out Ida’s room for you, and I hope you’ll move in soon.”
I sat there, sipping my wine, contemplating everything she had told me.
“ Do you get many officers in here?” I asked her, curious.
“ No,” she said shaking her head, “ we are lucky if we get one Private a week in here. It’s not exactly Buckingham Palace.”
I reached in my purse and withdrew my cigarette case, taking out a rolled cigarette and lighting it.
“ Do you mind if I smoke?” I asked her, taking a drag. She smiled, shook her head and handed me a glass bowl with an inch of ashes in the bottom of it, then lit her own cigarette. We sat in companionable silence while we smoked, a plan forming in my mind. When we were done, I finished my wine and handed her the empty glass. I told her I wanted to talk to her and the rest of the girls, and could we maybe go upstairs so as not to be overheard. Milly consented, interested in what I was going to say.
We went upstairs and Milly directed me to one of the bedrooms while she gathered the other girls. It was obviously my room as there was only one bed, a beautiful four poster with velvet curtains. There wasn’t much furniture, just an armoire, a table and a wooden rocking chair. The linen on the bed looked freshly washed so I risked sitting on the edge. It was only a minute before Milly returned, I introduced myself and asked them to tell me about themselves.
Lian was a petite Japanese girl with porcelain skin and deep, black eyes, who escaped an arranged marriage to a man old enough to be her grandfather. Samira was from Syria, average height with silky black hair and chocolate brown eyes she fled her country during a peasant uprising two years previously. Carmen was from Barcelona, tall with long caramel colored hair she traveled here with her husband who caught malaria and died. Lizzie, your typical all-American blonde haired blue eyed girl next door was from Atlanta, Georgia. When her parents died she went to live with relatives who didn’t really want her, so she fell in with an unsavory crowd who used her and dumped her at a brothel in D.C. They had all ended up in D.C., that’s where Smith found them.
We talked a little about the situation, and I found that they were all ardent abolitionists. They really wanted to do whatever they could to help the Union. I explained to them that they were to bring me any information they gathered, and I would tell my benefactor. I didn’t tell them that I wasn’t really a Madam, I figured the less that knew the better. I asked how they liked living here, and all agreed that it was hell. Forced by lack of space to share bedrooms, they also had to use a chamber pot or the outhouse in the backyard if they had to go to the bathroom. Sharing the one small bathtub, if you can call a copper bucket a tub, to wash in between clients was time consuming, as the water pump was also outside and needed to be heated. Consequently, the water wasn’t changed very often. I told them I had a little medical training and wanted to check them over quick-like to make sure they were healthy. I had had the good fortune to purchase a few medical instruments from a down and out doctor in D.C.
Milly opted to go first, and I asked the others to wait outside the room. I told her to strip down to her chemise and lay on the bed. While she was undressing I took off my coat and rolled the sleeves of my shirtwaist up to my elbows. I reached in my purse and took out a small brown bottle of distilled alcohol, it was the only thing I had to guard against contamination. I also removed two red velvet bags, one containing a stethoscope. Pulling the table over to the side of the bed, I put the bottle on it along with the bags and a porcelain water pitcher and basin.
The stethoscope was divided into two pieces with a metal joint. The silk covered tubing was connected to a hollow ball meant to amplify the sound, this was attached to a funnel shaped chest piece. The metal earpiece was centrally joined with a hinge to provide tension and the ends were capped in ivory. I withdrew two small squares of cotton from the velvet bag I kept it in, placing one of them on the table and dipping the other in alcohol. I wiped down the earpieces and chest piece, laying them on the table to dry.
After washing my hands with alcohol I turned to Milly, “ All right, then let’s get started,” I said. Picking up the stethoscope I had a moment of indecision. I had no actual medical training, I just said that to them so they would feel comfortable. It couldn’t be that hard, I was sure I would be able to identify an infection or something like that. Making up my mind I warmed the chest piece between my hands and approached the bed, sending a silent prayer to Saint Jude, patron saint of lost causes and desperate cases.
* * * * *
An hour later Anne and I were walking back from the milliners shop, she having ordered a dozen new hats, six of which were for me. I told her I didn’t need them but she wouldn’t listen to me.
“ Yes, you will need them,” she said, tucking my arm into the crook of her elbow, “ they match the dresses I ordered for you.”
I started to protest but she cut me off, “ Just because you will be residing at a house of ill-repute doesn’t mean you have to dress like a beggar. Not that your clothes are shabby,” she added seeing the look on my face, most of my clothes came from her, they had been altered of course. “ I rather think you might like them. You can entertain the officers in silks and satins instead of calico and homespun,” she continued.
“ Oh, Anne it’s horrible!” I groaned, “ The lace has to be at least a hundred years old and there’s not enough paint in the world to make this place look good. Plus there’s only six rooms, four of which are bedrooms. I get my own room because I’m the Madam, but the other six girls have to share. The sitting room can barely fit seven people and the study is actually a linen closet. On top of all that, it’s in the worst possible neighborhood. No self-respecting officer is ever going to step foot in there.”
We passed by a little shop with a blue and white sign over the door that read:
Cohen and Sons Jewelry
Precious Stones and Fine Gold and Silver

“ Mrs. Albright swears by this place, let’s look around. I want to get something for Robert, his birthday is coming soon,” Anne said. As we stepped through the door a bell rang our entrance.
Mrs. Albright was Anne ’s elderly neighbor, and from what I saw she was a royal bitch. Although she praised them to Anne, I bet she gave Mr. Cohen and his sons one hell of a time. We looked around the shop, pointing out various rings and necklaces to each other. I could see now why Mrs. Albright favored this store. It was small, but elegant too, with thick beige carpets and gleaming oak and glass counters. The velvet lined shelves held row after row of exquisitely crafted gold and silver trinkets. The gemstones were perfectly cut to enhance each stone’s beauty. Anne picked out a pair of topaz cuff links and we left.
“ Now,” Anne said, tucking her purchase into her purse, “ what did you mean by ‘ no self-respecting officer would ever set foot in there’ ? Aren’t they already open for business?”
“ Yes,” I answered, recalling the conversation Milly and I had earlier that day, “ They’ve been open since March, but none of the customers rank high enough to have any useful information.” We crossed the street, side-stepping a steaming pile of horse manure. Every street was covered with it. Anne was so used to it she didn’t really notice, and she thought it was hilarious when I first complained about it. She couldn’t conceive a world without horse and buggies.
“ The problem,” I continued, “ is that it doesn’t appeal to their taste. The surroundings, not the girls, and I do mean girls. Not one of them is older than twenty-one. They’re all very nice though, polite and respectful. Not what you would expect from prostitutes.”
I asked Anne if we could stop at an apothecary so I could pick up some tea tree oil and St. John’s wort. She nodded her head and we turned down a side street.
“What is it for?”, she asked me, curious.
I hesitated, not sure if she really wanted to know. She saw it and spoke up quickly.
“ Please tell me. I can see from your face that it’s unpleasant, but I really want to know. Are they disease infested?”
“ No! Of course not,” I replied, “ I would never let them continue if that were the case. The tea tree oil and St. John’s wort are for a wash."
She chewed the corner of her lip and regarded me with a quizzical look.
“ How do you know those things will help them? I’ve seen you treating the servants now and then also. How do you know what will help them? Or what ails them?”
“Well,” I answered, “ my grandmother raised me and she was big on herbal medicine. Said doctors nowadays just wanted to drug you up and keep you coming back. She taught me everything she knew about plants and their properties from the time I was a little girl. She had a huge garden most people thought was overrun with weeds but she planted them for their medicinal value, not aesthetics. We would go on nature walks and she would point out this and that and tell me what it was good for and how to prepare it.”
Anne led us through the city while we talked. Though we had talked about the future many times, we never really talked about me.
“ Where did you live?” Anne asked, stepping over yet another pile of horse shit.
“ Oh, here and there,” I replied, “ Nana had a lot of money, old money. Her family had been wealthy since just after the Civil War. How ironic is that? We had houses in Vermont, L.A., um California I mean, New York, and her family home here in Richmond. I wonder if it’s been built yet?”
Something was nagging at my mind, something about the house in Richmond.
“ We should look for it!” Anne cried with delight. “ Tell me the address and we’ll try to find it.” I told her and she smiled triumphantly, “ That’s only the next street over. Come on!”, she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the street. I was still trying to remember what Nana said about the house, something about it’s history, when we turned the corner and there it was. With a large For Sale sign in the front yard.
A well dressed man and woman were getting into a carriage waiting by the road and a short, round man with glasses was closing the door. On impulse I tucked Anne ’s hand into the crook of my elbow and marched up to the little man.
“ Excuse me,” I said demurely, “ Is this house still for sale?” I smiled prettily, batting my eyelashes like I’d seen in the movies.
“ Why yes, it is,” he replied, sounding hopeful. “ Would you like to view it?”
I nodded my head and we followed him onto the porch, it was wide and wrapped around three sides of the house. I glanced at Anne, wondering how she felt about my spontaneous decision. She looked exhilarated, her cheeks flushed, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
We stepped through the door and it was like coming home. I knew every square inch of this house, the double staircase leading upstairs, the sitting room and huge dining room on one side of the foyer, the ballroom on the other side. The ballroom wasn’t very large but it wasn’t exactly small either. The kitchen was through the dining room to the left, to the right was the pantry. The second floor held the Master Bedroom and bath, the library, and the study. On the third floor were six bedrooms and two more bathrooms. The attic had three more bedrooms, for the servants.
A thought began forming in my mind. Looking at the realtor, I turned on an award-winning smile and asked if my sister and I could explore the house. Smelling a potential buyer, he eagerly nodded his assent and sat down in the sitting room, picking at some desserts and champagne, probably set up for the couple we saw leaving.
“ Come on!”, I said, pulling Anne up the stairs and into the Master Bedroom. Closing the door I turned to Anne, but she was on the other side of the room staring at a painting. All I had to do was get her to agree with my plan. If she was on my side, we would have no problem convincing Robert.
I walked over to her, studying the painting. It was a full length portrait, oil on canvas, of a black haired woman wearing a red and black Regency-style dress. There was something familiar about the painting, though I knew I had never seen it before.
“ Beautiful painting,” I murmured, rubbing my temples. My head was aching, trying to remember the history of the house, something about who owned it before my family, and now this painting.
“ The painting is alright,” Anne commented turning to me, “ it’s the frame that interests me. I’ve never seen a gilt frame so intricate, and look at all the gems, they have to be paste.” Set in the frame were ten gemstones at various points. There were diamonds and emeralds and rubies. All were the size of a robin’s egg.
It’s amazing how the human mind works. Something so pivotal and life-changing in youth can be forgotten, suppressed, until by random chance something triggers it’s resurrection. Every summer until I was ten I came to this house and terrorized the staff.
Without any hesitation I walked up to the frame and pressed the gems in a certain order, stepping back and pulling Anne with me as the painting swung outward revealing a secret passage.
“ What… How…?” Anne stammered, completely amazed.
I left her standing there and searched the rooms until I found a couple of candles. Back in the Master Bedroom I lit the candles, passing one to Anne.
“ Come on,” I said pulling her behind me, “ I know this place like the back of my hand, these passages are all over the house. This one leads to the ballroom one way and to the study another way.”
The musty smell and profuse amount of dust and cobwebs attested to the fact that the passage hadn’t been used for a very long time. I rushed down the corridor, confident in my ability to remember the way. We descended to the first floor and came to the ballroom. I recognized the spy-holes on the wall. When I was a child I had to stand on milk crates because I wasn't tall enough to reach them, on the other side of the wall they opened to the eyes of several paintings decorating the wall. I slid the pewter filigreed covering to the side and stared out at the ballroom. The realtor was sitting on a damask covered divan munching on a plate of petit fours and sipping champagne.
" This is amazing!", Anne murmured , standing on her toes to look out from one of the other paintings, "These passages are all over the house you say?"
" Yes," I replied, moving the cover over the hole again, " they lead all through this house. There is even one that goes by the kitchen and comes out behind the house. Come on, I'll show you."
I ran down the hall, twisting and turning here and there, but I stopped dead when I came to the corner that turned towards the kitchen, there was a doorway that was not there when I was young.
" What's wrong?" Anne asked, slightly out of breath from trying to keep up with me.
" This passage wasn't here before. I have no idea where it leads."
Holding the candle up, I stared down the hallway, there were steps leading down but I couldn't see where it ended, the light from the candle wasn't strong enough. Curiosity got the better of me and I turned to Anne, " Feeling adventurous?"
She nodded her head and gripped my hand tightly, " You lead the way, alright?"
We started down the steps, side by side, ready to face whatever lay beyond. What we did not expect was for the steps to end at a padlocked oak door. The lock must have been there for quite a while because it was covered in rust. Glancing around I saw an iron wall sconce hanging. Grabbing it I wrapped my shawl around it to muffle the sound , and to keep it from cutting my hand. Taking a deep breath I hit the center of the lock with all my strength, on the third try I heard a satisfying crack and the lock fell to the floor. Pulling on the handle I heaved the door open, stepping back as a waft of stale, earthy smelling air hit us in the face like a wall. I looked at Anne, heart pumping, anxious to find out was hidden here. She jerked her head in what I assumed to be a confirmation, her chest was heaving, her face was glowing with excitement. I held on to the sconce, in case I needed it again. Stepping to the threshold I saw yet another set of steps, these ones clearly a lot older, as they were made of stone and heavily worn by what could only be centuries of foot traffic. The first step led to a landing , on the right side was a carved stone pedestal supporting a bowl. I walked over to it and swiped my fingertips around the sides of the bowl. Beneath the dust the flame of my candle flickered off the crystal that lay beneath the grime. The bowl gave off a distinct smell of slightly rotted fish, rubbing my fingers together, they slid over each other, greased by the contents of the bowl.
" I think this might be whale oil." I remarked to Anne as I tore off a section of my shawl from the wall sconce. I dipped the cloth in the residue at the bottom of the bowl and stuffed it in the end of the sconce. Somewhat hesitantly I held the flame of the candle to the torch and gasped at flare of light that sprang forth, crackling and popping from the dust. I blew out the candle and held up the torch to see around us. The walls were also made of stone, intricately carved with strange markings I had never seen before. The steps led down, far enough that I still couldn't see the end, even with my improved light. This time Anne didn't feel the need to grip my hand, and instead rushed headlong down the steps, holding her skirts up to her knees so she could see the steps as I hurried behind her, lighting the way lest she fall and break her neck. By the time we reached the bottom we were panting and sweating like pigs. I groaned as we were led to another door. This one had no handle and no lock that I could see. I handed Anne the torch and shoved the door open with my shoulder, dust falling down like a dirty snowfall. Coughing and sneezing I took the torch from Anne and put out my arm to see what was ahead.
My breath caught in my throat as the torch reflected it's light off a room filled with gold. Chests littered the floor, spilling their shimmering booty across the stone floor. Coins, chains, figurines, jewelry, loose gemstones. A true pirate's treasure, and we discovered it. Where things would go from here I had no idea, but something occurred to me. Instead of asking Robert for the money to buy this house, like I had planned on talking to Anne about, I had the resources here to do it myself. This house would be perfect to move the operation to. It was out of sight, but still far enough away from the slums to attract a bevy of higher class customers.Not until I actually thought of this place as a brothel did the last piece fall into place. It was as if I could see the scene playing before my eyes, sixteen year old me sitting on the couch with Nana, looking at old photos of the Richmond house from the early nineteen hundreds.
" Oh yes," she was saying, " this house is very old. It was built in the early eighteen hundreds by a close friend of the Emperor Napoleon, who fled here after Napoleon's downfall. His children moved away and eventually it went up for sale. Rumor has it that my great-great grandparents bought the place from a woman of questionable character, and that this house was a meeting place for Union spies during the War Between the States."
Jerked back to reality by Anne 's exclamation of delight, I looked around at what I now believed to be my destiny. How else could I explain it? My grandmother heard a rumor as a child about exactly what I was planning on doing one hundred and fifty years in the past- no, actually doing since I know it happened- happens- god, this was so confusing.
Bending over, I picked up a silk drawstring bag and dumped the glittering contents onto my palm. Rubies, diamonds, emeralds, stones I had no name for. Closing my fist I turned to Anne, giving her my brightest smile, " Darling, I think it's time we had a little chat."

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