A Distant Dream Read Online Free Page A

and we should be her gracious hosts, young lady. Now, Molly would yer ever sit up at the table and have a little soup.”
    After a nursery lunch of mashed potatoes and carrots, some sort of mushy pie and gravy, with slices of apple for dessert, the children were taken to the lavatory, then settled down for a nap. Molly lay on a couple of cushions on the floor of the nursery, the children having been taken to their bedrooms.
    â€œTis a crying shame,” she heard the nice lady say, the one who had brought in their lunches. “They’ll use her as a servant when they get her out there. All this show of adopting a child and treating her like a daughter.
Cailin ag Mor agus Mor ag iarraidh deirce
. Anything to keep up appearances. If they’d wanted a child that much, they’d have gone to the orphanage and adopted one many years ago.”
    â€œGoing to the New World, being a servant or not would be better than living in one of them places,” the nursery maid was quick to point out. “She’d only end up being a servant around here, and that would be if she was lucky enough to get a job, like us.”
    *
    It was early the following morning, just as dawn broke over the rooftops, that Molly was put into a hansom cab, alongside Bessie and Clarence, whilst the driver placed their trunks and bags up above.
    Sara and Finbar waved a fond farewell from their doorstep, not wanting to hazard a trip to the quayside, beseeching them to have a pleasant journey – “God Speed, write when you can.” Bridie watched from behind the privacy of a net curtain, saying a little prayer for the health of the poor wee three year old. There was a lot of ocean to travel for the unsuspecting girl.
    It was as Bessie thought when they arrived at the dockside. It was teeming with what she saw to be life’s flotsam and jetsam. It had appeared that a sympathetic captain had offered free passage to England, providing that they didn’t mind travelling with the cattle on board. When the gangway dropped he had been inundated and soldiers had been called to stem the brawling amongst the men.
    Bessie looked sullen, no doubt still feeling the effects of her husband’s chastisement ringing in her ears. He was not about to be thwarted in his plans and had told her so quite strongly, which was quite unusual for the normally placid man. He held Molly’s hand firmly, once they had alighted from the cab, the driver placing their luggage in front of a small packet ship, moored between a grain ship and a barge carrying a large herd of sheep. Soldiers stood, dressed in the uniform of Her Majesty, nervously guarding the vessels in case another riot broke out.
    â€œLook, the
Bessie Belle
, Clarence said excitedly, pointing out the name of the ship that they were about to board on their voyage across the water to Plymouth. “How providential; it’s a sign, an omen, the
Bessie Belle.
Well would you believe it?”
    A sombrely dressed man, standing with his wife and three children nearby, looked over and smiled at Clarence’s levity, then relapsed into a certain gloom which could be seen on the faces of many of the waiting people. Seagulls circled overhead, screeching loudly as they swooped to sit on the grain ship’s railings, then flying off again as sailors ran along the deck carrying long poled shovels.
    â€œHave you got the tickets?” Bessie asked, on seeing an official looking person, who after walking down the
Bessie Belle
gangplank had stopped to talk to a man nearby, who was fumbling in his jacket pocket.
    â€œYes, in the carpet bag, all documents, certificates, tickets, all here safely. We’ll be away soon, looking at the tide and the way the wind is blowing.”
    He held out his tickets, which were scrutinised in detail by the official, then he was told to climb up the gangplank and wait for instructions.
    â€œWant Maggie,” said a forlorn little voice at the side of