The Midwife's Tale Read Online Free PDF Page B

The city had ordered householders to set out lamps to provide light to passersby, but even at times of peace the order had always been more honored in the breach. Now, with Parliament’s forces overlooking the city, even fewer people put out lanterns for fear of catching the eye of a bored artilleryman. A few blocks farther on, the street narrowed, and the sky was reduced to a narrow sliver as the buildings’ eaves nearly met overhead.
    “I feel as if we’re walking into a cave,” said Martha.
    “It’s the shortest way,” I explained, but at the same time I regretted that we hadn’t brought an extra lamp and, for that matter, that I hadn’t asked Elizabeth’s manservant to accompany us. Few respectable city residents would be out on such a night, and the discipline among the Royalist soldiers was breaking down. The week before, a maid had been raped and left for dead by a foreign mercenary from the King’s garrison. The soldier had been hanged, but I had no illusions that the city was much safer. I silently prayed that the rain would keep people in-doors and allow us to pass unmolested. Unfortunately, as with so many prayers, God answered this plea in the negative.
    As we approached a darkened alley, a soldier stepped from the shadows and barred our way. He towered over the two of us, and from the smell of him he’d spent the evening soaking himself in liquor. Even in the dim light offered by Martha’s lantern he recognized my rank, and he offered a false smile that revealed broken and rotting teeth.
    “Good evening, m’lady,” he slurred with an exaggerated bow. “And what brings you into such a dangerous part of the city at this hour? Surely you will allow me to escort you to your final destination.” The glint in his eye made clear that this was a threat, not a request. He was a predator, and the scent of weakness would only embolden him further, so I saw no use in playing his game. I stepped between Martha and this rogue.
    “I am a midwife and a gentlewoman of the city. Unless you wish to spend tonight in the city gaol, step aside.” This was an empty threat, of course, and the question was whether he recognized it as such. Upon hearing my words, he straightened up, and his lupine features hardened. A moment later the smile returned, but with a crueler edge than before.
    “Ah, I see I was mistaken. Yours are not the clothes of a gentlewoman, but of a bawd, and this must be your whore. No wonder you are abroad at this hour. Now, bawd, is that how you should speak to a gentleman such as myself? I think I should show you and your whore your proper place. Perhaps I shall make the two of you my whores.”
    Without warning, he lashed out with his foot and knocked my legs out from under me. I landed hard on the stone street, my breath knocked out of me. Try as I might, I could not call for help. As I struggled to regain my breath, I looked up and saw that the soldier now held a knife. My heart racing, I scrambled to my feet, desperate to find a way to protect Martha from whatever horrors this monster had in mind. He seized Martha’s collar and held the knife against her neck. When she felt the blade, Martha froze, though I could see her eyes darting left and right in search of some escape.
    “Unless you wish to bathe in her blood, hold your tongue,” he hissed at me. He pressed the knife to her throat to underline his threat. A drop of blood, black in the moonlight, slid down her neck before pooling in the notch of her collarbone. “I’ll take my pleasure with your whore now. If she pleases me, I’ll send you on your way. If not, perhaps I’ll see if you are more to my liking. If you move before I have finished with her, I will cut her throat.”
    Panic welled up inside me as he dragged Martha toward the mouth of the alley. I could not cry out or run for help, for he would undoubtedly kill Martha and flee. But neither could I stand by as he raped my maidservant. Martha’s fate lay in my hands, and I