FicWad

Alone, heartbroken, soaking wet, and above all /dead/, Victoria sat by the riverside and wept. It was the only productive thing she could think of to do. Her heart, while still, did not hurt quite as much if she allowed her tears to flow. She might have found Victor, but he was already dead, and furthermore, already married. Now she was widowed and alone, not that she minded being removed from Lord Barkis, but she would rather have gone about it another way. Now what was she supposed to do?

A heavy hand made itself known upon her shoulder. Looking up, Victoria noticed a spotted handkerchief being dangled before her eyes. Further craning her neck she discovered the bearer of the handkerchief was the Van Dort's old driver.

"Mr. Mayhew!" Victoria exclaimed, trying vainly to wipe her tears away with damp fingers. She'd no idea the poor man had died.

"Here, Miss." He held the handkerchief closer and Victoria took it and dabbed her eyes.

"Thank you," she sniffed.

"If it's not too bold, Miss?" The old driver nodded at the empty bit of muddied ground next to her.

"Oh no, not at all, please," Victoria swallowed, still vainly trying to reign in her tears. With less creaking than she would have expected, the coachman seated himself.

"I'm terribly sorry," she choked at length. "I'd no idea you'd..."

He waved her condolences away with one hand. "Nah, s'all right. I'd had a good long run an' it coulda been worse. One minute I was there," he pointed at the distant, cavernous ceiling, "the next I was here. Hardly knew what hit me."

"What did hit you, if I may ask?"

"Cough finally caught up with me," he shrugged. Victoria nodded thoughtfully.

"What are you doing down here, if I may ask, Miss Victoria? Weren't you supposed to marry a Lord?"

This brought a fresh onset of tears and Victoria buried her face in the handkerchief.

"Oh! There now, Miss Victoria," Mayhew faltered, patting her gently on the back. "I'm awful sorry... Didn't mean to upset you none..."

"No, no it's all right," Victoria told him, emerging from behind the handkerchief for a moment. "I just..." She couldn't help the small wail that escaped her lips and she hid her face once more. Mayhew sat with her, arm around her shoulders, doing his best to soothe her until she cried herself dry.

"I'm terribly sorry," she sniffed thickly, at last too tired to indulge in further misery.

"S'all right, you've had a hard time of it to end up down here."

"Well, I suppose it was a bit worse than a cough... Lord Barkis dropped meoff a bridge."

"Why the bloody bugger!" Mayhew gasped, appalled. "Er, pardon, Miss," he amended sheepishly. Victoria waved the apology away with the soggy handkerchief.

"No it's all right. I quite agree. The rapscallion was only marrying me for my money. The joke was entirely on him, however."

"Right...you family fortune ain't what it used to be."

"You knew?" Victoria blinked.

"Servants gossip," he shrugged.

"Oh." There was nothing much to say to that. Mayhew was stroking his chin thoughtfully. As if to better assist the thought process, he dug a bulbous pipe out of a pocket, filled it, and lit it, puffing contemplative smoke rings into the dim evening light.

"Cryin' shame," he mumbled, appearing to be speaking more to himself than Victoria. "Your poor mum and dad'll be awful disappointed..."

"Oh dear, I hadn't thought of that." It was indeed true. Up until now Victoria had been too preoccupied with her own tragedy and Victor's marriage to the corpse bride that she'd quite forgotten the original reason for her marriage to Victor and then Lord Barkis: her family had no money. "Whatever shall they do? They'll have to go to the poor house! They'll be disgraced! And my parents are...well...they aren't young. They can't do labor, they'll starve!"

"It's a problem," he agreed, still smoking thoughtfully. Without much else to do, Victoria set her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands to help think. She didn't come up with anything terribly helpful.

"I think," Mayhew said at length, tapping out his pipe and standing, "that maybe we ought to ask some help with this." He offered a hand to Victoria who took it and stood.

"I quite agree."

Her hand on his arm, they walked back to the Ball and Socket pub.