"You tried."  She replied after nodding.   "I hope all goes well for you."  And added mentally, 'and the baby.'  She didn't know the situation here but something was not well.  She had not seen badness in Mr. Appleton, but Alice seemed very unhappy.  Together the two seemed not a good match.  Perhaps that was all there was.  In either case, whoever the letter would be going to, might be able to help things.

Alice opened her mouth, but just then, Jenny returned and she closed it and looked away.

Jenny eyed the pair rather puzzled, but then walked over and handed her mistress her glass of water. "There you go, ma'm. Anythin' else. Will ye be down for breakfast, or shall I take it up?"

"Please take it up," Alice replied. "Thank you." She glanced at Nat one last time and made her way upstairs.

Jenny turned to Nat. "What was that about?"

Nat shook her head.  "I'm not totally sure.  She seems not feeling well.  Is she sick?  The baby sick?"  She asked not wanting to give up Alice's letter as it seemed very secretively.  The woman had tried to help her, so she was going to keep the secret.  "I've heard some women get very sick after having a baby."  She mentioned thinking of it though she had not heard what happened when women got sick.  Some died, but not all of them.

Jenny's mouth twisted slightly into a grimace. She knelt down and began to light the fire. "That's what the doctor says anyway, that she's sick. Whether it's sickness of the soul or just an ill character -," She stopped herself, and shook her head. "It's none of our business. Certainly not yours." She looked up, her face softer now. "What will ye do?"

Nat listened and then glanced over to the stairs that Alice had just taken.  "Poor lady.  Whatever it is." 

Nat wondered how long the couple had been married.  Was this how Alice had always been?  Surely not.  After all, why get married and have a baby if not in love?  Questions that she would likely never get answers to.  She looked back to Jenny.

"I'll go back to Whitby and continue as I were, I suppose.  Unless Mr. Appleton makes my secret known around town.  Then I'll have to find another town.  I don't have a regular job now and will be living on the street or in a shack around town that is empty.  I will find odd jobs around town again and keep trying to save up to get a room steady like and try to find a regular kind of job as a woman.  But women are taken advantage of if they live on the streets.  There are some jobs I don't want to be doing." Prostitution to be specific, but she didn't want to mention that.

Jenny shifted for a moment and sat down on the floor. She looked up at Nat with titled head. She knew enough about the world and its dangers to understand what the young woman did not say. "Was that why you lied to us about bein' a boy?" she asked quietly.

She nodded.  "I've seen how the younger girls get more attention and not in the best way unless they are really lucky.  It isn't the kind of luck that I am wanting for myself.  I want to have a proper job.  I work hard.  I showed that in every job I've had been offered.  Well, bit jobs until here."

"But not much would hire a girl at the age I headed out.  Not in proper job types with no home.  I have a dress for when I get enough to rent a room regular like, and then can look like a respective worker for a shop where not closed into the factory.  I know my sums quite well and read above most my classes back in school."  She explained hoping that Jenny would start to forgive her for the lie.  She had really gotten to like the other young woman.

Jenny had been somewhat resentful for the lie, but at she watched Nat and listened, she softened. "I understand. I understand why ye lied, though you had nowt to fear from Mr. Appleton. I'm sorry ye can't stay, Nat."

She nodded.  "I figured that out. But out there alone, there is no way of knowing till you spend time with a person.  I had to be sure.  It takes more than a few days to get to know a person usually, but seeing how he is with you all, it became pretty clear after a couple of days that he was a good man.  And getting to know you was nice.  Just being myself for the most part."  She sighed softly.  "Not having to be so always on edge and careful would be nice."

Jenny nodded in understanding. "Why don't you apply -," But she stopped when a door opened upstairs and Mr. Appleton came down the stairs. She rose quickly.

"Yer up, early, ser. Is there owt ye need?"

"A word with you, Jenny," her master replied. He looked at Nat. "Would you step outside for a moment?"