They had born in the confinement of that wretched house. They had grown there and in time they had got to know almost each room and turn, but still the house was a stranger to them. Like and old fat cat, it had gotten more cantankerous with each passing year. It was in that house, that the hands that once caressed playfully grew warmer and yearningly. And love turned into sin, and then love was harvested from sin itself. But that was before and after, somewhere in between, tough the masters of the Sharpe state were still young and the few they knew of Allerdale Hall, allowed or not, was their entire world. And the house, it has always known they every secret.

The house was a living relic, Allerdale Hall, and impressive manor which stood like a fortress at a piedmont in the Cumbrian Mountains. The region held lakes that irrigated the mountain slopes and plains, making them good lands for growing crops or beasts. And there were also the mines, copper and iron was extracted from the mountain tops. The state belonging to Mister Arthur Edward Sharpe and inherited trough three generations, was not strategically located at the mountain base, were the water from the lakes washed the soil minerals giving the clay that composed its grounds a characteristic red color, because of the metal oxides. The claret clay was good in quality, but the soil was too humid, and the clay melted in a red muddy puddle, especially during the rainy season.

For three generations, the Sharpes had lived form digging the soil, mainly in the lower part of the state located at the eastern side. This area was farther from the mountains, so the clay was drier and also farther from the house. The western side connected with the mountain base in a subtle slope. In the middle of the state, there was a hill where the manor was erected. It had been Arthur's grandfather, Arthur Eroll Sharpe, who was baptized the place as crimson peak. His pants were red up to the waist when he returned from the digging site at the western side, "Bloody crimson peak" had he said once and again. When the wagons' trail had collapsed, two workers had lost their lives devoured by the crimson pool of clay. The bodies could not be recovered, so the mine was closed and the team was moved to the eastern side. The emptiness left on the earth by effect of the ploughing, was slowly been refilled by more liquefied clay that flowed underground like sticky jelly, coming from the mountain side. The house foundation have yield in some areas, and its skeleton was literally resting over red quicksand.

The sinking continued at a slow pace, and when Arthur Edward Sharpe acquired the privilege and responsibility to manage Allerdale Hall, the damage in the house structure was already notorious. The humidity had creep trough the wood making floors and walls to strain under its own weight. Some parts of the house were closed because the floors were in danger to fell, if they hadn't already collapsed. A house as old as this one is also gifted with passages and secret doors that are left out of the blueprint. At the age of almost four, Lucille had learned to sneak her way in and out of the nursery, an ability of much use when you are under lock most of the time. This was, when Mister Arthur Edward Sharpe was not at the house. It was for her safety, her mother had told, she cannot afford the child to get hurt by wandering unsupervised in that big house.

But it wasn't as if there was no one else living or frequenting the manor. There were Nana Beth and her sister Adelaide, old John Abbott, Miss Paige, Dr. Irving Randolph, Doyle and Jory, and also the mining team used to settle in the nearby grounds from early Spring to late Fall. The house itself was big enough and there were days in which old Adelaide was the only person Lucille saw. Adelaide was Nana's youngest sister, brought to Allerdale even younger that Nana, she had helped as a maid and in the kitchen, until little Lucille had born, then she became the child's nursemaid. Nana, as old Abbott used to say, was as old as the house itself, she was the housekeeper and formerly the Master's nursemaid herself.

Miss Mary Ann Paige had arrived little more than a year ago, she had ride in the carriage along with Mister Sharpe. A governess, he had said, "She will teach you the manners and acquaintances that a lady must have in order to became a good wife for a desirable suitor", Mister Sharpe had stated to his daughter. "Sutor?" had the child asked. "A wealthy and respectable gentleman", he has responded, leaving the child as bemused as before she had asked. Miss Paige was a very young woman, and since she had settled in Allerdale Hall she had spent more time with little Lucille than even her own mother, during her entire life. Lucille liked her because she smiled and make her smile, but the child knowing her mother ways as she did, hid the smiles behind closed lips, just in case. Life had become more delectable after Miss Paige had moved to Allerdale Hall, and even better after Mister Sharpe had returned from his last travel. He had been in the house for three months so far. The Master of Allerdale traveled frequently, in the cold season he was far away from two to three months in a row. The child longed for the times her father was at the state, despite their parent's differences that usually ended in her mother crying. At such an early age, Lucille already knew in which wall to put her ears on to listen a private conversation. Not that she payed attention to her parents conversations anyway.

It was on her fourth birthday that Lucille's life started to change for good and bad, or it was only that she became more aware that the things that happened around her. Curiosity had growing on her, and the nursery fitted her tight enough, none an unexplored inch. She had forgotten her birthday if not for the present she found beside her bed. She had felt asleep in the toy box again, pretending it was a magic carpet like in the story Miss Paige had read to her two nights ago. She wandered for a long time and then she felt hungry, but Adelaide usually brought her breakfast just moments after she waked up. She waited a little more, and finally she dressed up as best as she could, leaving the apron of her dress behind, because she didn't have the precision nor the patience to deal with bows. After that, she tried to sneak out unnoticed and find what was going on.

Nana was not in the kitchen and neither was Adelaide, nor her governess. She would not dare to peek on her father's studio in fear of be caught by her mother in the main hall. She was glad father was there, it had been for the longest time she could remember. It was because her mother was sick. This she knew because Miss Paige had told her that her mother had a child growing inside her belly, she also told her that because of that her mother needed more rest.

When someone needs rest, that is how grownups said that someone is sick, Lucille thought.

"How it come there inside?" The child had asked.

Your father put it there in the way that is destined by god", the governess has said, grateful that the girl didn't wander over that question.

"When it will come out?"

"When he has grown strong and ready"

"How will he know?"

"Your mother will"

"But how he will come out?"

"That is only for women to know, not for you child, not yet"

"Will he live here?"

"Of course, you'll be the big sister and you will both share the nursery"

"Can I play with him?"

"More that play, you can show him or her everything you know"

Lucille thought she didn't know much, maybe the baby will have his own governess.

Her mother had grew irritable, she had told doctor Randolph that they baby didn't move and maybe it was already dead. The good doctor had soothed her, by telling that so far everything seemed good, and he has no reason to think the baby was unhealthy. Lucille barely seen her mother after that, as the Mistress spent most of the day in her rooms, and Lucille was not supposed to be out of the nursery without Miss Paige.

The space between the walls was limited and smelled as moldy as it could be, but a child can easily squeeze her way through the closed down service tray and climb down in between the planks to the second floor. The access was blocked on the second floor, so she had to make it to the first floor. Then walk stairs up back to the second floor and find the trap door on the hidden closet used to storage the bed clothes and linens. This connected with the main and second room inner passage. Also, if you reached the first floor, there was one of the guest bathrooms which pipes were exposed trough the wall, the space allowed to use the main pipe as a sliding pole ending in the ground floor, close to the kitchen. The way back through the pipe was a lot harder, and this route was not wise if someone was having a hot bath. For Lucille to move between the floors using these walkways was literally a child's play. Adrenaline rushed in the little girl's body every time, and she hide and listen and walk very slowly to make no noise. She actually enjoyed her escapades. The trick was to step on the right places, one wrong step and the wood may creak soundly leaving her exposed. She felt like spying, but she didn't need to spy on the rooms to realize that her father and mother were again in disagreement.

She didn't like it and usually she got scared to the point of running back to the nursery and cry in nescience. Her father could be very hard in his punishments toward her mother, but it was the same her mother was for her, so she didn't think it was out of place or reason. That was the way things were as long as she knew. Still it had perturbed her in the occasions she had seen blood running from her mother's lips or nose.

She had been about to retreat when she hear Miss Paige's name, so she snooped from her secret spot, remaining attentive to the scene unfolding in front of her. She didn't quite followed what happened, nor understood all the words they yelled to each other. One thing was quite sure, she never has seen her mother so defiant toward her father. If it was to avoid a punishment, it didn't work, because he hit her with his closed fist right on her face. She dared to spit at him, a red stain landing over his white shirt. The governess had left, and if he dare to bring another one she will hang herself and the children in the main hall for them to be the first view that welcome him and the whore, so the vision haunted them for the rest of their lives. "Let's see if she dare to lay with you when my death body is hanging over your heads". This speech irritated Mister Sharpe to the point of no return, and his temperament had already very thin borders. He forgot his wife's condition, as no women on her 'condition' will ever speak to her husband in such a tone. He wasn't scarce when teaching her lessons about marital devotion and obedience. She had fell to the floor from the jab, he grabbed her by the hair bending her over the bed, then he used the cane. The same she used on her, Lucille noticed, her eyes filled with tears. The cane stroke against her back and legs several times before he dropped it tumbling backwards in realization of the damage he had caused.

A sharp sound make him turn around suddenly. The heart of Lucille almost stopped. The broken china scattered on bedroom entrance where old Nana stood startled, her hands preventing the scream to leave his mouth.

"Master! I..." Nana yelled in an imploring tone. The Mistress raise her head, showing her reddened checks between tangled hairs.

"Go ahead, continue if you must", she said in defiance.

"How dare you-"

"Master, please!" On this plead, he lowered his hand that was ready to deliver another strike. He looked at the housekeeper and then looked back at his wife.

"You insolent woman, will be the death of me. I swear-" but he didn't finished, he realized he was voicing his toughs more than it was necessary.

"Please Sir, the child!"

"Nana just… take care of her", he said swiping his arms in a defeated gesture. "I don't want to be disturbed if not dearly necessary", he said leaving the two women in the room.

That was how Lucille realized that her governess was been dismissed again, a shame, she liked this one. Miss Paige had sewn a new dress for her as her birthday present. The girl didn't liked to be alone, for the house creaked and the wind make hissing sounds, as if the structure itself breathed like a dormant dragon. Like the dragon on Miss Paige's story, the one that sleep on the castle of the bad knight conquered by King Arthur. Of course being four she believed in what adults told her, taking fairy tales for real. She didn't dare to question the story nor the storyteller, even less importunate her mother to get a second opinion.

She was still squeezed behind the drape of her parents' bedroom, her belly on the floor where the last wooden plank was fell long time ago, her eyes peeping through the ripping at the bottom of the fabric piece. The door to the passage was concealed behind the big tapestry that hung from ceiling to floor. A hunting scenery, which still displayed some of its once livid colors, now faded behind a coat of dust. Nevertheless, she liked the horses stitched on it, they seemed to be flying with his extended legs that didn't touched the ground. The trees were several tones of green and full of blossoms. She never had seen trees, they didn't grew in Allerdale state, because the land was blessed by the clay, father had said - "...cursed it is, cursed by the bloody clay that bleeds out of the earth like a dying animal...", her mother had said instead - they usually had contrary points of view, even from such menial things.

How Miss Paige had bothered her mother so much, she didn't knew. She couldn't, because she was in the nursery sleeping as a child should be, when Mrs. Sharpe woke up to find the cold place in her husband's side of the bed. She had walked in the dark halls, to find him feasting himself in the younger woman's flesh. She had raged, yelled, and ran from the scene with watering eyes. She had locked herself in the bedroom while Mister Sharpe had left to sleep on the studio after knocking at his bedroom door for at least one hour. The embarrassed younger woman had also locked herself, crying in shame and fear. It was late at night when Mrs. Sharpe had sneaked into her room and pined her against the wall, grasping her roughly by the hair, making her cheeks red in slaps and yelling at her a list of obscene degrading names. No one will intercede for her, nor Arthur for sure, when she will be dragged to the deepest pit of hell by demons with piercing claws. Her skin will burn black and tear off where she had been touched by the married man sinful hands. Where she had allowed to be touched by him. Punishment for sinners was pure torture, and she deserved it all, for rutting with a married man, under the same roof he shared with his wife, an infant sleeping in the nursery and another in the wife's belly. She must had known as she knew that men are weak, and Arthur, Mister Sharpe, was in enough restrain because his wife's health had become fragile with the pregnancy. The doctor had order her to remain in bed, to restrain of any exertion, even walking the stairs, in fear her body fainted and she might fell, putting in risk the baby's life. But it was him who had elicit in her such reactions. He had tried to force himself on her when she had opened her door in bed clothes. Of course she didn't expected the Master to be the one knocking at her door so late at night. She had tried to stop him at first, but she yielded when his lips took hers in a needy kiss and his hand found the way to her womanhood. A virgin she was when he had claimed her. In her naive mind, she confound lust with love, keeping the secret encounters, leaving her door unlocked to allow the trysts that followed.

For fourteen months she had tended the little girl, a lovely child that looked just like her father and for the last three months she had also tended Mister Sharpe needs at night. Now she had to wake up from the futile dream, because he would not abandon his family, he had a wife and a daughter and soon another, and he had a name and affluence enough to keep the word 'adultery' unrelated to him. She was no one, a twenty years old girl, stupid enough to fell in sin the first time she felt a man's breath too close. She had a family in the country, farmers and hard workers but not wealthy. They had implored to the sisters of the Nunnery House to take they daughter in the grace of god. They had took the child, she had been raised and educated, but she never took the vows, causing her mother to almost die in shame. If she returned she will be married, but now she was not untouched, she was stained win sin. She had prayed all the night, and was thankful that this affair has not consumed with a child. She had enjoyed little Lucille, she had brushed her dark hair, thinking on a children if her own, dark haired like Mister Sharpe. But that never will be, she will bear no one child, as no one will take a sinner as wife. She will get back to the sister's order, she will take the vows to keep her disgrace in secret.

Her mother had told her god will punish her for being so ungrateful, and she knew she was right. This was her punishment, here in Allerdale Hall. God had bring her to show her what she will never have. She will never laid again with a man, she won't, Mrs. Sharpe had cursed her and her offspring, for a sinner can only bear imps in her womb, fruits of the sin she was filled with by her greedy lust. She believed it, and so she had left early in the morning, when it was still dark. She didn't wanted to face any of the Sharpe again. She had went into the nursery leaving the dress she had made for the girl next to the bed, wrapped in brown paper with a blue lace, a note saying Birthday blessings for Lucille. She had kissed the child's tender cheek goodbye.

Later that day Lucille cried under the bed, that was always a safe place, the bed covers hanged to the floor making a full concealment. She cried for her mother and her father and Miss Paige. She cried for herself. She cried herself asleep. And dreamed with the sweetest thing in the world, a kiss, the one Miss Paige had put on her sleepy face when it was still dark, she noticed and stirred but didn't open her eyes. She fake to remain asleep to startle Miss Paige, so they can both laugh on the trick. But when her eyes finally opened, she was alone. Was it a dream? She wondered, but it wasn't, it wasn't because of the present that was carefully placed at the nightstand beside her bed. Her birthday, she thought, it was progressing very different from her morning expectations. No breakfast first, not a walk on the state grounds with Miss Paige. She really wanted to see the horses and her mother had consented finally. Not even dinner with father in the Big Hall. It must had been past afternoon already when the door of the nursery open, it was Adelaide of course.

Adelaide was an old lady, but younger to Nana by almost 16 years. Nana Beth had been in the house even before the Master had born, she had serve the Masters and Mistress of Allerdale Hall since she was ten and the house was in a much better condition. She had married young with Abbott, one of the stable boys the Master Jacob Sharpe had bring to the state. Master Jacob had took Abbott from the streets of London, at twelve the boy was a beggar and a thief, uneducated and wild. The streets of London were hard on the homeless boys threatening with sickness that usually took the ones without proper clothes or meals. The boy was but a stick with stuttering speech, thought he was not retarded as everyone said, and the master noticed that. Master Jacob Sharpe, Master Arthur's father, was a noble soul as Nana Beth remembered. He liked to hunt, and took Abbott regularly as companion. They boy grew strong in the clean air of Cumbria, grass under his feet, hot porridge and tea, warm coat to sleep. He still hunted, to bring fresh meat to the Masters table. He guarded the state and no one knew as him every inch of the land. The house was a different territory, he had only been inside in the ground floor. He and Nana birth no children, but they took charge of Nana's younger sister, Adelaide, and bring her to Allerdale Hall.

"The Master send old Abbott to the town, he must bring Doctor Randolph to see your mother. She is sick, so you don't go on causing any trouble today". Not like the child caused trouble anyway, at least not that anybody noticed.

"Stay here and be a good girl", she told with a gentler tone.

Poor child, she thought, better keep her innocent of the unfortunate events that has taken place on the floor below. She had seen the girl so excited about the new baby, and that will probably never going to happen.

Adelaide had traveled to her birth town for one of her older sisters funeral, and she had promised the Master to return on time for the little mistress birthday. She had never left Allerdale for more than a week, and never the sisters had absented altogether. While Nana had traveled three days ago, Adelaide had left to join her the night before the funeral, so they will both attend to the service and will return the same day, expecting to be back at the manor by the morning of next day. It was only one day for the Masters to be at his own, old Nana didn't like it, but the Master had assured her they will be fine for one day. Only that, they weren't. Whatever had happened it was not of her concern, as a housekeeper has no ear for her Masters affairs. She knew that the governess had left for good, even if the damage was already done. She had warned the fool girl. She had it coming. What had transpired between the Masters after that, she could not imagine, she must, knowing him as if he was his own son. She had saw him grow, a young lad carrying his fathers mistakes on his own back, the weight had crooked his will and turned harsh his traits. The rest had rotten along with his marriage, too old the wife, unsuitable to carry the babies to term. The little girl had been a miracle, the Master loved her, but it always had been disappointment in his eyes. because she wasn't the heir he was expecting. And now this, another child in risk of lost, she just hopped it was not boy, if the creature was destined to die.

Adelaide helped to dress the girl properly, combed her hair, and grabbed her by the hand.

"Come dear, how can I look for you if there are three floors of stairs and my legs are not what they used to be. I almost have run like thirty times between the kitchen and your mother's bedroom. She is sick, the poor one".

They used to have two or sometimes three maids at the house, especially when the Master was in the state, but they rotate frequently, chased away by the childish fears toward the house - people on town said the place was haunted - most of them dismissed by the Mistress, especially in her depressive stages. The recently remaining one had left as soon as Nana had arrived, claiming to hear horrible screams in the night, she had not dared to left her room. Lucille was left on the kitchen table, she has been there on rare occasions.

"You stay here and eat your dinner. I will check if the good doctor arrived".

The doctor entered in a rush, dropping coat and hat on the nearest couch, his leather briefcase dangling on his arm.

"Miss Adelaide can you please set water to boil, and get clean sheets". He hurried up through the stairs and found the way to the left hall when Mister Sharpe stopped him.

"Irving, thanks for coming"

"Don't mention it, let check on your wife". But he was interrupted in his attempt to advance.

"Arthur?"

"I.." he said like a child confessing to have stolen a cookie from the jar. "She got on my nerves". The doctors eyes grew wide in understanding.

"Of course", he said lowering his sight, then looking at him again with reprehension. "I though you realized she is on her six month of pregnancy, and after the previous loss, all boys, well what you expected? Of course she got on your nerves! But you may at least for once keep your mood at bay, couldn't you for god's sake, for your child at least if not for her".

Arthur Sharpe was not a man to be reprimanded like a child, but he valued Irving as an older brother, he had always advised Arthur in his best interest, even when he forewarned him not to married Agnes. Arthur had not listen to him then, but he had realized his mistake on time.

"Please, Irv-"

"I'll do what is in my hands Arthur"

When both men moved forward through the hall, the doctor take his turn to stop Mister Sharpe, holding a hand to his chest.

"I don't advice that your presence in the chamber will do any help to your cause, nor hers".

Arthur Sharpe nodded and remained in the parlor, while the doctor enter in the room to attend his wife.

The afternoon elapsed in oblivion for Lucille, she could hear the steps on the stairs up and down, and sometimes Adelaide or Nana peeped into the kitchen carrying pots with water and red covered rags to wash. She had played by herself in a corner, pretending to cook with empty jars and a spoon. Adelaide prepared her a simple supper, she ate without much appetite and fell asleep without realizing it. When she woke up the room was dark, the candles lit on, she saw no one and didn't hear the stairs anymore. She tough that maybe everyone was asleep now, and so she will go back to her room to sleep on her bed. The kitchen looked spooky and a goosebumps ran trough her back, even if she was not usually afraid of the dark. She grabbed the candlestick with her two hands, and was about to venture for the main stairs, when Adelaide came running and pass her without noticing the child. She stopped on a door and knocked at it with urgency, her father study. In seconds the door open, she didn't hear what was said but her father burst toward the stairs, making two steps at a time, Adelaide trailing after him.

Lucille followed but her flame extinguished with the fast running. She was left behind and had to continued her way through the dark hall, the light at parlor located at the end of the corridor as her only guide. When she was finally there she saw his father in the antechamber, talking with the doctor who was cleaning his hands covered in blood. The doctor expression was of concern.

"A word, Arthur" He got closer to the his friend, whose was almost shaking in expectation and fear. "The baby, he has born alive but I'm afraid his little body was not yet... ready"

"It is a boy?"

"Yes, but listen to me Arthur, he is not exactly well"

"What, what do you mean"

"His heartbeat is faint, and he is struggling to breath, he doesn't cry nor respond to the touch"

"Will he die?"

"I have to be honest, the odds favor that. Even if he made it, I cannot guarantee that he will develop as a normal child. Has never seen one preterm born alive so early"

"You say he can be, retarded?"

"I don't know, in some cases a difficult birth can affect the child brain, making him mentally limited. Most preterm children I had seen are health of the mind but their bodies are weak, frail of heart, faint breath, prone to sick, they organs are not yet developed so they need special attention until they grow stronger".

"So he can die or be retarded"

"Or he can be perfectly normal, we don't know".

"You examined him, tell me sincerely what do you think"

"Arthur, I cannot tell, I tough it was a miscarriage and it surprised me to find the boy alive, if barely. It looks like a skeleton of a baby more than a baby, but is alive. More dead than alive, though".

Arthur was holding the tears that tried desperately to come out, a knot in his throat make him breath difficult.

"For how long?" It was a plead.

"I don't know, the risk is very high during the first hours and days, but even if diminished it will remain for the first weeks and even months"

"No, no, no, no" he said in denial, pacing in despair.

"If you wish, I can terminate its life for the good of the creature, for you and Agnes too. She don't even has to know, we'll tell her this one was already lost. Better end it now than allow the child grow in her heart, just to be taken from her later"

"I..I have to see him first"

"Go ahead then"

Mrs Sharpe had not awakened yet, her body weaken by the labor and the blood loss. Next to the bed, there was Nana holding the small bundle, she lifted a corner of the blanket for Mister Sharpe to see. He felt his heart beat out of him and then fell heavily into his chest after looking at the baby. The Master, Nana saw, looked like if he wanted to cry and yell, filled of pain like a stabbed animal, and full of rage like a madman. It scared her to the bone, but then a shadow of resignation covered his factions like the gray clouds hide the rays of sunlight. He walked backwards, still his eyes fixed on the tiny baby, his extremities so thin and the skin so pale, the veins could be seen through the closed eyelids. It was not an easy decision for him, this one had born alive, the other five where stillborn. He had made his mind already, but he still needed to see the child with his own eyes, looking for something that give him hope. He found nothing, the baby looked more dead than alive.

"Irving, please proceed" Doctor Randolph extended his arms toward Nana to receive the baby.

"NO!" They all where startled with the girl's scream.

She had listened in the antechamber, she had listened the word 'dead' and she knew what dead was. She had seen the moths and the spiders that stopped moving, those were dead and that meant nothing. The bird instead was a different thing. She had seen it fly trough the nursery window, she had closed it to avoid the bird to escape, but it had tried to get out, hitting against the glass again and again. It had finally fell on the floor and she picked it up. The furry body still warm, the feathers so soft, she hold it close to her cheeks and to her ear. She hold it until it moved no more, the little body got stiff and cold.

Everyone was looking at her as one may look an unexpected guest. The girl ran toward Nana to see the baby, but she did not get disconcerted by the tiny body.

"Don't take him away, please. He is my brother. Mine"

Mister Sharpe approached the child and kneel to be face to face with his daughter. He spoke composed, realizing that the child had found what he had not, because she already love the baby even before ever looking at him.

"He maybe not be with us for much long. It does not god to cling to false hope"

"I will take care of him, make him better. Please father, please"

"Child-"

"I didn't ask for any present, I won't ever"

"If he die..."

"He won't, I'll be with him. I just want to be with him"

It was the tear stained eyes than cleared the obfuscated man's heart.

"Will he be under your care then?" He relaxed his expression to appease his daughter distress.

"Uh Hum" she sniffed "yes, father"

"You cannot relinquish on your commitment once you have promised to it"

"No father, I'll never, I promise to care for him. I swear"

"Well then"

"Arthur, it is a frail baby, not a pet you can give to a child"

"He will live if so he had the strength, and if he pass away it won't be on my account"

"And when it happen, what will that do to the child?"

"You said there was a chance"

"Yes, I said so as well I say now-"

Mrs. Sharpe stirred, regaining consciousness. She saw everyone in the room, and Nana holding the bundled baby.

"My baby?" she asked. "Is he a boy?"

Nobody responded.

"Nana?"

"Is a boy Mistress"

"Show me" She commanded.

The doctor approached to the bed to check on her.

"You need to rest, regain your strength and you can tend your child tomorrow".

"But-"

"No buts, Nana will take care of him now. Nana will you see if Miss Adelaide is ready, we still has much to do and your Mistress sure need to rest".

Nana had not yet made it to the door, when the Mistress had said aloud

"Arthur!" Arthur Sharpe gave a questioning look to his wife, the she said "His name, I want his name to be Arthur like his father"

"Then Art-" The doctor was abruptly interrupted by Mister Sharpe.

"No", he had said. "I don't think that name is suitable for him".

He didn't said it aloud, but he'll will not pass his name into a child that cannot made him feel proud. He will save it for a strong, healthy child, able to continue the Sharpe lineage, like a heir must be. Not this one, he will not waste his name to be written on an early headstone, nor to be hidden in Allerdale Hall for a feeble child on mid or body that will grow in his mother wing, unable to stand for himself nonetheless defend the Sharpe family interests. He walked out of the room, taking Lucille with him.

"Come", he said, "let us leave your mother to rest"

"Please stay" Agnes had said to her husband.

He could not, but he needed not to voice it, the child served as scapegoat without intention.

"Tom, no.. Thomas!" Lucille had said.

"What?" her father inquired.

"Can we name him Thomas?"

Thomas was the perfect name in the girl's mind, like Tom Thumb. Her beloved brother, he was indeed her own Thomas Thumb, and she will love him unconditionally, she would loved him even if he had been born the size of her thumb.

"Then Thomas it is" her father said, never interrupting their way out of the room.

Agnes Sharpe observed the exchange in which father and daughter seemed profoundly involved, while leaving her without sign of acknowledgement.

She was in pain and her body was surrendering to the sedatives, her final thoughts wandering about why the girl was in her room and why had Arthur allowed the girl to choose her son's name. A boy at last, she always had thought that their marriage had went awry because of her inability to conceive a son for him. Finally she had succeed but, Will that be enough for her husband to stay more time at home, to not seek relieve in other women skirts. Will he loved her now? Exhaustion took his toll and she felt asleep, a dreamless sleep it was.

Adelaide had found the Master in the stairs, speaking with Doctor Randolph.

"It is late, you better stay for the night"

"I will"

"Adelaide, please"

"Oh, no need to show me the way. Adelaide is as tired as I am. And she had a newborn to tend to. I will change my clothes first, because we will have a long night ahead"

Adelaide addressed Mister Sharpe as the Doctor continued to the first

floor.

"Master, let me take the little Mistress"

"Go Lucille" Mister Sharpe said.

"How is... Did Abbott got the milk from the sheep?"

"Is already boiled sir, and Nana is feeding him. He doesn't suck very well, it drowns with just a bit, we are using a cotton ball to leak it in his mouth drop by drop. Poor child so small"

"I appreciate what you have done here, you and Nana too. I'll hire some help in the morning. Please send Doyle to my study as soon as you can"

"If I may speak Master..."

"Go ahead Adelaide, speak your mind"

"Doctor Randolph said the Mistress breasts have not yet milk to feed the child"

"That he has told me" Mister Sharpe responded.

"He may use a wet nurse"

"Do you know one"

"If I may speak, one of George Marriott sisters, she had a child and, maybe she can be of some help to breast feed the little one".

"Marriott the pub owner? He has three sister, hasn't he? Eve, Gertrude and... Anne...or it was Annette?"

"Annette, Master. The one that-"

"I won't allow a whore in this house" He said in a resolute tone.

"I'm sorry Master, it was not my intention to disrespect you" Adelaide said ashamed of bring her suggestion in the first place.

"She'll stay in the outer house, tell Jory to prepare the place. She must tell no one, do not speak of it, less in ear of your Mistress. She will use the chamber next to the kitchen out door and only that one to tend the child. She'll be provided food and roof for her and her child. Send Abbott for her in the morning and let me know when she is here, I'll speak the terms of payment with her. Any question?"

"No Master, I'll do as you told"

"I'd appreciate your discretion"

She nodded and took her leave to the nursery with Lucille by her hand.