Saturday, February 4, 2012

Mrs. Frederick T. Marsh

When I accepted Mr. Frederick T. Marsh's marriage proposal, I was a young girl down on her luck.
And he rescued me!
I was living furtively in a storage cabinet in his law offices, having recently become the char woman.
I was avoiding living a life of sin and destitution on the mean streets of the city, but that storage cabinet, my home for going on 2 months, was very cramped and unsavory.  My head rested on my clean rags and my meals were eaten off a wiped dust pan.
One day I was cleaning the dust pan to ready for my mid-day meal when a tentative knock sounded on my door.
As I thought no one knew the storage room was occupied, I kept quiet.
But the knock came again.
"Yes?" I asked hesitantly.
"Can you...come out of there please?"  a stern male voice spoke.
I can tell you my heart sunk to my knees as I opened the door, fearing my last refuge would be taken from me,  that my future depredations were going to become a stark reality.
"Yes?" I asked, opening the door a smidge and holding it for support as my heart in my knees was making me feel very unsteady and weak.
"Hello"  he said, and this man that I was soon to know as Frederick, as Freddy, as Mr. Marsh my beloved reached out his hand and opened the door wider, covering my hand in a comforting warmth as he did so.
"Are you living in here?" he asked me.
Fearing reprisal in any case I decided to be honest with him. "Yes I am sir, for these past two months."
"And why would you choose to live in this small closet Miss?"
"I have nowhere else to go, sir. "
At this he looked down at his beautifully shined shoes, and then back at me, into my eyes that had not beheld one shred of human sympathy these past sorrowful years.
"I don't wish to be presumptive, but from a young boy I have always wished to be of service to those in need.  That is why I chose the Law as my profession.  But your situation...."  here he stopped speaking and please do not think I exaggerate when I tell you tears stood out in his grey eyes.
"Sir?" I prompted gently.
"I have watched you cleaning the offices through the late nights, and secretly I have seen you retire to this...closet.  To know that a fellow human is living under my nose in such conditions has been keeping me awake and in a quandry as how to remedy the situation."
He then got down on one knee, and producing a small twinkling ring, my knight and savior proposed marriage to me.
Right now you are thinking of what an absurd tale I am telling you, that possibly the fumes from the cleaning equipment had addled my brain!  But every word is true, as I am now 50 years past that miraculous day.


And that is how I became the duchess of this fine castle, far away from the life I knew, and the life I feared would be mine.
Presently my life is solitary and lonely, especially with Mr. Marsh moldering in his grave these past years.  He was a fine husband and provider and I did my best to do the same for him.  We had no children.  What I take pleasure in is  the sunlight reflecting off the gracious stone floors, the morning dove and the evening sparrows.   A lovely woman, (Martha is her name)  is my constant companion.

I have no complaints.  I will live easily and simply, until I join my Freddy asleep deep in the earth.



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