1793
Pauline sat in the middle of a buckthorn bush eating the sour berries she so enjoyed much to her family's dismay. She knew they did not mind her eating the berries it was all the scratches she came home with. The only daughter of the Duke of Richmond should not be seen with cuts and bruises all over her body so he said, but when he said it the Duke would smile pull her into his lap and hold her while the nanny put the ointment on so her cuts wouldn't leave scars.
There was loud laughter interfering with the quite of afternoon. She looked out of the holes in the brush that kept her hidden and gave her an undetected view of what was about to her that would change her life forever. She saw her youngest brother Nesbit who she was terrified of. The decision to remain hidden was easy if Nesbit saw her he would hurt her or worse. At five Pauline did not know what worse was but Nesbit would. She held her breath and waited to see what the older kids were about. Nesbit was with five other people three other boys and a very pretty girl. None of them were known to Pauline no one ever paid attention to her nor did they introduce her to their friends.
She could hear Nesbit starting to taunt the pretty girl about what a silly little thing she was for following them down to the river. One of the boys with Nesbit pulled at the pale blue sash from around her waist. The other boy started to grab at the sleeve of her creamy lace dress, and it ripped. Pauline suddenly caught her breath when Nesbit took a handful of the pretty girl's hair and pulled harshly. He had done that once to her, but Papa punished him and told him if he ever hurt Pauline again he would receive a harsh punishment to fit his actions. The girl was screaming now and then Nesbit using the control he had over the pretty girl. He brought her to the ground where the third boy who was with them climbed on top of her while the other two including Nesbit held her down. The boy on top of her started to hit the girl.
Pauline could not help noticing that after a while the pretty girl stopped fighting them and then each of the boys took turns on top of her. She had no idea of what they were doing, but she understood it was not good. When the final boy finished with the pretty girl the three of them picked her up as if they were going to swing her like Michael and William did for her when they played with her on their times home from school. They carried the pretty girl over towards the water where Pauline thought they were helping her clean herself up. She seemed as if she had more cuts than Pauline had ever came home with.
She heard the splashing of the water and saw the three boys run off towards the house. If Pauline had been paying attention, she would have heard Nanny calling for them to come for supper. Instead of following the boys to the house Pauline went to the bank of the water and watched as the pretty girl drifted down with her face in the water. In Pauline's childlike mind she assumed that the pretty girl was swimming away after playing with the boys.