Chapter 10

'Wake-up,' Cassie heard a voice in the distance command, 'wake-up.'

As Cassie gingerly opened her eyes, she slowly became aware of Emerald standing over her. 'What time is it?' she asked sleepily, 'surely it is far too early to get up.'

Emerald walked purposefully over to the shutters and flung them open, flooding every corner of the room with bright sunlight. Cassie, who was sensitive to the bright light when she first awoke after a night of excess, immediately buried her head under the covers. 'Emerald,' she said irritably, 'why did you open the shutters? You know that sunlight, especially first thing in the morning after a busy night, always gives me a headache.'

Emerald walked back to the bed, firmly took hold of the sheet that covered Cassie, and pulled it back, leaving her lying naked on the bed. 'Wake-up!' She once more heard her command.

Cassie grabbed the sheet, that had been pulled unceremoniously away from her, and covered herself up again, 'I do not see why I have to get up so early in the morning,' she said, feeling disgruntled.

Her eyes were becoming accustomed to the bright morning sunshine, but the dull ache in her head was becoming more intense. She glanced over at the table by the side of the bed, which was littered with empty bottles from the previous night's excesses. She reached over and picked up each bottle, in turn, to ascertain whether there was anything left in them.

Emerald picked up a strange looking pipe that had been lying next to the bottles. 'If you insist on smoking opium,' Emerald said to her impatiently, waving the pipe under her nose, 'then you will spend your life in a stupor. It's a filthy habit, and one that will end in your ruin.'

Cassie ignored her warning and continued to carefully examine the bottles. Once she had found a little brandy, she poured the meagre measure into a glass and drank it quickly. 'There must be another bottle around here somewhere,' she said, as she scrabbled around the floor by the bed. 'I cannot believe I drank all that in one night.'

'Unsurprisingly, they are all empty,' Emerald said irritably, 'last night, you and Hoopern must have drunk the whole place dry.'

'Hoopern?' Cassie said, still checking the floor just in case a bottle, containing a little more brandy, had escaped her notice, 'I really don't remember much about it; not much at all.'

Emerald snorted. 'I'm not surprised,' she retorted, 'look at the state of you. You are a mess and deserve... Oh! Never mind,' she said, shaking her head.

'Deserve what?' Cassie said, giving up her fruitless search and sitting up in bed.

Emerald looked directly at her. 'You do know that none of the other girls like you,' she said, avoiding the question.

'I'm not here to be liked by them,' she replied tartly, 'I do not care a button what they think of me.'

'It's time you did' Emerald said testily, 'you never know when you will need their help.'

'I don't need their help,' she replied contemptuously.

'You think that you are so much better than them, don't you?' Emerald said, waving her finger at Cassie. 'But to him, you're just the same. And one day,' she said ominously, 'when he tires of playing with you, you will need their help.'

'Emerald, I really do not know what you are talking about,' Cassie said derisively. 'I do wish that you would stop being so cryptic. There's a bottle of gin on my dressing table,' Cassie said, changing the subject abruptly, 'won't you be a dear and bring it over to me.'

Emerald sat on the bed next to Cassie and looked at her seriously. 'Rosa,' she said gravely, 'how much of last night do you remember?'

'Only snatches,' she said, shaking her head, 'I find it better to forget most of my encounters with the men that come here.' She took a deep breath, and then said, 'I vaguely remember going upstairs with a gentleman. I cannot remember who it was, but it must have been Hoopern.' Cassie closed her eyes, trying to recall the events of the previous evening, but her mind was still a jumble of muddled memories. She vaguely remembered her brother losing at the gaming tables, but there was nothing unusual about that. Reggie regularly lost money, and she always was, one way or another, having to bail him out. There was something else, at the back of her mind, that was bothering her. 'Verity,' she whispered, 'no, she could not have been here. I must have dreamt of seeing her again.'

'You must get up,' Emerald said, as she stood up and looked down at Cassie impatiently. Exasperated, she walked over to Cassie's dressing table and quickly found the bottle of gin. She brought it back over to Cassie, and, full of indignation, waved the bottle under her nose. 'If this will get you up, then you better have some.'

Cassie took the bottle and poured herself a large glass and drank it in one go. 'You still have not told me why I have to get up?' she asked, her voice still full of irritation.

'We have all been summoned downstairs by Mr Reynolds and Major Ellington,' she said tersely. 'And, I do believe it is urgent.'

'Whatever for?' Cassie said as she poured herself another glass of gin, 'can it not wait until a decent hour?'

'No,' Emerald said firmly, taking the bottle away from Cassie, and putting it back on her dressing table, 'they want us now, and we are already late?' Emerald looked around the room and picked up a wrapper that had been abandoned the previous evening. 'Put this on and come down immediately,' she commanded.

Cassie got out of bed and put on the wrapper that Emerald had offered her. She then walked over to the cheval mirror and carefully examined her reflection. After she had used her fingers to comb and smooth her hair, she began to remove the dark smudges of kohl from below her eyes. Satisfied, that she looked passable, she loosely tied the sash of the silk dressing gown around her waist and adjusted the collar. She walked over to the dressing table, opened an enamel case, that was prominently displayed on its surface, and selected a cheroot. After she had lit it, using a weak flame from one of the dying candles, she walked over to the door.

'I'm ready,' she said to Emerald, as she turned the handle of the door, 'shall we go down and see what all the fuss is about.'

Emerald and Cassie were amongst the last to arrive at the meeting. When they entered the crowded salon, they could not find a place to sit, so they made their way to the back of the room, leant against the wall, and listened to the excited chatter of conversation from the girls who were seated in front of them.

The salon, in the cold light of day, looked very different. The plush velvet curtains that were usually drawn were now open, allowing the bright morning sunshine to flood into the room. The furniture that at night looked new and expensive was, in fact, old and threadbare, the paint was beginning to peel and flake off the walls and the ornate plaster ceiling, on closer inspection, looked amateurish in design. At night, the soft candlelight, produced by the many candelabra that littered the room, expertly masked the room's underlying shabby appearance. However, the bright sunlight only exaggerated the dilapidation.

Even though some of the large windows had been opened, the strong pungent smell of stale smoke and alcohol hung heavily in the air. And even the women, who were considered to be the most beautiful that Brussels had to offer, looked jaded and worn-out.

As the morning sunshine reflected of Cassie's face, it would have been impossible to guess her actual age. At nineteen years of age, the initial signs of dissipation, from her hedonistic lifestyle, were beginning to etch themselves around her eyes and mouth. Her skin that had once been smooth and flawless like alabaster now had a yellowish tinge and was starting to become pitted and sallow. Like a beautifully formed rose, cut prematurely from the garden and left without water, her startling beauty, that had made her famous across Europe, was beginning to wither away.

Everyone in that room knew that it was a rare event for Major Ellington, at such short notice, to convene a meeting where everyone must attend. There was a loud buzz of conversation, as various groups huddled together to discuss what possible events could have initiated such an extraordinary gathering.

Cassie, still leaning against the wall, felt her hands start to shake. All she could think about was that bottle of gin, proudly sitting on her dressing table, and the bottle of laudanum, languishing in the drawer underneath. She was beginning to regret her decision not to take a glass of gin, with a few drops of laudanum mixed into it, downstairs. That heady mixture would have been enough to temporarily take the edge of the uncontrollable shaking in her hands. Instead, she had to content herself by drawing hard on the cheroot and deeply inhaling its thick, acrid smoke. However, this did little to relieve the torment she was suffering deep inside.

'You're a mess,' Emerald whispered harshly, turning around to look at her scornfully, 'a bloody mess.'

Cassie did not answer, she just continued to draw deeply on the cheroot, holding the smoke deep within her lungs for as long as she could. She did not need to answer because she knew it was true. Her life that had once been unsullied by the world was in tatters.

'That's the problem we always have with the likes of you!' Emerald said, with a sneer. 'Just because your father was a baronet, you think you are so much better than the rest of us put together. But, he doesn't see you like that,' she said, looking over at Ellington. 'He sees you as you really are – a slut that will do anything for a drink.'

'Emerald,' Cassie said, shocked at the harsh words Emerald had just spoken, 'I don't understand. Why are you so cruel?'

Emerald smiled sardonically and then said, 'Rosa, ever since that first day I met you at Highfields, I've never liked you. I only befriended you, because he asked me to.'

Cassie looked at her, confusion in her eyes. 'Who asked you?' she said curiously.

'Ellington, of course! Who else would it be?' she said, tossing her head back. Then after a short silence, she added, 'he wanted me to help him ruin you. And, I did just that.'

'But, I trusted you as a friend,' she said weakly.

'Do you know why he has done this to you?' Emerald asked, still looking at Cassie with disgust.

'My father owed Lord Melrose money, and I had to pay it back. Then there is Reggie...' she was interrupted by Emerald's laughter.

'You're an idiot,' she said, in amusement, 'you have no idea why he did it? Do you?'

'No,' she said softly, 'I always thought it was just about the money. But, I also thought he cared about what happened to me.'

'He cared alright,' Emerald said triumphantly. 'Everyone, who has slept with you, knows who you really are. Miss Cassandra Stanford, a one-time uptight, frigid governess, who was transformed by him into La Rosa d'Oro, the most salacious and sought-after harlot in the whole of Belgium; if not Europe. He did it, because of your father, a baronet no less was a weak man, who had the effrontery to die owing Ellington's business partner money. Ellington tells your story to everyone who sees you, as an example of the lengths he will go to redeem a debt.'

'Why do you think he allows you to smoke opium?' she said, after a short silence. 'He very rarely allows us to use it, and I know that I would certainly never take it myself. And, I'm surprised he still allows you to wear your golden sash and fraternise with the more exclusive clientele. If you could only see your lascivious behaviour when you are under its influence, you would be ashamed of yourself. I know I would. Rest assured, everyone else has seen the way you publicly debauch yourself when you take it.'

'Why are you telling me this?' Cassie asked, almost in a whisper.

Because you are going to get what you deserve,' she said, turning her face away from her and looking across the room.

Cassie rubbed her aching eyes and tried to think of what could have happened that had made Emerald angry. She thought of her sister and was glad that she was safely in England, not able to see the depths that she had sunk. As she thought of Verity, the foggy memories, of the previous night, began to lift, and she, once more, had an uncomfortable, almost nauseous feeling in the pit of her stomach, when she realised that Verity had indeed been here last night.

'Verity,' she said, in a whisper, 'you were not a dream.'

'Well done,' Emerald said sarcastically, 'at least, you remember something about last night's tawdry performance.'

Ellington stood in the centre of the salon, by the fireplace, with Mr Reynolds standing beside him. Ellington was leaning against a table that had been brought into the main salon from the gaming room. Cassie was standing a little too far away to observe what was on the table, but she could see that whatever it was, Ellington caressed it, almost lovingly, with his fingertips.

'Just remember, whatever happens, this morning,' Emerald said, in a fierce whisper, as she leant over to Cassie, 'you have no one to blame but yourself.'