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Kitty turned back to her family and the awful realization of what they stood in. The walls ran slimy with mold. Tiny rivulets of water seeped from the cracks in the bricks. Mildew and stains covered the ceiling and bled down from the floors above. She shuddered, trying not to guess what they might be. Years of dirt, grime and in places, filthy sawdust, swathed the floor. A revolting stench came from somewhere. Kitty hoped to God there wasn’t anything dead in here.

Opposite the door was a small fireplace with what looked like some kind of cooking plate across the top of it. A shelf above served as a mantelpiece. Situated at street level, above their heads, their lone window measured roughly two feet wide and three feet long. Thick dust and cobwebs blocked out most of the gray light. The wall to the left of the steps was actually, on closer inspection, made out of very thin wooden boards. Kitty gave it a solid push and it fell away quite easily, exposing another part of the cellar nearly twice as large as the main area.

“Someone must have boarded the room up to help with the heating,” she said.

“We cannot possibly stay here, Kitty! Pigs would live in better conditions I’m sure,” Rory protested.

“I’m sorry, but as I see it we have no choice. It is either here or back out in the rain.”

“We could stay in a hotel tonight and look again tomorrow. We still have some money left,” he pleaded.

“No. On impulse I let us stay at that hotel last night and look how much it cost us. We must use our remaining money wisely or we will be in the workhouse before you know it, and I’ll not let that happen.” She stood with her hands on her hips. “We have to make the most of what we have, which is this cellar for the time being.”

“You expect us to sleep on this filth!” he exploded.

“We are going to clean the place. Just because circumstances have forced us to live here, it doesn’t mean we have to live like others do in this area.”

“But we have nothing to clean with,” Mary said.

Kitty grinned at her. Mary was always sensible. “That will soon change. We’ll go to the shops and buy what we need.”

“Oh, that is just marvelous.” Rory’s voice rose in anger. “You’re willing to spend money on cleaning materials but not on us having somewhere decent to sleep?”

“Enough Rory!” Kitty rounded on him. “I have had enough of your whining.” Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she turned to Martin and Joe. “Now, will you two help me?”

Martin and Joe nodded, their faces pale and lips blue with cold.

“Good. Right, first I want you both to break up all the wooden boards over there. It will be our first fire.” Kitty peered at the fireplace. Ashes clogged it, but using a piece of wood, she soon cleared it out into a dusty pile on the floor.

Straightening, she went over to their cases and pulled out her small reticule. “Mary, you stay here and mind everything, while Rory and I go to the shops.” She realized, with a bit of a shock, that she was going to enjoy the challenge of turning this squalid cellar back into some semblance of living quarters. Never before had she been set a task that required so much of a successful outcome. She was determined to do it. They all depended on her sensible judgment. Their well-being firmly rested on her shoulders.

“I’m not coming with you,” Rory cut into her thoughts.

“Fine. Stay here and help clean.”

“I’m not staying here either. If you want to play housemaid then you can do it on your own.”

For a second Kitty wasn’t sure she understood him. “Rory—”

“I mean it.”

With a shiver of dismay, it dawned on her. “You’re going to leave?”

Rory averted his gaze and retrieved his own case from amongst the others. “I’m sorry, Kitty, but I cannot stomach staying here another minute.”

She blinked rapidly to throw off her shock. The need to cry swamped her. “It’s still raining. You can’t go back out in that and where will you go?”

“I might try some of my friends. The Preston family live along Bootham and they came to Mother and Father’s funeral. Maybe, they’ll allow me to stay for a night or two until I sort something out.”

“They weren’t so eager to help when I sent them a letter before,” she challenged. “They had all the excuses in the world then.”

“I can try.”

Kitty’s heart turned. Panic clawed at her. “We made a promise at the grave site to always be together. We were supposed to be each other’s support through all this.” She couldn’t believe he was walking out on her, on them all.

Rory hung his head and Kitty clenched her teeth. He cannot even look at me. She took a deep breath. She didn’t want to say something she would later regret.

After a few seconds Rory looked up, then shifted his case in his hands. “I have to go. I’m sorry, Kitty.” He was close to tears and his chin quivered. “I cannot stay here in this prison cell.”

“This is only temporary. Please, don’t leave.”

“I have to.”

She swallowed her tears. “V-very well, here.” From her reticule she gave him some of her sorely needed money. “Here is five pounds. It’s all I can spare.” She turned away, going over to where the others stood in amazement at what was happening to their family.

Picking up the broken boards, Kitty cracked them into smaller pieces for kindling. She made enough noise to drown out the quiet weeping as each in turn said goodbye to their eldest brother. How can he do this to us? A sharp pain of betrayal twisted her stomach into knots.