She’d been wrong to bring this up. Her friends had been raised in a wealthy family, with parents who loved them, and the darker side of life had yet to touch them. It hadn’t exactly touched Alice either until her brother died.
Then she’d felt restless and needed to do more to forget the pain of losing Charles. It had been Maggie who had told her about the plight of her cousin Eunice and those in the tenement where she lived. How there was no hope for her now she’d fallen ill.
“Please forget I brought it up. I’m not sure what I was thinking,” Alice said. “’Tis a lovely day for a ride through the park.”
“Forget you brought up a subject like people are suffering as they cannot access medical help?” Thaddeus said, looking around his sister to Alice. “I hardly think that is something we can dismiss with ease.”
“The problem as I see it, Alice, is that we rarely think about anyone other than ourselves,” Eloise said, frowning.
“You’re two of the best people I know,” Alice said.
“Perhaps, but perhaps not,” Eloise added.
Had she just ruined her friendship with the two people she actually liked in society?Why did you say anything?
The problem was that, at times, the life she lived felt obscenely privileged. Surrounded by people who were spoiled and indifferent, Alice could not help but feel disgusted knowing that while the wealthy squandered their comforts, most of London went without. She had seen the seedier side of the city on her visits to the orphanages with her aunt, and those images lingered.
“Explain about this clinic,” Eloise said, waving her hand in front of Alice.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Well, clearly it matters to you,” Thaddeus said. “Or you would not have mentioned it.”
Alice thought about what she should say, and decided only the truth would do now. If she lost her friendship with the twins after that, then were they ever really her friends?
“My maid Maggie, who is married to Ezra, the footman who glared at you, Thaddeus, approached me one day about her sister who was unwell.”
“He does have a formidable glare,” Thaddeus added.
“Eunice, her sister, had a fever which was from a sore on her leg. She would have died, had I not had her brought to my father’s townhouse and insisted a doctor tend her,” Alice said.
“And this started you thinking about a clinic?” Thaddeus asked.
“It did, and so Father and I decided to purchase a building and set it up in an area where those in need could access it.”
“That is a wonderful idea, Alice, and one I would never have thought of.” Eloise looked curious now. “Mother does some charity work with the orphans, and Father is a patron to a few things.”
“And we live an indolent life and do little for anyone other than ourselves,” her brother added.
“I did not mean—”
“We will be involved,” Eloise cut her words off. “In some capacity, and we will be discussing the matter with Father.”
“Will we?” Thaddeus asked as he navigated them around a cart filled with something smelly.
Fish, Alice thought.
“We will,” Eloise said. “You have reminded me that we have much, and others don’t.”
“Many will think it is not right, what I’m doing,” Alice cautioned her friends. “I have no wish for you to fall foul of your family for helping me. Perhaps another charity—”
“So it’s quite all right for you to fall foul of people, and yet not us?” Thaddeus demanded.
“I don’t really have anyone to worry about. I care little what society thinks of me,” Alice said.
“But you still have to live within its confines, as do we,” Eloise added. “We will help, and you will tell us how when the time comes. My mind is made up.”
“Well then, if your mind is made up, far be it from either of us to change it,” Thaddeus said.
