[Content warning: reference to teen pregnancy and child marriage]

Church that morning had been even worse than last week. Last week some people had stared and whispered, but they could still pretend that it was because they had a visitor with them and people just wanted to know who Tobias was. It wasn't because of Alice. Surely the news didn't spread that fast. Anne has reassured herself that it was because of Tobias, even if she only half believed it.

This morning, however, Tobias hadn't been with them, and it was undeniable that it was poor Alice who was the object of all the staring and whispering, especially among the youth. Most parents would stop their children from whispering, some might briefly stare in Alice's direction, making it all the more painfully clear that the gossiping had concerned her. Those grown ups were above such a display of disrespect towards the poor pregnant girl. They would wait for the privacy of their homes, the yards, the back lanes, to shamelessly discuss who the father might be, how far along she was, how shocking it was that such a sweet girl would do such a shameful thing, how Ben was handling it, what her prospects were. Anne knew it. Father knew it. Alice knew it. The whole community was talking. Perhaps it was mercy, after all, that Alice would marry a man from elsewhere, rather than Whitby. The poor girl had run from church before the service was over, and father - indeed, father, who never let them skip church or even a minute of it - had left church to go after her. 

Father hadn't demanded that Alice would go to the Methodist Girls Mission that afternoon, but Anne had to go. She hated it. Right now she hated every single girl there. She had experienced how other fishing girls on the beach would talk to her just to try and get juicy details out of her, and she wanted to be anywhere right now than here among a group of gossip-y teenage girls. As soon as their Bible quiz was over and they began their charity work for the afternoon - embroidering bible verses and biblical scenes on handkerchiefs for soldiers - Anne took her work and sat down in the farthest corner, brooding.

Amy listened quietly in church. She was always a very studious girl, and she felt strongly that learning good moral values was important. Especially she was was to lead a life of virtue and avoid damnation. Sadly, if the rumours were to be believed, that was not true for the sister of one her friends. The Welsh girl wondered how anyone could be so foolish as to have a child outside of marriage. The shame of sin must be unbearable on the family. Amy glanced towards the direction of Alice and wondered if the rumours going around were true; it seemed most certainly likely. She had always struck Amy as the sort of woman who would behave in such an unsavoury manner.

Still, the 14-year-old lass wanted to know the truth. Her own curiosity demanded it. She briefly wondered if she could get her brother Donald to ask his friend about the truth of this sister. Amy decided against that, her brother would almost certainly refuse the request, and besides which she did not want to risk her brother getting into a fight with that Ward boy. The Westwood girl could ask Alice directly, but she didn’t really know her very well, Anne was a bit closer to Amy in age. There would be no other option but to brooch the subject directly with Anne.

When Alice left the service before it had finished, which Amy felt was incredibly rude and improper, she decided that the rumours were probably true. It would give her a chance to ask her friend about it in any case during their charity work. She looked around for were Anne was sitting and ventured others towards her. Giving her a small nod, she set down next to her ignoring the brooding expression on her face. “ You seem to got the morbs” she said quietly to her ” is your sister okay? I see she left the service early. I do hope she is not unwell” It might have been a weak opening gambit, but Amy was just testing the waters for the time being.

Anne was normally friendly with Amy. The girls were very different in character, but Amy was nice to her and they were close in age, had been in school together, and their fathers were friends. Today, however, she was annoyed by the girl's presence, all the more when her question confirmed Anne's suspicion that she too wanted to have her gossip first hand. "She felt sick, so she went home to rest." Anne said, without looking up. It wasn't entirely a lie. Alice had been sickly lately.

The Welsh girl knew that Anne was lying, she looked down at her embroidering work for a moment or two before looking back towards Anne ” I am sorry to hear that. I suppose those ghastly rumours going around about her don’t help. I imagine that they would be enough to make anyone ill.” Amy waited to see what the reaction of her friend would be.

Anne looked up quickly, trying to read Amy's face. She bit her tongue for a moment and then said bitterly: "People ought to mind their own business."

Amy wondered if she was pushing Anne too far with this. She liked the girl and considered her a friend. The last thing she wanted was to ruin it over some idol gossip. Still, she was curious about if the rumours were true. It did seem that way from how Anne had reacted. The young lady decided it be best to proceed with some caution. ”It must be terribly tough to listen to all those stories, both for her and yourself. And the rest of your family I should imagine.” Especially if true she thought to herself, although she decided against voicing that just yet.

Anne looked down at her work and seemed very focused on it. The truth was that she was terrible at embroidery and despised it. But she didn't want to look at Amy, for the girl's words upset her. "We'll be alright..." she said quietly. "People will stop talking eventually..."

Amy returned to her own embroidery, she did not want to fall behind. The young Welsh lass was not too bad at it, but she didn’t want to fall behind on her work either. When her friend said that people will stop talking eventually, Amy was not entirely sure. Rumours like that would probably never go away and the baby would be a reminder of how sinful Alice was. ”If the rumours are false people should soon forget no doubt. If not, I rather believe that the talk will get worse.” she said bluntly. In her opinion, if the rumour was true, the slag deserved all she got.

Anne pressed her lips together. She continued working - or rather, stabbing away with her needle angrily. Finally she said: "Alice is getting married and movin' out of town." Her voice quivered at the end of that sentence. The thought of Alice moving miles away to a strange man's home made her want to cry.

She would be lying if she said she didn’t feel a small amount of satisfaction at Anne’s reaction. The angry needlework from her friend already told Amy that she was properly getting to her a bit, but her finally breaking and saying that Alice is getting married and moving out of town all but confirmed to the Welsh girl that the rumours were indeed true. She attempted to hide looking smug.

” It is true then” she said more as a matter-of-fact than as a question, ignoring the apparent distress in her friend’s voice. ” Is she getting married to the father?” it would be the proper thing for her to do in Amy’s view