Read Online Jack the Ripper Victims Series: The Double Event by Alan M. Clark - Free Book Online
Authors: Alan M. Clark
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Why shouldn’t he think so? She’d taken money from him for sex once before.
Elizabeth had resisted Leena’s suggestion that prostitution was gainful employment. After a short stay with the nursemaid’s mother, Elizabeth had found a room in a tenement and then tried to find work. Within a short time, she had spent all the money she’d saved and still had no employment. At present, Elizabeth was hungry, and didn’t have enough money to pay for her lodging.
She sat heavily at the table across from Klaudio.
“I can get you a room and clients,” he said.
She didn’t respond for a long time, and he waited patiently. The employment he offered was certainly not something better than what she’d had. Unable to put a rosy glow on Elizabeth’s future, even Bess remained silent. Finally, Elizabeth lowered her head into her hands on the coffee-stained tabletop and said, “Tell me everything I’ll need to know.”
~ ~ ~
The room turned out to be a damp and drafty one, located in a crooked wooden house on Pilgatan Street, Eastern Haga. The chamber was furnished with a small metal stove against one wall, a rickety table, a small cabinet, a wash tub, chamber pot, ewer, basin, and a bed with a sagging straw mattress infested with mice. To protect food from the rodent pests, she stored what little she kept in the room in the cabinet with her clothing. While she slept, mice frequently congregated on or around the cabinet, trying to get to the food. As she stirred upon awakening, she’d hear them scurrying away.
For the next year, Elizabeth’s comfort and happiness seemed to be of little consequence to anyone as she went about the business of satisfying strange men. Often fouled by poor hygiene, disease, parasites, mental instability or simply alcohol, they came to her room from the waterfront. Klaudio found her clients among the seamen of various nationalities coming ashore while their ships were in port. Her respite came when a client wanted only to talk. Grateful for the talkative ones, she made sure to show that she listened, even when their words meant nothing to her, even when they spoke a language she could not understand and they knew it. With or without sex, they paid Klaudio the same. Those who came only to talk were the least likely to beat her.
Klaudio insisted that Elizabeth wash her hair with paraffin once a week to remove lice, and to leave a residue of the fuel in her hair to discourage the parasites. To make the treatment more tolerable for both herself and clients, she perfumed her hair.
“Fru Jensson did not suffer such indignities to work for you,” Elizabeth said to Klaudio.
“You know little of her,” he said. “She has a way about her that draws a certain clientele. With time, you might develop such a gift, but at present, you’re learning the ropes and can’t be trusted on the street.”
The only characteristics Leena had that stood out in Elizabeth’s memory were her baby talk and childlike ways. Those traits didn’t seem like something a man would find attractive.
Elizabeth kept a supply of both vulcanized rubber and sheep’s gut sheaths for men to wear while having sexual intercourse. Many would not wear them, and she learned quickly not to demand it. Some withdrew prior to climax. When a man ejaculated inside her, she douched as soon as possible with a solution provided by Klaudio that left her nauseated.
The pay she received per client was a small fraction of what she’d been given for sex with Robert Turner.
Early on, Klaudio had explained, “On that occasion I was presenting the Englishman with an innocent. You weren’t a virgin—I’d taken that—but your bearing was certainly that of an innocent, and that was what he paid for. You no longer bear yourself in that manner. Life has taken that from you, and I cannot sell you for more than I’ve indicated. And, of course, my share, and the cost of your room, board, and fuel for your stove comes out of what is
Elizabeth had resisted Leena’s suggestion that prostitution was gainful employment. After a short stay with the nursemaid’s mother, Elizabeth had found a room in a tenement and then tried to find work. Within a short time, she had spent all the money she’d saved and still had no employment. At present, Elizabeth was hungry, and didn’t have enough money to pay for her lodging.
She sat heavily at the table across from Klaudio.
“I can get you a room and clients,” he said.
She didn’t respond for a long time, and he waited patiently. The employment he offered was certainly not something better than what she’d had. Unable to put a rosy glow on Elizabeth’s future, even Bess remained silent. Finally, Elizabeth lowered her head into her hands on the coffee-stained tabletop and said, “Tell me everything I’ll need to know.”
~ ~ ~
The room turned out to be a damp and drafty one, located in a crooked wooden house on Pilgatan Street, Eastern Haga. The chamber was furnished with a small metal stove against one wall, a rickety table, a small cabinet, a wash tub, chamber pot, ewer, basin, and a bed with a sagging straw mattress infested with mice. To protect food from the rodent pests, she stored what little she kept in the room in the cabinet with her clothing. While she slept, mice frequently congregated on or around the cabinet, trying to get to the food. As she stirred upon awakening, she’d hear them scurrying away.
For the next year, Elizabeth’s comfort and happiness seemed to be of little consequence to anyone as she went about the business of satisfying strange men. Often fouled by poor hygiene, disease, parasites, mental instability or simply alcohol, they came to her room from the waterfront. Klaudio found her clients among the seamen of various nationalities coming ashore while their ships were in port. Her respite came when a client wanted only to talk. Grateful for the talkative ones, she made sure to show that she listened, even when their words meant nothing to her, even when they spoke a language she could not understand and they knew it. With or without sex, they paid Klaudio the same. Those who came only to talk were the least likely to beat her.
Klaudio insisted that Elizabeth wash her hair with paraffin once a week to remove lice, and to leave a residue of the fuel in her hair to discourage the parasites. To make the treatment more tolerable for both herself and clients, she perfumed her hair.
“Fru Jensson did not suffer such indignities to work for you,” Elizabeth said to Klaudio.
“You know little of her,” he said. “She has a way about her that draws a certain clientele. With time, you might develop such a gift, but at present, you’re learning the ropes and can’t be trusted on the street.”
The only characteristics Leena had that stood out in Elizabeth’s memory were her baby talk and childlike ways. Those traits didn’t seem like something a man would find attractive.
Elizabeth kept a supply of both vulcanized rubber and sheep’s gut sheaths for men to wear while having sexual intercourse. Many would not wear them, and she learned quickly not to demand it. Some withdrew prior to climax. When a man ejaculated inside her, she douched as soon as possible with a solution provided by Klaudio that left her nauseated.
The pay she received per client was a small fraction of what she’d been given for sex with Robert Turner.
Early on, Klaudio had explained, “On that occasion I was presenting the Englishman with an innocent. You weren’t a virgin—I’d taken that—but your bearing was certainly that of an innocent, and that was what he paid for. You no longer bear yourself in that manner. Life has taken that from you, and I cannot sell you for more than I’ve indicated. And, of course, my share, and the cost of your room, board, and fuel for your stove comes out of what is
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