Father Unknown by Fay Sampson Read Free Book Online

before the Minister in the Parish Church aforesaid upon the next Sunday forenoon, with her head bare and a white sheet upon her, her feet and legs bare, and shall openly confess and acknowledge that she has born a male child unlawfully begotten on her and shall show hearty repentance, beseeching God to forgive her and the Minister and People to pray for her amendment .
    â€˜Sometimes they had to do penance in the church porch, but it might be in the marketplace. Either way, she’d have to walk there wrapped in her sheet, with everyone watching and half the men hoping it would slip off.’
    Prudence’s jaw dropped. ‘They really did that? Drove a half-naked woman through the streets?’
    â€˜It was the law. I don’t know how long they went on doing it. I thought morals were pretty slack by the late eighteenth century. I expect it varied from parish to parish. I bet there were some that didn’t have the heart for it. But I can imagine others where the rector and churchwardens were upright Puritans, who carried out the ruling to the letter.’
    â€˜Well, darn it. Haven’t they read what our Lord said when they brought him a woman caught in adultery? “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And they all went sneaking away.’
    â€˜In my experience, people who are keen on punishment use the bible selectively. They choose the verses that suit them, and they’re usually not from the Gospels.’
    Prudence was quiet for a moment. ‘I guess I was raised a lot like that. Like we were the holy people, and everybody else was a sinner. Poor Johan. Do you think they did that to her?’
    Suzie shrugged. ‘There might be a record about her in the archdeaconry court, but it’s a long shot. But they’ll certainly have put pressure on her to name the baby’s father. It was important, you see, to get money out of him, so that the child didn’t become a burden on the Poor Rate.’
    Prudence stared at the engraving of the village. ‘It’s the queerest feeling. I could be looking at the man who fathered Adam. Another ancestor of our Claysons. But I can’t tell. There he is, with his smart clothes, his fine house, and his wife on his arm. And no one knows what he might have done to Johan.’
    â€˜Or it may just have been a tumble in the hay with one of the grooms.’
    Prudence let out a long sigh. ‘Don’t you just wish you could have a spyglass into the past? Not just questions with no answers.’ Then she brightened. ‘Say, do you think I could take copies of some of these? That map? The engraving? The book which says what they did to unmarried mothers?’
    â€˜No problem. I’ll scan them on my printer.’
    For a while they were busy collecting all the relevant material and copying it.
    â€˜Gee, I’m so grateful. I guess I’ll be buying another suitcase by the time I’m finished.’
    â€˜There’s something else you could try. There are lots of one-name societies researching a particular surname. There might be one for the Claysons.’
    But Prudence stood staring down at the page in her hand, with the punishment for a single mother. ‘This friend of Millie’s. Tamara. There’s something there Millie’s not telling us. Is there anything we should know about the girl? What would her family do if they found she was pregnant?’
    â€˜I know her mother, sort of. She seems normal. I’d expect her to react the same way I would, if it were Millie. I’d be upset at first – well, I was, wasn’t I? – but I’d stand by her, whether she wanted to keep it or not.’
    â€˜And the girl’s father?’
    â€˜Her real father left them several years ago. He’s a famous children’s author. He writes under the name of Reynard Woodman. Rather attractive, actually. I liked him, or I did until he walked out on Lisa. I