Question D

[Jonetta]

What was your early speculation about Rose's/Rachel's fear and flight from the Orchard Street Academy? Did you ever suspect it was sexual abuse by her father?

[Charlene]

Early on, I assumed she'd gone to the country to have a baby, with no idea who the father might be. At some point, it became clear to me that she had been abused by her father.

[Lauren]

There are only a handful of reasons a girl from her social status would choose to flee her family and work as a prostitute. Unfortunately, a child out of wedlock is the least of the evils and it turned out to be an even worse one.

[Jonetta]

I had the same thought as Charlene initially but then, as the story progressed, that wasn't making sense. Something about the tie-in to her mother's death and her change in behavior had me start go look at her father. But, it only dawned on me about a minute before it was sort of revealed.

[Veronica]

Initially I thought pregnancy too, since sending young girls off was a standard way to deal with that back then, but I started to suspect sexual abuse about the same time as Sebastian. I just wasn't sure if it was the father or the brother.

[Lauren]

I also thought it was the brother at first

[Veronica]

Yeah, I was initially leaning towards the brother and figured the father found out about it but covered it up. As it ends up, I don't think the brother has any idea.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life)]

I thought it was the father only because of her intensity to leave her life behind and not return. And also his steadfast denials were suspicious. I wondered if the brother knew or was involved. I did think she ran away because she became pregnant by her father.

[Jonetta]

Kudos to you for figuring that out, Kris.

[Charlene]

I wondered how her brother could not know about this abuse by their father.

[Jonetta]

No one talked about it and who could even go there. The girls only knew because they were victims. Rachel never told her sister, who guessed only when she saw a change in her young sister's behavior.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life)]

Jonetta wrote: "Kudos to you for figuring that out, Kris."

Thanks Jonetta! I've been reading too many mysteries, lol.

[Lauren]

There is no such thing as too many mysteries, Kris! Tut, tut!

[Kris (My Novelesque Life)]

Tut tut, indeed! What was I thinking. ;)

[Lauren]

:0)

[Jonetta]

I thought similarly, Stephanie, but just didn't want to lay blame at another victim. What a horrible situation for her.

[Kris (My Novelesque Life)]

I just wonder why -when she noticed the changes in Rachel - she didn't look further into knowing what happened to her.

[Veronica]

Charlene wrote: "I wondered how her brother could not know about this abuse by their father."

I thought the brother had been off at school. Sons of wealthy families were basically sent off to expensive boarding schools for most of the year, weren't they? It's conceivable that he would have no knowledge.

[Lauren]

Veronica wrote: "It's conceivable that he would have no knowledge. "

Agreed. He would have been away at school and probably had no idea.

[Mary Beth]

Yea, I thought it was bad on her sister's fault to leave her with her father, since he abused her. I was surprised that it was her father, I was expecting it to be her brother that sexually abused her.

[Sharon]

I didn't suspect her father until Sebastian got there. Initially I thought she was in love with someone else and had baby that was taken from her. Then I thought her betrothed had a history, and it turns out he did. I finally got around to abuse with Sebastian.