April 10th, 1890 — House of Lytton

Miss Cadden's case had deeply moved Marcus. She was unmarried and carrying an unwanted pregnancy. If a solution wasn't found in a timely manner, she would be ruined and so would her child. The poor thing would probably perish in poverty because its mother would be unable to properly take care of it. Unless she found a husband who could be convinced that the child was his, the best course of action was for it to not be born at all.

Marcus felt somewhat guilty that he wasn't willing to marry the girl. He didn't really have a reason to feel guilty. He hadn't put that baby inside her, he had no responsibility for what had happened. But he felt guilty nonetheless.

He wanted to find a solution for her but he really didn't know how one went about getting rid of a pregnancy. He had never had to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.

It was almost time for House of Lytton to close for that day and Marcus decided to ask his assistant. She was a woman and she came from a walk of life where it was more likely to know how to get rid of unwanted pregnancies. Not that Marcus thought his assistant the sort of woman to have a couple of secret bastards from different fathers, but she was still a working woman, and there was a possibility one of her acquaintances might have had to deal with something like this.

She had come to his office to give him the schedule for the following day. "Miss Binns! Before I dismiss you, I'd like to ask you a question that hopefully won't offend you." There was a pause before he asked: "If, say, you found yourself carrying an unwanted child... What would you do in that scenario, Miss Binns?"

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@"Juliana Binns"

  

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set by lady

When Mr. Lytton had said he had a question that might offend her, Juliana had been prepared for some sort of hypothetical fashion question. She was used to employees at the House of Lytton making references to her lack of style, or using her as a stand-in when they wanted to refer to some backwards society member without any sense of taste. That sort of offense she was ready for. She was decidedly unprepared for what he actually ended up asking.

"Oh," she said, for a moment too shocked to have anything else to say on the subject. Why had Mr. Lytton asked that question, she had to wonder? As an unmarried man he was unlikely to have found himself in a situation that required him to solve that particular dilemma. She knew he had sisters, but thought they (or at least one of them) was married, which would have made an unwanted pregnancy rather an unlikely scenario. Perhaps he'd gotten involved with someone who had now found herself indisposed?

The second question was why he had chosen to ask her, of all people. Did she still have a reputation as promiscuous? Her expulsion from Hogwarts had been so long ago, but perhaps those sorts of rumors had followed her even now, without her having realized it.

"Well, I'm not the sort to find myself in that situation," she said firmly, just to make sure he understood that she had no prior experience to speak from. "And if I did, I would think the context of how I'd gotten there would be very important in deciding how to move forward."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

Oh no, he probably had offended her. He couldn't really blame Miss Binns, he would have been offended too if he had been her. Proper ladies weren't supposed to worry about getting rid of pregnancies, or to know how to do it. Proper ladies got married and had their husband's children and the goal then was to have as many children as possible.

Marcus could have asked one of his seamstresses too. He supposed that he'd gone to Miss Binns, because she was so good at making sure everything worked smoothly at Lytton, that she could handle such a problem, too.

He made sure to tell her as much: "Of course! I have no doubt that you would never find yourself pregnant... Unless it was with your husband, of course. No, I ask because I know you could deal with any problem that stood in your way, Miss Binns."

He smiled, trying to salvage the offense he might have caused her.

"You see, I ask for one of our customers." He didn't mention Miss Cadden's name. "She entrusted me with her secret. She found herself pregnant against her will, tricked at a party by some terrible people. She really doesn't know how to deal with her problem and I want to help her."

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set by lady

A customer? Why would they bring that sort of thing up to Mr. Lytton, and no one else? They must really have had nowhere else to turn, if their dressmaker was the closest confidante they had at the moment.

"Well," she said, as she tried to piece together the bits of the puzzle Mr. Lytton had given her. "That's certainly a difficult situation." Tricked at a party lead her to believe that the usual recourse for these sorts of things, which was to shame the guilty party into a hasty marriage, would not be an option for whomever the lady was. Perhaps she was even already married, and was unwilling to carry a baby to term that was not her husband's.

"I think it would depend on whether the lady was in a position to hide her condition or not," she continued hesitantly. "There are some women, I think, who take extended holidays and then leave infants with distant relatives, or in orphanages. There are... alternatives," she said delicately, "But none that are legal. And I've never gotten the impression that they're particularly safe."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

"She is terrified of her family finding out," Marcus replied. "She gave me the impression that they wouldn't be supportive at all." If Octavia found herself pregnant against her will, Marcus would have probably bribed someone with a share of his fashion house so they would marry her. Or go with the option Miss Binns had mentioned -- send her to some distant relative and then leave the child somewhere. He would then make sure that her child was well cared for and, when they were old enough, he'd teach them everything he knew about dress-making, so they could work for him.

But not all people were as romantic as him about those things.

"Surely, with magic there are ways?" Marcus asked carefully. "A potion, perhaps?"

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set by lady

Juliana pursed her lips as her employer revealed more of the details to her, thereby making the problem a much more complicated one. "There are," she allowed with a frown, "But there's a reason they're not particularly well-known, or reputable. When I said they aren't particularly safe, I mean I think some are as likely to kill the mother as the child."

Not that Jules had ever done any research on this specifically, but she did a lot of reading, and particularly reading in scholarly journals. She followed one on healing to see whether anyone was trying new and innovative things to treat newly afflicted lycanthropy. There was an appetite in the community for a safe and effective way to both prevent and abort pregnancies, but the research simply didn't back it up, yet. There wasn't even a particularly reliable way to prevent common diseases that were transmitted through intercourse from being passed along to the babies.

"Mr. Lytton," she said after a moment. "These things aren't well enough understood for chemistry to have a solution, I don't think — but pregnancies, particularly in the early stages, are very fragile. A sudden blow to that area, such as from a fall down the stairs, or a bad flu, might be enough to... for the problem to take care of itself," she said delicately. "I believe if I were to find myself in such an unfortunate situation, that might be what I would do."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

During all these years, no potioneer had ever come up with the perfect abortion potion? Sometimes it baffled how slowly some things moved in the magical world. Then again, getting rid of babies wasn't something particularly ethical. Perhaps there was a curse to get rid of a pregnancy that had a catch, like having to murder another person or a baby unicorn. Marcus felt surprised, somewhat ashamed of himself for considering such an option.

"Should I tell her to jump off the stairs, then?" Marcus said, wincing at the thought. He couldn't imagine himself having the strength to willingly cause himself harm. Then again, he had been suggesting a dangerous and potentially painful abortion procedure just moments ago, had he not?

He sighed. "I just wish there was an easy and painless way out of her problem. I feel bad for the poor girl and I don't know what to do to help her. From all aspects, she seems doomed. Even if she does give birth to the child, she would have no skills to raise it, or to take care of her own self."

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set by lady

Juliana could understand why Mr. Lytton sympathized with the girl, to a certain extent, even if it was hard to do so herself from having so little of the story to work with. If it really hadn't been her fault, it was understandable that she was looking for some sort of way out. This was the sort of thing that would see a young woman ruined forever, particularly if her family wasn't willing to help her through to the other side of it.

"If there was an easy and painless way, no woman would ever have an unwanted child," she pointed out gently. "But it happens all the time." And, if the cautionary tales were to be believed, most of the women who ended up pregnant out of wedlock were in exactly that sort of situation — with no idea how to raise a child and no way to provide for themselves or the baby. Many of those women and children, she believed, ended up dead. Obviously, Mr. Lytton would want to prevent that sort of fate if possible, if he was so affected by the woman's story.

"If she does make it through the pregnancy, she can give the baby to an orphanage," Juliana said firmly, a formal recommendation at this point. "And if she can't — yes, she might as well throw herself down the stairs. Or find some way to make it seem natural. A fall from a horse or a broom could do it, too."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules

Miss Binns had a point. There wasn't an easy way out of Miss Caden's situation. She would either have to throw herself down some stairs or risk her life with an untrustworthy abortion potion. If she managed to find one.

"It is a pity," Marcus mused to himself. He had hoped that Miss Binns would have a breakthrough idea, something that he couldn't have thought of.

"I don't want to keep you further, Miss Binns. You must be tired, Miss Pendergast was quite tiresome today." If someone didn't have a good sense of style, he preferred for them to at least acknowledge it, as Miss Binns did. The soon-to-be bride of Claudius Lestrange had insisted on some designs that were fashionable five seasons ago. She had argued with Marcus, her sister, and Miss Binns had had to bring refreshments and, at some point, Marcus had done a 'Is it time for Mrs. X to arrive?' scheme that he sometimes employed when he had customers he wanted to leave earlier.

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   Juliana Ainsworth

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set by lady

"Of course," Juliana said, rising from her desk and gathering her things. She could recognize when she was being dismissed, and while she didn't mind Miss Pendergast one way or another, she was relieved to be absolved of her newfound duties as abortion consultant.

"A midwife might have better advice in this situation," she added as a final note; she was hesitant to assume any sort of responsibility for the advice that she'd given, based on how little experience she actually had in this sort of situation. "I know you probably want to be discreet and not ask too openly, but — well, honestly, anyone who's even been pregnant would be a better source for you," she continued. "They might at least know what pregnant women ought to do, for the sake of the baby — and from that you could figure out what not to do and advise your lady-friend with that."

  

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Prof. Marlowe Forfang

Jules