Pauper Princess

Meli is a beggar in 19th century London. Not just a beggar- a pickpocket. A thief. And a good one. ************* I didn't ask to be a beggar. It was just what becomes of orphans. I suppose I could have gone to work at a factory- but I was sure it wouldn't have paid as well as the pocketwatches and coins that the uppercrusts of England supplied me with. Besides, I had never been caught before. I didn't even worry myself over the possibility. Even if the theft had been noticed- as if!- I was the only girl among the group of young thieves. The last to be suspected. Me being caught was an impossibility! Until I made a mistake. Until my hand was seized as I reached into the pocket of a nobleman. I expected to be sent off to a prison or a workhouse. Perhaps to be whipped, or even hanged. Not to be sent to a reformatory school. Not for that same nobleman that I had stolen from to adopt me from that reformatory school. Not a life sentence to the strictness and rigidity and discipline of nobility. Not a governess who tells me when to sleep, eat, bathe, study, and speak. This was not the life of poverty and thievery that I had planned out for myself. And I didn't like it one bit. *Warning: Will contain outdated aspects of 19th-century life and childrearing. This includes but is not limited to corporal punishment, old-fashioned medical treatments, and strong references to social class and the struggles of the working class.*