Chapter Nine: The Battle of Brick Lane, January 1st 1867I let her go. I let her disappear into the darkness of Spitalfields, and the surrounding alleyways and streets, alleyways and streets that she knew so well and I, hardly at all. In my stupidity and my blindness and my desire to create some manner of happy-ever-after for myself, I had turned Moran into a monster and in doing so, had lost her forever.
I looked around the room, at the dusty old bed that we had shared, at her clothes strewn on the floor, clothes that now lay limp as though the girl herself had simply vanished while wearing them, causing them to tumble forlornly to the ground. And there too, my dress. I picked it up and dressed myself.
There at my feet was Moran's vomit and blood and the unopened bottle of beer that she
