Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE
TURNING THE OTHER CHEEK

It is quite possible that emily bedlam was simply a very good woman, but to her son, Tom, she appeared insane. She was the embodiment of Christian virtue. “God Bless!” she would say to the surliest stranger with a giddy and well-meaning smile. When she received a fearsome oath in reply, Mrs. Bedlam held no grudge. She tried again the next day. And the next. She never spoke in scorn, nor did she gossip or disparage her neighbors. She provided for her only son through her employment at Todderman & Sons Porcelain & Statuary, and remained faithful to her husband though he had deserted her many years before. Never had the boy met a woman as selfless and self-effacing. She had been robbed, sworn at, and gossiped about, but she always turned the other cheek. Since Tom had never seen an angel, he was tempted to assign his mother’s virtues to a category of folk he had seen on the rough city streets—the simple, the touched, the witless. In Vauxhall, southwest of the City of London, Tom accompanied his mother to the factory every morning. Through the wrought-iron gates and across a windswept courtyard, they would pass Mr. Todderman greeting his employees from a parapet on the second floor of his domain. Behind him, two smokestacks from the factory released a black smear across the London skyline, while next to him, the cripple, Brandy Oxmire, clutched a slate for the purpose of marking down absences and latecomers. “Morning, Mrs. Bedlam!” her employer shouted. “God Bless, Mr. Todderman!” came the gay reply, “and thank you for Mrs. Todderman’s shoes!” Then she’d pause to