by Emma Hornby
Ahead, a high brick wall blocked off the adjacent street, limiting further what little light managed to squeeze through the cluster of rooftops above. Hemmed in one dim corner was a shared privy, in the other a pump for gathering water, and this, as far as Laura could see, completed the features. She glanced behind her to the slim stretch of alley through which they had entered and wondered if they had stumbled by mistake into hell.
Like every other court in the slum districts of Manchester, Bolton and beyond, it was a crowded and confined, sunless, airless square patch of grinding poverty and squalor. And they were actively volunteering to live here? They must be stark staring mad!
Her voice lacked all trace of her former enthusiasm. ‘So, Father … What d’you think?’
Lifting his flat cap, Amos scratched his head. ‘I think it’s a midden, that’s what.’
‘Aye,’ she was forced to agree. Then a familiar craggy figure appeared at one of the doors and, despite herself, Laura’s slumped spirits lifted slightly. She stepped forward.
‘Who goes there? Hello?’
‘Afternoon, Mrs Price. It’s me, Laura. We met yesterday at church.’
‘Ay aye. Young Nathan’s friend in search of fresh dwellings, I remember.’ Her milky eyes creased in pleasure. ‘Having a gander around the place, then, are thee?’
‘That’s right, with my father, Amos.’
‘Well, now, let’s see.’ She pointed a gnarled finger in the general direction of the houses as she spoke: ‘There dwells Bee O’Brien and her brood; eleven or so, I think she has,’ Mrs Price revealed, much to Laura’s shock – how on earth did twelve people fit into such a small property? ‘Then there’s a newly-wed couple, the Andersons, and their babby at number three. John Goode has the one next door with his boarder, another John – well, he says it’s just his boarder, but we all know there’s more to it than that, if you get my meaning,’ she added conspicuously through the side of her mouth. ‘But we mind none about that, nay, for they’re golden-hearted fellas, aye.’
Next, she jabbed her thumb behind her. ‘This, as you’ve likely gathered, is my home, and I take in lodgers when I can, in fact we all do; needs must for the brass to keep body and soul together, you see. There’s Nathan’s one, where he dwells with his mam and brother,’ she continued, indicating the house opposite. ‘And that ’un there is what you’d occupy.’
Following her nod, Laura hid a sigh and dared not look at her father and what his expression at this news would surely be. The house nearest the privy – of course, it would have to be that one, wouldn’t it? The poisonous stench from the excreta of over twenty people, literally on their doorstep … God above.
‘You’re welcome to come in and get an idea of the empty place – mine’s identical in layout,’ she suggested, opening her door wider. ‘It’s sorry I am that I can’t offer you a sup, mind. I’m all out of tea and milk.’
Feeling obliged to accept out of politeness – they just couldn’t live in this court, they couldn’t, would have to keep searching – Laura thanked her, and she and Amos followed her inside.
‘Now, then.’ Settling into her chair by the crackling fire, Mrs Price gave a sweep of her arm. ‘Go on, feel free, and look where you like.’
As they took in their surroundings, Laura and her father shot each other a pleasantly surprised glance, eyebrows raised. The little house was bright and homely and everywhere spotlessly clean – a sharp contrast to the wretchedness outside.
Amos was suitably impressed. ‘You keep a very nice home, Mrs Price.’
‘Ta, lad. This is Daniel’s doing, aye. Maintains its condition regular, the best he can: mends owt that needs it, fresh whitewash on t’ walls, that sort of thing. And all out of the goodness of his heart.’
‘Daniel?’ asked Laura.
‘Aye, Nathan’s brother. An admirable job their mother, Joyce, has done with them. Salt of the earth, they are, the pair.’
The appreciative spark in her father’s eye didn’t go unnoticed by Laura. Only this time, it brought no trickle of irritation; she shared his positive view. However much she tried to dismiss it, Nathan was a good catch – and now she had proof he also came from decent stock if this about his brother and mother were anything to go by. Every mention of him, from no matter whose lips, showed him only in a more favourable light. She could, so she had learned only too well to her cost, do much worse.
‘One of Bee O’Brien’s lasses, young Mary, nips in once a day to dust and sweep the place,’ Mrs Price was saying now, ‘and another, Lizzie, fetches my purchases from the shops and helps me when preparing meals. They’re a gradely lot here, aye. It’s the workhouse I’d of finished up many a year ago, if not for my friends. Us Ebenezer Court folk look after our own. Stick together, we do.’
‘Everyone sounds nice. I don’t reckon it’d be too bad dwelling here.’ And Laura meant it. ‘Well, thanks, Mrs Price, for your time,’ she went on. ‘Me and Father had better be going. We’ve left the horse and cart on t’ street.’
‘It were my pleasure. Mind, I’d be hotfooting it back to yon beast quick sharp if I were youse. There’s many a desperate soul – and plenty more just plain wicked – what would have them away soon as your back’s turned.’
Father and daughter shared a worried look. Eager to get back to Kenneth, they bade her a hasty farewell.
‘Goodbye for now. I’ll tell young Nathan tha called.’
Leading the way, Laura turned through the entrance and hurriedly left the court. Amos had asked the landlord of the public house they had parked the cart outside to keep an eye to it from his window, and though he’d agreed, it would only take a passing opportunist half a heartbeat to have them away.
‘It were foolish of me to leave them out there,’ Amos said as they navigated their way back through the countless turnings and ginnels. ‘I’ll murder any swine what’s dared take my lad.’
‘He’ll be fine, I’m sure— Oh no!’ she added on a cry when their horse’s unmistakable whinny, high in distress, rent the air from nearby. ‘Quick, Father!’
‘Kenneth!’ Amos whispered, wide-eyed, setting off at a run.
Emerging into the street, they almost collided with a tall, blond-haired young man heading in the same direction. He reached the cart before them and it was then they saw the small grey dog – his dog – darting in and out between a terrified Kenneth’s legs, barking wildly.
‘Heel, Smiler!’
The dog paid him no heed. With a growl of his own, he thrust a hand beneath the horse and plucked out his animal by the scruff of its neck. It squirmed and whined to be set free, but he hooked it securely under his arm, ordering, ‘Enough, you divil!’ He turned to Amos and sighed. ‘Sorry about him. It were a rat scuttling in the gutter, you see. He gave chase afore I had chance to stop him—’
‘That thing should be on a rope if tha can’t control it.’ Amos was incensed. ‘Vicious little swine, it’s nowt else. And look here, see what it’s done!’
The man stooped beside him to assess the trickles of blood running down one of Kenneth’s hind legs. ‘He’s caught but a nip from Smiler’s teeth.’
‘A bite’s harm enough!’
‘It shan’t lame him.’
‘You’d better pray you’re right. This here horse is my livelihood and more besides. Should that be deeper than it looks when I get him back to the yard, or later turn infected, I’m coming looking for thee, d’you hear?’
‘Well, you’ll not have far to search – I dwell but minutes from here at Ebenezer Court.’
Laura had been occupied in stroking the fair, silky hair of the shire’s neck and murmuring in his ear words of comfort. Now, her head snapped around. ‘Ebenezer Court, you say?’
He glanced her way. ‘That’s right, lad.’
Lad? She frowned. Then, glancing down at her working apparel, her brow cleared. Coupled with her coal-dust dirty face, it was easy to understand why he mistook her as male. Too busy musing over who he might be from Mrs Price’s ear
lier listing of the court’s occupants, she nodded without bothering to correct him.
‘I am sorry.’ He’d turned back to Amos. ‘As I said, you know where to find me, but I reckon a bathe of the wound will see him right as rain.’ He touched his cap and swung away towards home. ‘The name’s Daniel, by the way,’ he called over his shoulder before disappearing through the entry.
‘Blockhead,’ muttered Amos as he climbed aboard the cart. ‘Irresponsible, that’s what it is.’
Satisfied that Kenneth had calmed, Laura took her seat beside her father. ‘That’s who Mrs Price spoke so highly of. Nathan’s brother.’
‘So it seems. Mind, I’d not use “salt of the earth” to describe that one. “Cocksure young whelp” is closer to the mark, aye.’
Seeing that his mood was still up and eager to pour oil on troubled waters, Laura changed the subject. At this moment, Amos wouldn’t react too well were she to admit her first impression of the light-haired, dark-eyed, confident younger man was favourable. He’d held his hands up to the incident, after all, made no attempt to dodge responsibility. And he’d apologised – twice. Though of course she understood her father’s anger – Kenneth was more than mere economic value, he was one of the family.
Urging the horse on, they kept a slow pace back to the coal yard. They found Ambrose waiting for them; thinking on her feet, Laura sent Amos straight off to see to Kenneth’s leg, saying she’d explain their absence to her uncle. Naturally, she excluded any mention of Ebenezer Court. Her account of Smiler’s antics proved sufficient; he accepted it without question.
‘A lad who’d witnessed the whole thing called at the yard saying Father needed assistance, you see, and I took the message. I hurried to where he was and helped calm Kenneth,’ she continued as a way of explaining why she’d been with him on his return. Fortunately, she’d rinsed her mucky hands and face in a public horse trough on the journey back. And she always wore her work clothes over her dress, had managed to strip herself of them on the cart.
‘Aye, well. You just get back to your duties here. I don’t pay thee good money for nowt, you know,’ he barked before slamming out.
She was thankful he hadn’t pressed the matter. Even more so that he’d left her once again in peace. She’d seen him for only a few minutes this morning before he’d left the yard on one of his usual calls. A foul temper he’d been in, too – had he tried his luck last night but found her missing from her room? She hoped so, prayed with all that she was that he’d eventually get the message.
A full-grown woman who could only find comfort in sleeping beside her father – it was ridiculous. She’d feigned innocence to Amos upon awakening, insisted she couldn’t recall falling asleep, and he’d chuckled, saying the same, and suggested they both needed to get some earlier nights. If only he knew. Oh, if only. What had Ambrose reduced her to? Her strength of mind had improved steadily since regaining her freedom following her husband’s death; now, she was back to square one, it seemed. Her uncle was chipping away at her budding independence, was ruining her. She loathed him for that most.
And still there was tonight to get through; and the next night, and the next after that … God help her.
Now, memories of Ebenezer Court filled her with quiet excitement. The poverty of the place had switched to paradise, the squalidness to sanctuary.
She’d persuade Father somehow. She’d make damn sure they got that house if it killed her.
CHAPTER 9
AS NATHAN’S BROTHER had predicted, Kenneth’s injury proved superficial and caused him no further problems. Work continued as usual and Laura was glad of the distraction from continually worrying about the outcome of the new abode. Finally, when she entered the coal yard one morning, Nathan was waiting for her by the gates. She raised her eyebrows expectantly.
‘The house …’
‘Aye?’
‘It’s yours if youse still want it.’
‘Oh, lad!’
‘Rent collector will call in t’ court with the key in t’ morning. Mam will take it in for safekeeping if you can’t be there.’
Overcome, she threw her arms round his neck and, laughing, he lifted her off her feet and spun her around. ‘I’m that pleased, I am.’
‘Steady on. It ain’t a palace you’ve been offered, lass.’
No, it’s a haven, she told him with her eyes. You’ve helped me more than you think, saved me, almost. Then out loud: ‘Thank you, Nathan. Truly.’
‘What would tha do without me, eh?’
She thought about his statement frequently for the remainder of the day. Though said in jest, it had struck a chord within her, and the ever-recurring answer that came when she searched her mind was unchanging: she really didn’t know. He was a true friend. She’d never really had many, and especially not male ones. He made her feel secure. She was content in his presence. She really couldn’t – and didn’t want to – imagine not having him around now.
That evening over dinner she and her father broke the news to Ambrose.
He listened without expression or interruption. For a long moment, he looked from one to the other, his normally florid face taking on a purple hue. Then he leapt to his feet, sending the crockery on the table clanging in protest: ‘A stinking bloody court? Have you taken leave of your senses entirely?’ he exploded.
Amos was stunned. ‘Brother, brother. We couldn’t very well stay on here for ever more, could we? It’s not fair on thee. Being a confirmed bachelor, an’ all, you surely miss your space. It’s true I weren’t altogether taken with the new place at first,’ he continued when Ambrose resumed his seat, ‘but Laura managed to convince me.’
I bet she did! his eyes screamed.
‘I think the lass hankers for somewhere we can call ours again, misses keeping house, being her own mistress, you know? Women can be funny about that sort of thing. It means a lot to them, aye. And well, court or no, a home’s what you make it, and Laura will make it homely. Besides, who’s to say it’s for ever? We can allus search for summat more decent eventually.’
Though his voice was calmer, quieter, Ambrose spoke through gritted teeth. ‘I’ll not see no kin of mine living in such a place when you’ve a perfectly good home here with me.’
‘We’re indebted to thee, brother, for everything. But it’s time. If it’s what the lass has set her heart on …’ Amos shrugged. ‘I’ll be content anywhere if she is.’
Such unwavering loyalty, support. Laura couldn’t have loved her father more in this moment if she’d tried. She reached for his hand and squeezed. Then she lifted her eyes to meet those of the demon’s and for the first time since this nightmare began didn’t shudder with nerves or bow her head. Instead, she held his gaze steadily, saying with poise and new-found control, ‘We’ve made up our minds, Uncle Ambrose.’
He scraped back his chair and left the kitchen.
Sighing, Amos nodded to Bridget, hovering by the scullery, that they were ready to be served. The leg of mutton, dishes of vegetables and crusty loaf made Laura’s mouth water. Victory had brought on a fierce appetite; she’d never felt so ravenous.
‘He’ll come round, Father,’ she told Amos afterwards, seeing that the corners of his mouth still held a down-at-heart droop. He’ll just have to. Please don’t bend to his manipulation now.
‘Aye.’
She kissed him on the brow then, crying a headache, escaped upstairs to pack.
Laura knew Ambrose would come to her room that night.
When the door creaked open in the pre-dawn, she was sat up in bed, ready for him. This time, there was no loitering in the shadows, no fumbling of his trousers – he made straight towards her.
‘You’re going nowhere. Does tha hear me?’
‘Get out.’
‘Come on, now, lass. Now you know youse are better off here—’
‘Get out.’
‘But we’re family, lass. Does that mean nowt to thee? Hm?’
That he had the gall – him – to speak of su
ch things. ‘It’s over. Does tha hear me? The morrow, I’ll be free of here – and the yard,’ she added as a sudden afterthought, and was gratified to see him blanche. ‘Being a stinking bloody court, as you call it, the rent shall be manageable enough on just Father’s wages.’ This was true enough. Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? ‘It’s over,’ she repeated.
‘What wages would they be, then? If you go, he does!’
‘As you like. There’s coal yards aplenty would be only too glad of his labour.’
His breathing was ragged with pent-up rage. ‘I’ll find out what it is you’re running from in Bolton.’
This was it, the moment she’d been planning throughout the small hours. Though her heart threatened to leap from her chest, she lifted her chin. The risk was worth taking. ‘You do that. You go on up there and probe till you’re blue in t’ face. I’ve nowt to hide.’
‘Aye, you do. I’ll ruin you.’
‘Just you pray I don’t ruin you first!’
His eyes bulged in utter fury. Cajoles and threats hadn’t worked. His desperate attempt to keep her under his rule, keep her in easy access for his foul fancy, was scattered. Belying his size, he sprang forward, throwing himself on top of her, pinning her at an awkward angle against the wall. ‘Bitch!’
‘Nay,’ she gasped. ‘Nay, please!’ as he grabbed painfully between her legs.
‘Shut it.’
His massive bulk was crippling. Dragging into her compressed lungs as much air as she was able, she screamed at the top of her voice.
Time seemed to freeze. Her uncle’s mouth fell slack in astonishment at her show of defiance. Swinging his head to the door then back to her, fear had replaced lust; he scrambled off her and bolted from the room. Moments later, a tousle-headed Amos appeared in the doorway.
‘Lass? What is it, what’s occurring?’
‘A nightmare, Father.’
‘You’re all right?’
‘Aye.’ The darkness hid her determined tears. ‘Fret not. It’s over now.’
‘It’s for the best. Someone needs to be home during the day to clean and have a meal ready for when you return from your toil. The arrangement worked for us well enough in Bolton, eh? Let’s give it a trial run and, if brass proves too tight, I’ll find employment somewhere again. I’ll still help with the afternoon coal round, same as always, will meet thee each day outside the yard.’
