by Val Wood
‘Would you like to go back?’ Alice asked. She was sitting curled up in a chair, looking rather fragile, Lily thought.
‘I’ve nobody to go back to,’ she answered. ‘When Johnny didn’t come home I married again and went to live in Seathorne. I thought I was going to summat better than I had, but it was just a hovel right on ’edge of ’cliff. The village is disappearing into ’sea.’ She wondered uneasily about Billy. Was he really dead? She sighed. There was no point in enquiring. He hadn’t wanted her – that much was obvious. She was better off without him.
She looked round at all the faces watching and listening to her. ‘But ’smell of sea was lovely,’ she added brightly. ‘Sharp and salty, and sort of pungent. You felt refreshed when you took a breath. That was one of ’best smells ever.’
The door bell rang and they all looked up. ‘Who’s this?’ Lizzie frowned. ‘At this time o’ day!’
‘Mrs Flitt can go,’ Lily said. ‘It can’t be a customer.’
Mrs Flitt was allowed to answer the door during the day. She looked much more respectable than before in her newly fashioned skirt, made from Lily’s old one, and she always wore a clean apron.
‘Somebody for you, Miss Lily.’ She put her head round the parlour door and sniffed disapprovingly. ‘A woman.’
Lily raised her eyebrows. ‘Wanting work?’
‘Shouldn’t think so,’ Mrs Flitt grunted. ‘She’s waiting in ’hall.’
Lily slipped her shoes back on. ‘It’s all right. I’ll see her in my room,’ she said, as the girls stood up to leave the parlour and go into the kitchen.
A pretty middle-aged woman in a hooped cream day dress worn with a short cape and a flowered bonnet stood in the hall looking round her and up the stairs. ‘Good afternoon,’ she greeted Lily. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you. I wondered if Jamie was here.’
Mrs Flitt could have told you that, Lily thought. Why didn’t you ask her? ‘He isn’t,’ she said. ‘He doesn’t live here.’
‘No, I know he doesn’t. He lives in our old house in Middle Court.’
Lily waited. She didn’t know where Middle Court was, but who was this?
‘I’m Jamie’s mother,’ the woman said. ‘Nell.’ She left it at that, not giving out her married name. ‘I wanted a word with him.’
‘Why didn’t you go to his house?’ Lily asked. ‘That’s where you’d find him.’ She must know he runs a brothel. Why else would she be here in this notorious square?
‘I can’t go back there,’ Nell said. ‘My husband forbids it; it’s such a run-down area. Neither does he know I’ve come here. He doesn’t approve of Jamie, and he doesn’t like me to see him. He thinks he’s a bad lot. Which he is,’ she added. She gazed at Lily and said softly, ‘But he’s still my son.’
‘Come through.’ Lily led her into her room. The afternoon sun was shining through the windows, brightening up the room. It looked nice, she thought with satisfaction. Very neat and cheerful, with a vase of flowers on a small table.
‘This is lovely,’ Nell said. ‘I often used to wonder what this house was like inside.’
‘You never came in, then?’ Lily asked astutely.
‘Oh no!’ She gave a little shrug and smiled and Lily thought how much Jamie was like her; both had fair hair and blue eyes, but his mother had softer features, and, Lily guessed, was more vulnerable than he was. ‘You’ll have heard I was in this line of business, I expect?’
Lily nodded, but said nothing. Who was she to judge?
‘Jamie used to look after me,’ Nell said softly. ‘That’s ’hardest thing to live down; a son being pander for his mother. Every woman who knows me despises us both for it.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Lily said. ‘I understand how they feel. I wouldn’t want my son to know I’m working here and I don’t even—’
Nell looked at her curiously. ‘Don’t even …?’
Lily cleared her throat. ‘I don’t – well, I just look after ’girls and tek money for Jamie. Nothing else.’
‘How very odd.’ Nell gave a girlish laugh. ‘Nobody’d believe that, of course.’
‘I don’t suppose they would,’ Lily replied sharply. ‘But it happens to be true.’
‘I made some good men friends over the years,’ Nell said. ‘They don’t acknowledge me now, of course. But I don’t mind – I’ve got a husband who cares for me.’
‘Then you’re fortunate,’ Lily said. ‘Does he know about your past?’
‘Oh, yes! He was a customer.’ Nell folded her hands together. ‘I didn’t come just to see Jamie,’ she said softly. ‘Though I would’ve liked to. I came to see you. I’ve heard about you – and I wanted to warn you.’
‘Warn me? About what? Who?’
‘Jamie,’ she said. ‘You’re probably making money for him now, but if he thinks you’re getting ’upper hand, he’ll get rid of you and bring in somebody else in your place. I know he would,’ she added, ‘because he tried it with me, with somebody younger. He’s allus been full o’ big ideas has Jamie.’
‘Well, thank you for telling me,’ Lily said. ‘I appreciate that. But there’s nothing I can do about it, and in any case I don’t intend to stay here for ever. I hate this kind of work; it’s degrading and disgusting and I’m onny here because I’d nowhere else to go. Jamie found me when I was at my lowest ebb and threw me a lifeline.’
‘Be careful, then,’ Nell advised, ‘that ’lifeline doesn’t drag you under.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Alice was unwell all summer. She was pale and listless, though the cough which had bothered her in the early months had subsided, except at night when she was kept awake by it.
‘It’s nowt. I’ve allus had it,’ she told Lily, who was worried about her. ‘My ma did too and two of my sisters. Where we lived, near to ’factories, there was allus thick smoke and soot and Ma said that was what caused it. She used to buy milk from a yard down ’street to build us up.’ She grimaced. ‘I never fancied it, but I was made to drink it. Cows were that thin and scrawny and ’cowman looked as if he’d never had a wash in his life. He used to milk ’cows into a mucky old pail and we were sent with a jug for him to fill.’
‘My bones ache,’ she complained on another occasion. ‘That beating I got from that seaman has damaged me.’
‘You’ve got a sore on your face,’ Lizzie told her one morning. ‘You’ll have to cover that up.’
Alice looked in the mirror and saw the festering sore at the side of her mouth. ‘What can I put on it?’
‘Lavender water,’ Lily told her. ‘I used to mek it. But where can we get lavender round here?’
Alice shook her head. ‘Don’t know. Chemist’s shop?’
Mr Walker, Lily thought. I’ll ask him and maybe I’ll see Daisy too. She had seen her daughter only twice during the summer and those had been chance encounters. Daisy had grown and was filling out, and she had told her mother that she had started her flux. ‘Molly showed me what to do,’ she said, and Lily thought sadly that Daisy was growing up without her influence.
When the shop door bell rang, Mr Walker looked up from what he was doing at the counter. He didn’t recognize her at first, but then his face showed surprise and pleasure. ‘Mrs Maddeson!’ He smiled. ‘How very nice to see you. Are you keeping well? You look well. Your new position is suiting you, I gather?’
‘For ’time being, yes it is,’ she replied. ‘It puts bread in my mouth, at least.’
‘An honest job of work is what we all strive for,’ he acknowledged. ‘And if it feeds us and clothes us as well, then we are fortunate.’
She doubted if he had ever been in the position of worrying whether his work was honest or not. Would he consider running a brothel honest work? I think not, she decided. I’m sure he would consider it corrupt. Which it is.
‘I’ve come on a mission for one of, erm, ’kitchen staff,’ she said, ‘but I was also wondering about Daisy.’ She guessed that dealing with servants wasn’t his domain, but it was he who had sugg
ested that Daisy should stay with them. ‘Is she proving satisfactory?’
‘My wife seems pleased with her, and sometimes she helps behind the counter. Not on her own, of course,’ he hastened to add. ‘But she helps Oliver with counting the tablets and so on, and she dusts the jars,’ he pointed behind him at the shelves of bottles and jars, ‘and keeps things tidy.
‘So,’ he said. ‘What’s the trouble with your servant? What are her symptoms?’
‘Well, she allus has a cough. She says she’s had it since she was young, and her sisters and mother were afflicted as well. But,’ she frowned, ‘she’s got a nasty sore on her face that I don’t like ’look of and I wondered if you sold lavender water?’
He gazed at her. ‘A running sore? That’s not something you want in a kitchen. You must tell her on no account to scratch it or it will become infected and spread further. Her cough? Hard to say. It could be caused by any number of ailments, but there are many people in the town with tuberculosis and it does seem to run in families.’
He turned to bring down a bottle from the shelf. ‘I can make up a cough syrup to ease her throat, but if she has tuberculosis or scrofula then I can do nothing except advise her to go to live by the sea or take walks by the pier on her days off. But that is probably not an option open to her. I must also caution you, Mrs Maddeson,’ he looked at her with grave intent, ‘that she should seek advice, for if she does have the disease it is highly contagious and it would be prudent to give her notice immediately.’
Lily took a breath; this was a blow and not something she had thought of. ‘And … lavender water? Do you sell it?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, but I think you should send her in to see me. There may be another underlying cause; perhaps she’s run down because of the cough and needs a tonic. Use lavender water by all means, and if it doesn’t clear ask her to come in.’
Agreeing that she would pass the message on to the mythical servant, she hurried away clutching the cough syrup and the bottle of lavender water, bought at a price she thought exorbitant – she had previously made her own and used honey for coughs; she was disappointed too that she hadn’t caught even so much as a glimpse of Daisy.
‘Alice,’ she said, handing her the bottles on her return, ‘has anybody in your family had tuberculosis?’
‘Yes,’ Alice said. ‘Two of my brothers and one of my sisters. There were eight of us, bairns I mean. One brother died when he was nine and ’other one when he was eleven. My sister lived to be sixteen.’ Her mouth trembled. ‘That’s why my ma made us drink milk; she said it would mek us strong. She’d seen her own ma die of consumption, you see.’
‘Yes, she would be worried, of course,’ Lily said slowly. There had been nothing like that in the village when she was growing up – not that she knew of, anyway. But then, she thought, Mr Walker said you should live by the sea and breathe in the salty air to be healthy. So he must be right. ‘Have you any money put by, Alice? Enough to see a doctor?’
‘No!’ Alice exclaimed. ‘Course I haven’t. A doctor? Why? It’s onny a cough, Lily. Nowt more than that.’
Alice wasn’t earning much money. Leo was a regular customer and he used to slip her something extra, but she was inclined to be lazy and would always suggest that Lizzie or Betty, or Mary or Sally if they were there, took any new customers. ‘I’m too tired,’ she would say, ‘and besides I’m scared of men I don’t know.’
Jamie had noticed, and complained to Lily. ‘She’s not earning her keep. This isn’t a charity and if she doesn’t do more she’ll have to go and I’ll find somebody else.’
‘She’s not costing you anything,’ she retorted. ‘She buys her own food and she keeps Leo happy and he’s important to us.’
Lily felt that Leo added tone to the house. There had never been any trouble, even though occasionally unsavoury characters had rung the door bell demanding to be let in. Lily always closed the door on them, telling them they had mistaken the address, and directing them elsewhere in the square.
There was a storm early that evening, torrential rain and a thundering overhead as the heavens opened. ‘I hate thunder,’ Cherie said, holding her hands over her ears. ‘And look.’ She pointed out of the window at the lightning. ‘It’s like daylight.’
‘I used to like to watch storms over ’sea,’ Lily said. ‘When I was at Seathorne we were right on ’edge of ’cliff and it was as if we were sitting in ’middle of ’storm. The sea’d churn as if a giant hand was stirring it and ’colour would change to muddy brown and grey-green, and ’tops of waves would be thick with white frothy foam. Sky would light up,’ her eyes sparkled, ‘flaring and flashing and showing everything up in silver.’
‘How lovely.’ Alice was listening intently. ‘I’d love to see that. How lucky you are, Lily. I’ve never been anywhere else but Hull.’
‘Nor me,’ Lizzie said, and neither had Cherie or Betty. They’d spent all of their young lives in the town.
‘If we’d enough money we could go on a train,’ Betty said, and then laughed. ‘Perhaps I’ll ask Henry to tek me to Bridlington!’
‘Where’s that?’ Cherie asked. ‘Is it far?’
Lily glanced at Betty. Henry came regularly, at least twice a week, and always asked for Betty. ‘It’s up ’coast,’ she said. ‘There’s a train service running there now. Would he tek you, do you think, Betty? If he will you should go.’ She sighed. ‘It would be nice if we could all go.’ She longed to see the sea and realized how much she was missing it.
‘I’ll ask him when he comes next time.’ Betty grinned. ‘Mebbe he’d tek me on Sunday.’ Then the smile left her face. ‘But mebbe he wouldn’t want to be seen wi’ me. He hasn’t any family but I expect he’s got friends who’d turn their noses up if they saw him out walking wi’ somebody like me.’
They all fell silent. It was true, Lily thought, they would be considered low and unworthy, but then, she mused, Jamie’s mother had risen above the stigma. If she could, why not Betty and the others?
The girls went upstairs to get ready for the evening, though Lily considered that not many customers would come in such weather. She lit her lamp and, going to draw the curtains, looked out on to the square and saw that the road was flooded and the rain still pelting down. The door of one of the other houses opened and several young women came running down the steps. They were scantily dressed and shrieking at the tops of their voices as they splashed in the water. Other windows and doors opened and heads popped out, and within minutes other girls had dashed out of the houses to join them in splashing and sloshing in the puddles.
As Lily watched, some of them took off their skirts and threw them on to the steps, and then as if at a signal they all took off their clothes and ran naked up and down the street, laughing and screeching, pushing and pulling at each other until they fell over.
Shouts came from the end of the street and a group of men called to the women. ‘Come on then,’ one of the women yelled. ‘Come for a swim.’ The men without hesitation rushed towards them, dragging off their coats and shirts as they ran.
‘Heavens!’ Lily breathed. ‘I hope ’constables don’t come or we’ll all be in trouble.’ Then she drew in her breath and closed the curtains. The men had reached the women and what they were up to now was not for public display.
‘What’s going on?’ Lizzie came down and into Lily’s room. ‘What’s that row?’
‘Don’t look,’ Lily said sharply. ‘It’s disgraceful.’
‘Sounds like a riot.’ Lizzie peeked out anyway. ‘God! Police are here! They’re rounding them up! Oh!’ She swivelled, showing a scared face to Lily. ‘I hope none of our regulars turn up or they’ll catch ’em.’ She peered out again, holding the curtains close to her head so that no light showed outside. ‘They’ve brought ’Black Maria! Quick,’ she said, turning away. ‘Get your sewing basket out. I’ll tell ’others.’
‘What? What?’ Lily asked. ‘Police won’t come here!’
‘Course they will.’ Lizzie dashe
d towards the stairs. ‘They’ll come banging on everybody’s door.’
Lily was seized by a sudden panic. If the police came she would be the one to be accused of running a brothel. Would they lock her up? Jamie wouldn’t appear, not if he saw what was happening out in the square. He would be in the clear just as Leo had said.
When Mrs Flitt announced the sergeant and his constable, Lily was sitting with her sewing basket at her feet, a needle and thread in her hand and a piece of linen on the lap of her grey gown. Lizzie was curled up with a book in her hand; Betty and Alice were in quiet conversation, whilst Cherie was coming through from the kitchen with an apron over her dress, carrying a tray of tea cups and saucers.
‘Telled yer, didn’t I?’ Mrs Flitt said to the sergeant. ‘This is a respectable ’ouse. Not like them thieves’ cribs and brothels up ’street!’
‘Thank you, Mrs Flitt,’ Lily said calmly, though her heart was racing. ‘That will do.’
‘I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am,’ the sergeant said. ‘But you must realize this is a notorious area.’
Lily sighed. ‘Of course I do, but what can a poor woman do? There’s very little accommodation for someone with limited means. I didn’t know what it was like until I moved in and then it was too late.’
‘Who’s your landlord?’ he asked bluntly and Lily hesitated, convinced that the police would know Jamie’s name.
‘Mr Broadley,’ Lizzie said. ‘He owns most of ’houses round here.’
‘I know you.’ The constable stared at Lizzie. ‘Where’ve I seen you afore?’
