Cinderella Sister

by Dilly Court

‘Oh, Matt, are you sure?’ Nell’s eyes filled with tears. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘There’s no doubt about it, I’m afraid.’

  Molly let out a loud wail. ‘They can’t take our home away from us. It’s not fair.’

  ‘There must be a logical explanation,’ Nell insisted. ‘They can’t just throw us out on the streets for nothing.’

  Matt met Lily’s anxious gaze with a slight shake of his head. ‘As I said, I’ll explain everything later, but as to the suddenness of it all, I think Labrosse may have had a hand in it. He was just leaving the office when I went in to see the dockmaster. He gave me a filthy look in passing, although for the life of me I can’t think why.’

  ‘I can,’ Lily murmured. ‘I think it may be my fault.’

  ‘I don’t see how, Lil,’ Matt said, hooking his arm around her shoulders. ‘We’ve got to move out and that’s that.’

  ‘You can’t just stand by and see us thrown out on the streets,’ Molly stormed. ‘Where’s your fighting spirit, Matt? If I was a man I wouldn’t stand by and see my sisters evicted from their home. I’d biff old Labrosse on the nose for a start.’

  Matt’s lips set in a grim line. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, Molly. Luckily the rooms over the shop next to the fire station are still to let. We’re going to have to make the best of it and no arguments.’

  ‘If there really is no other choice, we’ll manage somehow,’ Nell said gently. ‘It might not be so bad, Molly.’

  ‘And the boys won’t have far to go to get to work,’ Lily added, making an attempt to lighten the mood.

  ‘That’s not funny.’ Molly choked back a sob and her lips trembled. ‘We won’t have room to swing a cat. It will be hell on earth.’

  ‘There are plenty worse off than us,’ Matt said severely. ‘But Molly’s right in one sense. The rooms are small so we won’t be able to take much with us.’ He turned to Nell. ‘We’ve only got two days to organise ourselves, so I’m putting you in charge of packing, and you’d best tell Aggie what’s going on before one of the boys blurts it out and upsets the old girl.’

  ‘What about Grandpa?’ Lily asked anxiously. ‘He’s going to be very unhappy.’

  ‘He’ll have to put up with it like the rest of us,’ Matt said grimly.

  Nell laid her hand on his arm. ‘Would you like me to break it gently to him?’

  ‘No, this is my job. Don’t worry, Nell. I won’t give the old boy a heart attack, even if I could cheerfully throttle him at times.’ Matt strode across the hall and entered Grandpa’s room without knocking.

  ‘Oh, dear,’ Nell said faintly. ‘Poor Grandpa. He loves this old house.’

  Molly gulped and sniffed. ‘This is probably his fault. He must have upset the dock company.’

  ‘That’s not fair,’ Lily cried angrily. ‘Grandpa was a valued employee; he’s just getting a bit forgetful in his old age.’

  ‘Stop being so damned fair-minded, Lil. It drives me crazy.’ Molly turned on her heel and flounced towards the staircase. ‘I’m going to sort my things. Heaven knows I haven’t got much but I’m not leaving anything that’s mine. So there!’ She paused at the foot of the stairs, glancing over her shoulder. ‘You’ll have to leave your paints and things here, Lily. There won’t be anywhere to hide them now.’ With an angry twitch of her shoulders, Molly raced up the stairs without giving Lily a chance to retaliate.

  Lily glanced anxiously at Nell. ‘I don’t get them out until I’ve finished all my chores.’

  ‘It doesn’t seem to matter now,’ Nell said, shaking her head. ‘We’ve got more important things to worry about.’

  As if to confirm her words, the door to Grandpa’s room flew open and Matt strode into the hall followed closely by their irate grandfather.

  ‘I’ll not be turned out of my house by anyone,’ Grandpa raged. ‘This is my home and no clodpole of a dock company manager is going to take it away from me. The river runs in my blood and the only way I’m leaving here is in a wooden box.’ He retreated into his room, slamming the door and sending a shower of plaster floating down from the ceiling.

  ‘That went well,’ Matt said with a wry grin. ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do with the old boy, but I’d sooner live with a caged tiger than share a bedroom with Grandpa.’

  Nell bit her lip. ‘Aggie is going to be just as difficult.’

  Before joining his brothers on the night watch, Matt had obtained the key to the rooms they hoped to rent. It was still dark with at least two hours to go before dawn when Lily and Nell left the house next morning setting out to inspect their future accommodation. The move from their old home hung over them like a storm cloud, ominous and getting closer with each passing minute. They barely spoke as they made their way through the strangely silent streets. The denizens of the night had gone to earth, some of them sleeping off the excesses of their carousing and the effects of smoking opium as they huddled in doorways, apparently dead to the world. The day workers were just beginning to emerge from their homes, trudging wearily to their places of employment, shoulders hunched, heads down, and the only sound the clatter of their hobnail boots striking sparks off the cobblestones.

  Lily and Nell quickened their pace and their breath plumed into clouds around their heads in the ice-cold air. The rooms that Matt had found for them were above a tobacco shop, which was separated from the fire station by a narrow passageway leading to the stable yard at the rear. It was pitch dark in the alley with just a glimmer of light at both ends. They had to feel their way along the rough brick wall until they came to a doorway, which when unlocked opened onto a winding staircase. Nell went first, stumbling over the splintered edges of the stair treads with Lily close on her heels.

  At the top of the stairs they came to a small landing with two doors, each leading into an empty room, but in the dim light from the street lamp outside their worst fears were confirmed. The smell of ale from the former beer shop next door seemed to have permeated the fabric of the building and was mixed with the odour of the stables and a strong smell of tobacco from the shop below. The two rooms were reasonably large and each had a fireplace, although the only facility for cooking was a trivet and a hook from which a blackened kettle hung over the empty grate in the front room. Festoons of cobwebs hung from the beamed ceiling and the skirting boards were pockmarked with mouse holes.

  Lily shivered, wrapping her shawl closer around her body as she took in her surroundings. ‘This is awful, Nell.’

  ‘You’re right, but at least it will put a roof over our heads and perhaps later on we can find a small house to rent cheaply.’

  ‘It’s not going to be easy,’ Lily said, moving to the window and wiping away the grime to make a small circle of clear glass. She peered out at the street below. ‘The only good thing is that we’re next to the fire station. They boys won’t have far to go.’

  ‘You always look on the bright side,’ Nell said, chuckling. ‘We’ll be all right, Lily. It will just take a bit of adjustment, but we’ll get through this.’

  ‘I can see Luke,’ Lily cried, tapping on the window and waving. ‘I think he’s coming this way.’ She hurried from the room and ran downstairs to open the outer door.

  Holding a lantern in one hand and a steaming mug in the other, Luke came towards her, grinning broadly. ‘It’s not exactly Buckingham Palace, is it?’

  Lily shook her head. ‘It’s dreadful.’

  ‘I’ve brought you a cup of tea. Are you on your own, Lil?’

  ‘No, Nell’s here but we can share the tea. Ta, Luke, you’re a brick.’ She took the mug from him and made her way back up the stairs with Luke following her.

  He stopped in the doorway, holding the lantern so that it shed a pale golden light around the empty room. He pulled a face. ‘It’s worse than I thought. You couldn’t call it home from home.’

  Nell squared her narrow shoulders with a determined lift of her chin. ‘It will be when Lily and I have done with it, but I’d best be on m
y way now or I’ll be late for work.’

  ‘I hope you don’t expect me to do this all on my own,’ Lily protested.

  ‘Of course not, but you can make a start and we’ll come back this evening after supper and finish it off.’ Nell turned to Luke. ‘And you needn’t grin like a fool, Luke Larkin. You can help by fetching some coal and kindling for the fire.’

  Luke made a mock salute. ‘Aye aye, captain.’

  ‘When it’s clean and we’ve got some of our furniture in here, I’m sure we’ll be quite cosy,’ Nell said hopefully. ‘Now I really must be going or I’ll be in Mr Sadler’s bad books, and I want to ask him if I can have some time off tomorrow so that I can organise the move.’ She made for the stairs, pausing in the doorway. ‘I haven’t even thought how we are going to transport our furniture.’

  ‘Matt’s arranging to borrow a cart from one of his mates,’ Luke said cheerfully. ‘And a couple of the blokes on day watch are going to give us a hand, providing there aren’t any shouts. Don’t worry, Nell. It will all go like clockwork.’

  Lily smiled and nodded, but in her heart she was not so sure.

  As Lily had feared, things did not go exactly as planned. The next morning, Grandpa locked himself in his room, shouting through the keyhole that he had no intention of leaving his home. Taking her cue from him, Aggie sat in her rocking chair by the kitchen range, refusing to budge.

  ‘If he isn’t leaving, then neither am I,’ she said, gripping the wooden arms of the chair with the expression of a martyr about to be burnt at the stake.

  Nell pleaded with Grandpa and then with Aggie, and finally, casting her eyes heavenwards, she threw up her hands. ‘I give in,’ she said as the clock on St Peter’s church tower struck midday. ‘We’ll just have to leave them here and let the bailiffs deal with them.’

  Lily sent a pleading look to Aggie. ‘Please come with us, Aggie. We won’t be in that place forever. We’ll start looking for something more suitable straight away, but we have to leave here. If you go, then Grandpa will have to give up as there’ll be no one to look after him.’

  Aggie clenched her jaw and stared straight ahead. Her silence was more convincing than a hundred words.

  ‘Thank goodness Molly had to go to work,’ Lily said in a low voice. ‘She would probably chain herself to the railings outside and then we would have the police involved.’

  Nell shook her head. ‘I haven’t got time for all this, Lily. We must make sure that Matt and the others have loaded everything we need on that rickety old cart. I just pray that it gets to Cock Hill before it collapses or one of the wheels drops off.’ She sighed heavily. ‘Mr Sadler offered to help, but I hope he doesn’t turn up. I wouldn’t want him to witness this spectacle. It would be so mortifying.’

  Lily cocked her head on one side, instantly diverted. ‘I thought that Mr Sadler was a bit of an ogre, Nell. Does he fancy you?’

  Nell’s cheeks reddened. ‘Of course not, Lily. What a thing to say. Mr Sadler is an excellent man, totally devoted to teaching underprivileged children and giving them a better start in life. He hardly knows that I exist, except for being an able assistant.’

  ‘Then he’s a fool,’ Aggie said darkly. ‘All men are numbskulls if you ask me.’

  ‘I didn’t,’ Nell said, surprising Lily with the sharpness of her tone. She whisked out of the room leaving Lily and Aggie staring after her.

  ‘Well,’ Lily said, packing the last of their crockery and cutlery into a tea chest, ‘it looks as if you will have to stay here on your own with Grandpa, Aggie. I’ll miss you, but you know best.’ Without waiting for an answer, she left the kitchen, making her way along the passage to stand outside her grandfather’s door. ‘Grandpa, can you hear me? It’s Lily.’

  ‘Go away, girl. I’m not leaving my house and that’s that.’

  ‘But Grandpa, you know they’ll send the bailiffs in and they’ll break the door down. They’ll drag you out, and Aggie too. It will be awful.’

  ‘They wouldn’t dare.’

  Lily was quick to hear a tremulous note in her grandfather’s voice. ‘They would, Grandpa.’

  ‘I’m not going. They’ll have to carry me out in a wooden box. This is my home. I’ve earned the right to live out my life here. I was an important man once.’

  Lily could hear the frailty in his voice but she recognised the stubborn tone. An idea occurred to her and she ran out through the open front door, almost barging into Mark who was coming back to collect another load for the already groaning cart.

  ‘Hey, look out,’ he said, chuckling. ‘Where’s the fire?’

  ‘Very funny,’ Lily called over her shoulder. ‘This is a real emergency.’ She picked up her skirts and ran down the garden path and out into the street. There was just one person who might be able to persuade Grandpa Larkin to leave his old home, and she knew where to find him.

  Chapter Seven

  Lily found Bill Hawkins sitting in the taproom of the Prospect of Whitby, drinking a pint of porter.

  ‘Bill, I need your help,’ she said breathlessly.

  He stood up, glancing anxiously round at the assemblage of dockers, sailors and warehousemen who had stopped drinking to stare curiously at Lily. ‘You shouldn’t be in a public house, Miss Lily. What would your grandpa say?’

  ‘It’s because of Grandpa that I’m here,’ Lily said urgently. ‘He won’t leave the house, Bill. He’s locked himself in his room and refuses to listen to anyone.’

  He took her by the arm, propelling her through the crowded bar and out onto the quay wall. ‘I’ll come with you, but I doubt if there’s anything I can say or do that will make him change his mind. He’s a mite stubborn, if you’ll excuse me saying so.’

  ‘That’s putting it mildly, Bill. But if anyone can persuade him to change his mind, it’s you.’ Without waiting for his answer she raced on ahead, crossing the bridge over the dock entrance at a run and arriving home with her bonnet hanging by its ribbons and her hair falling loose around her shoulders. She came to an abrupt halt at the sight of Nell standing outside the front door in conversation with a tall man dressed all in black. Although they had never been formally introduced, Lily had seen Mr Eugene Sadler, the headmaster of the Ragged School, on several occasions in the past, although only from a distance.

  Nell turned and frowned as she took in Lily’s dishevelled state. ‘Where have you been, Lily? I thought you were looking after Grandpa.’

  Lily glanced curiously at Mr Sadler, who was observing her with such a grave expression on his chiselled features that he reminded her of a parson about to deliver a sermon. ‘I went to fetch Bill. He’s the only one that Grandpa might listen to.’

  Bill had caught up with her by now and he took off his cap, acknowledging Nell with a respectful inclination of his head. ‘Miss Nell.’

  ‘I would be very grateful if you would try to make Grandpa see sense, Bill,’ Nell said with a tight little smile.

  ‘I’ll have a word with him, but the guvner has a mind of his own, miss.’ Bill gave Mr Sadler a curt nod and disappeared into the house.

  Nell turned to her companion. ‘Mr Sadler, may I introduce you to my youngest sister, Lily?’

  Mr Sadler doffed his top hat. ‘How do you do, Miss Lily?’

  ‘Very well, sir.’ Slightly in awe of the stern-faced schoolmaster, Lily bobbed a curtsey.

  ‘Will you excuse us a moment, Mr Sadler?’ Nell said, taking Lily by the arm.

  ‘Certainly, Miss Larkin.’

  Nell drew Lily into the porch, speaking in a low urgent voice. ‘Mr Sadler closed the school early so that he could come here and talk to Grandpa. I’m so embarrassed and now I feel a complete fool. You should have waited here for me.’

  ‘That’s not fair. You said the schoolmaster might not turn up.’ Lily shot a curious look at Mr Sadler’s stern profile. ‘Why has he come anyway? He doesn’t know Grandpa.’

  ‘Mr Sadler is a well-respected man, and he has some standing in the community.’ Nell glanced an
xiously over her shoulder. ‘I don’t know what to say to him.’

  Lily followed her gaze and was struck once again by Mr Sadler’s imposing appearance. The top hat made him look at least a foot taller than he was, and his erect carriage and serious demeanour would impress anyone. She was fired by a sudden inspiration. ‘Why not ask your Mr Sadler to have a word with Aggie? If anyone can persuade her to be reasonable, I’m sure it would be your schoolmaster. He could easily be a preacher and you know how Aggie respects men of the cloth.’

  Nell’s eyes brightened. ‘I’ll speak to him now. Wait here and don’t say anything to anyone. You have a habit of putting your foot in it.’

  Half an hour later, Aggie and Grandpa were seated in Mr Sadler’s dog cart and Bill was loading a wagon with Grandpa’s bed and personal belongings. Mr Sadler handed Nell up onto the driver’s seat and he turned to Lily, who was standing at his side. ‘Are you travelling with us, Miss Larkin?’

  She looked up into his grey eyes and was surprised by the warmth of his smile which softened the severe lines of his angular face, and the firm set of his lips. He was younger than she had at first supposed, and really quite human, she thought. She shook her head. ‘Thank you, no, Mr Sadler. I’d better check everything in the house and make certain that nothing important has been left behind.’

  He hesitated for a moment, as if struggling with a natural reticence. ‘I am truly sorry to see you and your family put to so much trouble. If there is anything I can do to help …’ His voice trailed off and a dull flush spread upwards from his starched white collar to flood his pale cheeks with colour. He cleared his throat and climbed up beside Nell, taking the whip and flicking it expertly just above the horse’s ear. ‘Trot on, Socrates.’

  ‘Socrates! What an inspiring name for a horse.’

  Nell’s words floated to Lily on the stiff breeze as the vehicle lurched forward, picking up speed as the horse moved from a sedate walk to a brisk trot. Matt’s friend who had kindly supplied the wagon urged his sturdy carthorse into action and drove off slowly, following the schoolmaster’s vehicle. Lily watched the last of their belongings disappearing along Labour in Vain Street with a feeling of deep sadness. Part of her life had ended on this day, and what the future held was a matter of conjecture.