by Dilly Court
‘Is there anything else I can do for you, Miss Lily?’
She spun round having quite forgotten that Bill was standing behind her, cap in hand, and looking so downcast that she wanted to hug him. ‘You must come to Cock Hill and visit Grandpa just as you’ve always done,’ she said, smiling up at him. ‘You are his only link with the past now, Bill, and he would miss you dreadfully if he didn’t see you as often.’
A slow grin illuminated Bill’s craggy features. ‘D’you really think so?’
Lily laid her hand on his arm. ‘You were the only person he would listen to today, Bill. Grandpa would still be locked in his room if it wasn’t for you. I don’t know what you said to him, but it worked.’
‘It was between us men, Miss Lily. I’m sad to see the guvner leave his home, but I’m happy I was able to help.’
He loped off in the direction of the wharf, leaving Lily alone on the pavement outside the house. She went indoors, making for her bedroom where she took her drawing materials and sketches from beneath her bed, the only one left in the room as the other two had been dismantled and taken to Cock Hill. Tonight she would have to sleep top to toe with Molly and she was not looking forward to that. She tucked her treasured possessions into an old pillowcase that she had kept for the purpose. Taking one last look around the room that she had shared with her sisters for so many years, she went outside onto the landing, closing the door behind her.
She paused at the top of the stairs. The only sounds she could hear were the echoes in her head from long ago. If she closed her eyes, she could imagine the faint strains of Ma playing the piano and Pa’s deep baritone rendition of a popular song. Ma’s tinkling laughter had filled the house with joy, but her tears and tantrums had also left their mark. Lily remembered only too well the raised voices and bitter quarrels. There had been good times as well as hardships, and then Armand had come into their lives. Handsome, helpless and excitingly foreign, he had charmed them all. Lily sighed as she made her way down the curved staircase for the last time. Would they ever see him again? He had promised to return, but circumstances and a domineering father might prevent him from keeping his word. She must allow him to fade into the realm of her dreams. There was nothing for it but to get on with the business of living in the tough world of the East End outside the protective shell of the dockmaster’s house. From now on their lives would be quite different and undoubtedly much harder.
With the bulging pillowcase tucked beneath her arm, Lily left the home of her childhood and turned the key in the lock.
She arrived outside the tobacconist’s shop to find Matt, Mark and Mr Sadler unloading crates, cardboard boxes and the parts of Grandpa’s dismantled iron bedstead from the wagon. There was no sign of Nell, Grandpa or Aggie.
Matt thrust one of the smaller boxes into her hands. ‘Where’ve you been, Lil? We need all the help we can get.’
She opened her mouth to explain but Mr Sadler took the box from her, frowning at Matt. ‘That’s too heavy for a girl. Allow me, Miss Larkin.’ He balanced the cardboard box on top of a crate containing crockery and hefted it into his arms. ‘Perhaps you would be kind enough to lead the way?’
‘Thank you,’ Lily said with a grateful smile. In his shirtsleeves, Mr Sadler looked much more approachable. She led him along the narrow passage to the door, which had been wedged open for easy access. They found Nell upstairs in the main living room on her hands and knees in front of the grate coaxing flames from damp kindling and small nuggets of coal, while Grandpa and Aggie sat like bookends on either side of the window that overlooked the street.
‘I’m not staying here,’ Grandpa muttered. ‘This is no place for a family like ours. We’re used to better things.’
‘Whose fault is it that we’re in this pickle?’ Aggie demanded. ‘As I see it, old man, it was you who threw the letters from the dock company into the fire. Shame on you.’
‘Don’t speak to me like that, you old besom. You’re forgetting your place, missis.’
‘It’s miss as you well know, and if I’m a servant I should expect to receive a wage for my labours. You haven’t paid me anything for five years.’
‘You get your bed and board, don’t you? You have clothes on your back and shoes on your feet. You’d be out begging on the streets if we didn’t look after you.’
Aggie thrust her chin out like an angry bulldog. ‘Look after me? I’ll have you know, old man, that I could get a position anywhere. There are folk crying out for a good cook-general.’
‘Well, they wouldn’t get one with you. Your pastry is like lead and your stews taste like dishwater.’
Nell sprang to her feet. ‘Stop it, both of you. I won’t stand for this childish behaviour. You’re both old enough to know better.’
‘Ahem.’ Mr Sadler cleared his throat. ‘Where would you like me to put these things, Miss Larkin?’
Nell spun round and her cheeks reddened with a blush. ‘Oh, Mr Sadler, I didn’t see you standing there, and you really shouldn’t be carrying that heavy crate. My brothers ought to be doing the heavy work.’
He set his load down on the floor. ‘It’s nothing, Miss Larkin. I’m only too glad to be of assistance.’
Nell brushed a strand of hair back from her forehead, leaving a streak of soot on her pale skin. ‘I’d offer you a cup of tea, but I’m afraid it will be some time before the kettle boils.’
He regarded her with a solemn expression. ‘If I might make a suggestion, Miss Larkin?’
‘Please do, Mr Sadler.’
‘I’m not normally a drinking man, but perhaps a jug of hot buttered rum might help to alleviate the winter chills.’ He turned to Grandpa Larkin. ‘What do you say, sir?’
Grandpa sat upright in his chair, his eyes suddenly alert. ‘That’s the first sensible suggestion anyone has made today. I’d be obliged to you, sir.’
‘And some bread and cheese would go down nicely,’ Aggie added hopefully. ‘Or a murphy oozing with butter.’
A slow smile lit Mr Sadler’s grey eyes. ‘I’ll see what I can do. Perhaps Miss Lily would care to come with me and help to carry the comestibles?’
‘I don’t want to put you to any trouble on our account, Mr Sadler,’ Nell said, frowning. ‘I’m sure you’ve done quite enough for us already.’
‘It would be a privilege to help, Miss Larkin.’ Mr Sadler moved to the door, beckoning to Lily. ‘A basket would be useful if we are to transport hot potatoes from the stall at the corner of School Lane.’
Lily snatched up an empty wicker basket and followed him from the room. ‘This is very good of you.’
He descended the staircase, flattening himself against the wall as Luke staggered past carrying part of the bedstead. When they reached the alleyway, Mr Sadler paused, turning a serious face to Lily. ‘I have great respect for your sister. She is a fine woman and it grieves me to see her in such reduced circumstances. I’m more than happy to do this small service for her family.’
There was no mistaking the sincerity in his voice and Lily realised with something of a shock that Mr Sadler, who until today had been a faceless person known to the family by name only, was head over heels in love with her sister. She found herself looking at him with new eyes, and her heart went out to him. He was undoubtedly a fine man, and now she looked at him more closely she could see that he was good-looking in an unobtrusive sort of way, but he was on the wrong side of thirty which in Lily’s opinion was verging on middle age. What chance did a schoolmaster have against a dashing fellow like Armand? Clutching her basket, she followed him along Cock Hill to the street corner where a man was selling baked potatoes. The acrid smell of the coke brazier mingled with the delicious aroma of hot potato and melted butter. Lily’s stomach rumbled in anticipation of tasty food. Retracing their steps, they called in at a public house where Mr Sadler purchased a jug of hot buttered rum. It was only a short distance then to the fire station, where two of the men from the day watch were busy polishing the brass on the steam-fired engine,
and a third was checking the hosepipe. They waved to Lily and the most junior fireman sniffed the air, laughingly demanding a taste of the brew. Lily blew him a kiss and was immediately scolded by Matt, who had come to collect the last few items from the wagon.
‘Behave yourself, Lil,’ he said sternly. ‘There’s to be no flirting with the men. It’s bad for discipline.’
‘Don’t be too hard on her,’ Mr Sadler said gently. ‘She’s very young.’
Matt eyed him coldly. ‘When I want advice on how to treat my sisters, I’ll ask for it, schoolmaster.’
‘Matt,’ Lily said, shocked by his unfriendly tone. ‘Mr Sadler has been very kind, and generous too.’
Matt had the grace to look slightly abashed. ‘I’m sorry, mate. It’s not a good day for being sociable.’
‘I understand,’ Mr Sadler said gravely. ‘If there is anything I can do …?’
‘You can take the toddy upstairs before it gets cold.’ Matt’s features relaxed into a shadow of a smile. ‘I’ll be up for my share in a moment.’
‘It’s probably been harder on Matt than any of us,’ Lily said when they were out of earshot. ‘He’s taken responsibility for all of us since our father died.’ She opened the door to their stairway, standing back to allow Mr Sadler to enter.
He paused on the threshold. ‘I think I can understand how your brother must be feeling. The burden of responsibility must fall on his shoulders, but even so he is most fortunate to have a large family.’
Lily was intrigued. ‘You sound almost envious.’
‘Perhaps I am. I was the only child of older parents who died before I reached my majority. So you see, I am quite alone in the world and even if times are hard for you at the moment, at least you have each other. That is worth a king’s ransom, Miss Lily.’
‘You’re right,’ Lily said slowly. ‘I hadn’t really given it much thought before. Sometimes we squabble amongst ourselves, but I love my family even when they are being horrible.’
He smiled. ‘We’d best get this food and drink to them before it gets cold, and maybe I could call again sometime. Do you think your sister would be agreeable to that?’
She thought of Armand and Nell together. She might wish it to be different, but she suspected that when Nell gave her heart it was forever. ‘I’m sure she could have no possible objection,’ Lily said tactfully.
‘You said what?’ Nell demanded.
Lily avoided meeting her angry gaze by tucking the sheet beneath the mattress on one of the four beds that had been set up in the back room. ‘I don’t know,’ Lily muttered. ‘What was I supposed to say when he’d been so kind to us?’
Nell yanked at the sheet from her side of the bed. ‘I have a great deal of respect for Mr Sadler, but I don’t want to give him the wrong impression.’
‘I think he’s lonely, Nell.’
‘If he is then I’m very sorry, but I want to keep our relationship on a strictly professional basis.’ Nell picked up a folded blanket and laid it across the bed. ‘Don’t stand there gawping at me, Lily. We’ve got three more beds to make up in here and three more in the living room.’
‘He obviously likes you or he wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble and expense today.’
‘I can’t help that. I’ve never given him any encouragement, and I really don’t want to have him call here. This is hardly the place to entertain guests of any sort, let alone a fastidious man like Mr Sadler.’
A sound from the doorway made them both turn their heads to look at Molly, who had just arrived home from work.
‘This is worse than I thought,’ she cried, tearing off her bonnet with a dramatic gesture of despair. ‘We can’t live here, Nell. It’s just awful.’
‘Keep your voice down,’ Nell said sharply. ‘Don’t set Grandpa and Aggie off again.’
‘They’re sound asleep in their chairs,’ Molly retorted crossly. ‘I don’t know how they can do it, but they look peaceful enough.’
‘They’ve done nothing but moan ever since they arrived here,’ Lily said with feeling. ‘It is hateful, Moll, but there’s nothing we can do about it.’
Molly tossed her head. ‘I suppose our wonderful brothers are living like lords in the fire station while we’re stuck here.’
‘That’s not fair and you know it,’ Nell said sharply. ‘They’re doing the night watch and they’re no better off next door than we are.’
‘Well, I’m not sharing my bed with her,’ Molly said, jerking her head in Lily’s direction. ‘I’m a working girl and I need a good night’s sleep. I won’t have her smelly feet on the pillow next to my face.’
Nell sighed, shaking her head. ‘We’ve just got to put up with it, like it or not.’
‘Well I don’t like it and I’ll not put up with it,’ Molly cried passionately. ‘You two make me sick. Where’s your fighting spirit?’ She flounced out of the room.
‘She’ll come round,’ Lily said hastily, sensing that Nell was close to tears. ‘I expect she’ll see things in a different light when she’s had some supper.’
Nell sniffed, and putting her hand in the pocket of her skirt she took out a shilling. ‘Matt gave me some money to buy food. Take this and go to the grocer’s shop on the corner, Lily. We need bread and milk for breakfast. Perhaps things won’t seem so bad when we’ve had a good night’s sleep.’
Lily slept in Aggie’s chair by the window. Molly had kicked up such a fuss about sharing her bed that it seemed the easiest solution. They had managed to get Grandpa into bed in the back room. He had gone reasonably quietly and Lily could only guess that he was worn out by the events of the day. Then they had had to deal with Aggie, who was desperate for the privy in the back yard but refused to go on her own. In the end they all went, with Nell leading the way holding the lantern and the others clutching hands as they followed her down the stairs and out into the dark passageway. The privy was close to the stables and the horses whinnied and neighed as if calling out to them, perhaps hoping for a piece of cabbage stalk or a juicy carrot. Matt always said that the horses were fed and housed better than the firemen, and as she waited in the frosty yard for her turn in the evil-smelling privy Lily had to agree with him. After a cat’s-lick of a wash at the outside pump, they scuttled back indoors as fast as they could when hampered by Aggie’s rheumatics.
Now her sisters and Aggie were sound asleep and Lily tried in vain to make herself comfortable in the wooden rocking chair. There were no curtains at the window and she huddled beneath a blanket, looking down at the street. The frosty cobblestones glittered and sparkled in the yellow glow of the gaslights, and a hunter’s moon hung like a silver shilling in the black velvet sky. Pinpricks of stars twinkled diamond-bright above the chimney tops and the roof tiles on the buildings opposite glistened with what Lily fondly imagined was stardust. Her artist’s eye took in the scene and she felt her spirit soaring despite the discomfort of her situation. It was a harsh world down below on the pavements of Shadwell and Limehouse. She could see bare legs protruding from shop doorways, and hunched figures poorly clad against the cold making their way to destinations unknown. Maybe they had nowhere safe and warm to spend the bitter winter night, or perhaps they were returning to hovels with twenty or more people to one small room. Lily pulled the blanket up to her chin and tried to be grateful for what they had. Mr Sadler’s words echoed in her brain as sleep claimed her. ‘At least you have each other. That is worth a king’s ransom.’
She was awakened suddenly by the most horrendous noise. There was much shouting, cries of distress, the urgent clanging of a bell, and all this followed by the thunder of horse’s hooves and the rumble of cartwheels. Almost falling from her chair, Lily peered out of the window to see her brothers clinging to the fire engine as it was driven at speed along the street towards the docks. Her heart was beating so fast it made her breathless but there was no sound from her sisters or Aggie other than the occasional soft snore. She wondered how they could sleep through such a din, but none of them stirred.
Lily settled back in the chair and dozed fitfully until just before dawn, when the clatter of the lamplighter’s boots on the cobblestones below awakened her with a start. This time she could not go back to sleep and she rose from her chair to light the fire. By the time Nell and Molly awakened, Lily had the kettle dangling on the hook over the flames and was sitting cross-legged on the floor clutching a toasting fork with a slice of bread impaled on its prongs.
After breakfasting on tea and toast scraped with a little butter, Nell and Molly went off to work just as Matt, Mark and Luke returned from night duty. The stench of soot and burning clung to them even though they had washed the worst of it off at the fire station. They went straight to their beds, too exhausted to speak, and Grandpa shuffled into the front room announcing that he had barely slept a wink. This was countered by Aggie who could always beat him in a verbal battle. Having given them tea and toast for their breakfast, Lily made her escape.
Wrapping her shawl around her head and shoulders she left the building with her shopping basket over her arm. Ostensibly she was on her way to market, but hidden in the bottom of the basket she had her sketching materials. There was little for her to do in the two rooms. Aggie had made it clear that she intended to claim them as her own domain; even without a kitchen range she decided that she would be able to make soup or boil meat in a pot over the fire. She insisted that she was perfectly capable of looking after Grandpa Larkin; and she would take pleasure in organising his daily routine. Lily had not stopped to find out what Grandpa thought of this plan. She was determined to take some time for herself and do what she wanted for a change. The move might have its compensations after all. There was no longer a large and dusty old house to keep clean, and for the first time in years Lily was liberated from the daily grind of housework. She intended to make the most of it.
