Bonds of Earth, The

by Thompson, E. V.

  ‘And what had they been doing?’

  ‘There were two beds, one on the floor and the other on a sort of a shelf, further along the tunnel. They’d been sleeping in there.’

  ‘Would you go down there again now, to see if anyone’s in there?’

  ‘Not if Arthur Harrup’s likely to be there.’

  ‘He’s not; we’ve just been talking to him in Newgate. It was him who told us about the place and wanted us to speak to his sister. One of us would go in but we’re too big to pass through the entrance.’

  When the urchin still appeared doubtful, Father Michael said, ‘If you went in there for us I’d give you sixpence.’

  ‘I’ll do it for a shilling,’ came the prompt reply.

  ‘A shilling if you find Sally Harrup in there, sixpence if you don’t.’

  ‘All right, but I’ll need to take a candle down there and that’ll cost another ha’penny.’

  Clutching the halfpenny the boy ran off but less than a minute later reappeared with the stub of a candle and a small pack of lucifers which he claimed had now raised the expenses to a full penny. Nessa produced the additional halfpenny and, pocketing money, candle and Lucifers, the boy squeezed his way inside the hole and disappeared from view.

  Making her way gingerly over the rubble, Nessa crouched down beside the opening to await results and it was not long before she glimpsed a faint lightening of the shadows from inside the hole, indicating that the boy had reached the tunnel and put a light to the candle.

  Soon afterwards she thought she could hear the sound of voices in the tunnel and this was confirmed when the candlelight became brighter and the unseen boy called, ‘There is a girl in here, so I’m coming out for my shilling.’

  ‘No you’re not,’ Nessa retorted, firmly. ‘I want to talk to her so you’ll stay in there until I tell you to come out.’

  Cutting across the ensuing protest, Nessa said, ‘Tell her Miss Pyne is here and wants to speak to her.’

  Grumbling, the boy and his lighted candle withdrew into the tunnel, only to return a couple of minutes later to declare, ‘She says she doesn’t want to talk to you and you’re to go away.’

  ‘Go back and tell her I’ve just come from talking to Arthur and I’ve a message from him.’

  Grumbling, the boy said, ‘You’re getting more than a bob’s worth from me now – and if I stay down here much longer this candle’s going to burn out.’

  ‘You’ll stay until I say you can come out – but once I’ve got Sally up here with me I’ll give you two shillings.’

  The candlelight retreated once more, for longer this time, then the unseen boy called, ‘She says she don’t believe you.’

  ‘Remind her that I’ve never ever lied to her – and Father Michael was with me when I spoke to Arthur. What’s more, I’ve promised Arthur I’ll take her to see him, but that’s not going to happen if she doesn’t come out.’

  The candlelight went away for longer this time. When it reappeared, it suddenly went out and a head appeared in the hole. It was not the boy, but Sally.

  Nessa reached down to help her, but Father Michael was there before her and lifted Sally clear of the hole. She was quickly followed by the boy who immediately demanded his reward.

  Given the promised two shillings by Father Michael, the boy was gone before Nessa had time to thank him and ask his name.

  ‘Have you really spoken to Arthur, or was it just a trick to get me to come out?’ Sally looked desperately tired and unhappy and dirt-free streaks down her cheeks were evidence she had been crying a great deal.

  ‘I really have spoken to him and it was Arthur who told Father Michael and me where to find you. He’ll be coming before the judge in ten days’ time and Father Michael is going to court to speak for him. You and I will be there too and I’ve promised Arthur I’ll take you to speak to him afterwards.’

  ‘Will they let him come back to the Old Nichol then?’

  ‘I don’t think so, Sally, but we’ll go back to school now to get you cleaned up and have a chat about what we’re going to do next.’

  It was a very unhappy Sally who went with them, leaving the odd-job man behind with a small amount of money with which to pay some of the urchins to effectively block-up the entrance to the underground hideaway.

  Chapter 41

  WHEN THEY REACHED the ragged school Sally enjoyed the first meal she had eaten for a couple of days while Nessa and Father Michael discussed what could be done with her.

  ‘It isn’t only Arthur who is going to suffer for his transgressions,’ Father Michael pointed out. ‘He has left his sister totally bewildered and vulnerable, I am at a loss about what might be done for her.’

  His words helped Nessa make up her mind about an idea she had been toying with since the drama began. ‘She’ll come back to Kensington with me after school each day.’

  It was a solution that had never occurred to Father Michael. Had it done so he would most certainly have dismissed it out of hand immediately. His expression registering disbelief, he said, ‘Take her to Kensington? What are you thinking about, Nessa? Your uncle would not have her inside his house.’

  ‘Not the way she is at the moment,’ Nessa agreed, ‘but scrubbed and deloused, with respectable clothes, she could be made to look quite pretty.’

  ‘I suppose she might be made to look pretty,’ Father Michael conceded, ‘but she would only need to open her mouth to dispel any illusion of respectability – and there are a great many items of value in your uncle’s home which would provide a great temptation to an urchin to whom honesty is an incomprehensible concept. Then there are such things as table manners and the social graces we take for granted.’

  ‘There will be problems, I fully accept that, but Sally is, without doubt, the most intelligent girl I have come across since I first began teaching at the school. If I discuss the problems with Sally beforehand I’m convinced she’ll face up to them and succeed in overcoming them, but a lot will depend on what happens to her brother and whether we are able to speak to him before he’s sent off somewhere to serve whatever sentence he’s given. Arthur has always intended that Sally would one day escape from the Old Nichol. If he realizes the chance is there he’ll persuade her to take it.’

  ‘I think you are over-simplifying the problem, Nessa, but if you are willing to try to make it work then you have my full support.’

  ‘Thank you, I fear I am going to need it.’

  Sally’s initial reaction was to oppose the idea – especially the bath and de-lousing – but Nessa convinced her with the argument that having a well turned-out sister in the courtroom to show support for her brother would impress a judge and jury far more than if she were to appear in her present state. It would also make the court authorities more inclined to allow her to visit Arthur after the court proceedings. Then, if he was given a gaol sentence, as was most likely, he would go away with the assurance that the sister he adored and had always protected, was being well cared for.

  Nevertheless, it was with considerable trepidation that Nessa returned to the large house and school in Kensington accompanied by Sally, even though the clean, respectably dressed and pretty girl was unrecognizable as the young urchin who had been coaxed from a hole in the ground only that morning. Nessa was aware that if anything happened to upset Sally it was likely to provoke a stream of invective capable of shocking even the most broad-minded listener.

  She had underestimated the acumen of her young ward. Sally had realized from her first day at the ragged school that her mode of speech was very different from that used by Nessa, Father Michael and the volunteer teachers. In private she had practised speaking in a similar manner allowing no one, not even Arthur to hear her.

  She would never be able to pass herself off as anyone other than a Londoner but she would not immediately be identified as coming from the Old Nichol – unless someone provoked her!

  Nessa was delighted when Sally practised her new skills upon meeting Cedric Couch and
his wife Joan for the first time. She was also silently amused to recognize that there was a hint of Cornishness in Sally’s assumed manner of speech.

  Taking Nessa aside while his wife took Sally on a tour of the house’s extensive gardens, Cedric Couch was dubious about having the young Old Nichol girl living in the house, especially when Nessa explained why she had brought Sally to his house.

  ‘It is too much to expect a girl of her type to be suddenly thrust into such surroundings and settle down comfortably,’ he said, ‘quite apart from the fact that we have a great many possessions of considerable value in the house. The temptation to steal might well prove too strong for a girl who has been brought up to believe that honesty is a weakness and not a virtue.’

  ‘I am not suggesting it’s going to be easy,’ Nessa admitted, ‘even though I believe Sally will readily accept that she must not steal from those who are helping her and her brother. Those who live in the Old Nichol have a very strong code of behaviour when it concerns those with whom they share their surroundings. Sally is a quite exceptional girl, Uncle, but the world she knew fell to pieces when her brother was arrested. I could not simply abandon her.’

  ‘I realize you are very fond of the child, Nessa; Father Michael commented upon it when he and I last spoke, but how long do you think of having Sally here in the house – and what of her future?’

  ‘I really don’t know,’ Nessa confessed, ‘but can she stay here – for a while, at least? Please?’

  Cedric Couch was not at all convinced that having Sally living in his house was feasible, but he and his wife were childless and when Joan declared she found the young urchin ‘utterly charming’ and would be delighted to help Nessa teach Sally all she needed to know about the world beyond the Old Nichol, the Kensington teacher conceded there was no way he could win the day.

  He agreed that Sally could remain in the house for an unspecified trial period, during which time she would share a room with Nessa, who would be held responsible for her behaviour for as long as she lived with them. The young orphan would accompany Nessa to the ragged school each day and receive extra lessons in deportment each evening, in order to complete the transition from urchin to respectability.

  Chapter 42

  THE OUTCOME OF Arthur’s trial was never in doubt. The barrister engaged by a sympathetic Father Michael pointed out the strength of the prosecution’s case and was able to persuade the young felon to plead guilty, in order that the judge might take his pleas into consideration when assessing the inconvenience he had caused, in addition to the offence for which he had been apprehended.

  Sally, Nessa and Father Michael were in court for the hearing, the Old Nichol priest giving evidence on Arthur’s behalf, pleading that in spite of Arthur’s admitted previous minor convictions he was capable of redemption, pointing to Sally as an example of his sense of responsibility and declaring he needed only to be given the right guidance in order to bring this to the fore.

  Judge Coltman appeared bored during Father Michael’s impassioned plea on behalf of Arthur. Nevertheless, when the Old Nichol priest stepped down from the witness box, the judge, addressing Arthur, said, ‘Arthur Harrup, you have pleaded guilty to the charge of feloniously breaking into a shop and carrying away goods from within, a crime for which only a few years ago you would have forfeited your life. Times have changed but, unfortunately, the habits of criminals like you have not. It had been my intention to sentence you to be transported for the duration of your life. However, I have listened to what Reverend Jaye has had to say about you and have taken notice of the commendable demeanour of the young sister you have seemingly cared for in the absence of either father, mother or home….’

  He paused to shuffle the papers in front of him and Sally whispered excitedly to Nessa, ‘Is he going to set Arthur free…?’

  Before Nessa could reply the judge began speaking again.

  ‘… Rightly or wrongly I have decided to be merciful in the hope that when you have paid the penalty for your crime you will find redemption. I sentence you to be transported for a period of fourteen years…. The next case, if you please.’

  So stunned was Sally that she did not fully realize Arthur’s trial was over until he was ushered down the steps behind the dock by a policeman. Dismayed, she asked, ‘Where are they taking him…? You said I’d be able to speak to him!’

  ‘You will be,’ Father Michael said quickly. ‘We’ll go out of the courtroom and down to the cells.’ The severity of the sentence, at odds with the judge’s declaration that he was being ‘merciful’ had taken him by surprise, too. He had accepted before the trial that Arthur might have been sentenced to a year, or even two, serving the sentence in a London prison where Sally would be able to visit him, but fourteen years’ transportation…! Few convicts returned from the colonies at the end of their sentences and in fourteen years time Arthur would be a very different person – and so, too, would Sally.

  The Old Nichol priest had made arrangements with the court officials for a post-sentencing visit to Arthur and no problems were put in their way. However, the visit took place with Arthur being in the court’s prisoners’ cage and the visitors being outside.

  Sally was in tears and, in spite of his attempt at bravado, Arthur came very close to breaking down, but he said, ‘Don’t you fret about me, Sal, I’m able to look after myself, you know that – it’s you I’m worried about, although you are looking really well all dressed up like you are. I’m glad.’

  ‘Nessa … Miss Pyne is looking after me and has taken me home to live with her and some of her family on the other side of London. I wish you could see the house, Arthur, it must be nearly as big as the queen’s new palace!’

  Neither Arthur nor Sally had ever seen the as yet incomplete Buckingham Palace, but those who had declared it to have more windows than the whole of the Old Nichol – with glass in every one!

  The knowledge that he was never likely to see either Buckingham Palace, or even the Old Nichol again left Arthur lost for words for some moments and Sally said unhappily, ‘Will you try to get someone to write to me when you get to where you’re going, Arthur? I’ll be able to read it now, after being at Father Michael’s school.’

  ‘Of course I will, but I don’t suppose I’ll get where I’m going for a long time … it’ll be a year, or even longer. They’ll put me on a hulk first, until there’s a ship to take me there, so don’t expect to hear from me for a long while.’

  ‘Where is it the judge has sent you to, Arthur?’

  ‘I dunno, some says one place, others somewhere else, but it don’t really matter very much, I’ll get by, wherever it is.’

  Sally was becoming increasingly upset and, cutting in on their conversation, Father Michael said to her, ‘I spoke to the chief warden before we came down to the cells and he told me Arthur will be going to the prison hulk Warrior, moored at Woolwich while he’s awaiting transportation to Van Diemen’s Land, and he doesn’t think Arthur will leave for at least a year. He also said that if Arthur behaves himself while he’s on the hulk he’ll be allowed a visit every three months, so it seems you haven’t seen the last of each other. You’ll be able to meet again and tell him how you’re getting on.’

  It was less than Sally had been anticipating before the trial, but it was better than nothing at all and Nessa returned to Kensington that afternoon with a less unhappy Sally than she had expected to be dealing with. The thought that she would be able to see her brother again in the foreseeable future boosted Sally’s morale – albeit only briefly.

  Chapter 43

  DESPITE ALL THE hopes entertained by Sally after her brother’s trial, she was destined never to see him again. Three months after Arthur’s trial when she pressed Nessa to arrange for her to visit him on the Warrior, Nessa asked Father Michael to make the necessary arrangements.

  The Old Nichol priest submitted a written request for the visit to the authorities on the prison hulk, but one morning when Nessa arrived at the ragged school wi
th Sally to begin the day’s lessons, she was greeted by a visibly shaken Father Michael.

  Fearing something serious had occurred at the school in her absence, Nessa asked him what was the matter, but instead of giving her an immediate reply, he spoke to the young girl with her.

  ‘Sally, run along and get ready for your lessons, I would like to speak privately with Miss Pyne for a few minutes.’

  When Sally had gone to her classroom, Nessa asked, ‘Is something wrong, Michael … what is it?’

  ‘Come along to my office, Nessa. Something absolutely dreadful has happened. I just don’t know what we are going to do about it….’

  In a moment of sudden unwanted perception, Nessa asked, ‘Is it do with Arthur? Is that why you sent Sally away? Is he being sent to Van Diemen’s Land sooner than was expected?’

  ‘It’s worse than that, Nessa, far worse. I had a letter this morning from the governor of the Warrior in response to my request for a visit to Arthur. There has been a serious outbreak of typhus on board and thirty convicts died. Arthur was one of them.’

  ‘When did this happen, and why did no one tell us?’ Nessa was horrified.

  ‘Arthur died almost a month ago, but the governor said that although he had Sally’s name as next-of-kin he had no address for her, so Arthur was buried with many of the others, on the mud flats at Woolwich.’

  ‘This is absolutely dreadful! Sally is so excited at the thought of seeing Arthur again.’ Fighting back her tears, Nessa added, ‘ I don’t know how I can break the news to her, she’ll be so upset….’

  ‘We’ll tell her together. I’ll get someone to take your class….’

  ‘No!’ Nessa spoke positively. ‘I’d rather tell her on my own, Michael. Perhaps you could take my class and send Sally in here so I can tell her in private.’

  ‘Are you quite certain that’s the way you want to do it, Nessa?’