by Gracie Hart
‘Now, don’t go spoiling it. My belly’s full, I feel content and I’m to meet him again next Friday.’ Mary-Anne lifted the coal bucket up from out of the hearth and heaped a few more lumps onto the fire before slumping in the chair across from Ma Fletcher. She yawned and pushed her shoes off. ‘I’m knackered, I could do with a nap.’
‘This is only your first meeting with him, lass, what are you going to do a few months in? Where are you meeting him next Friday? Because don’t have so much to drink next time. By the looks of those flushed cheeks, he’s plied you with enough wine to get exactly what he wants already.’ Ma Fletcher pulled her shawl around herself and pulled a face at Mary-Anne as she closed her eyes.
‘Hold your tongue. He got up to nothing, but I was sorely tempted. He’s quite handsome is our William.’ Mary-Anne closed her eyes and smiled, thinking of the good-looking man whose company she had greatly enjoyed.
Ma Fletcher wagged her finger at Mary-Anne. ‘Now, don’t you be forgetting that he’s almost as much of a bastard as his father.’
Mary-Anne just kept her eyes closed and nodded her head. He might be a bastard and a rogue but she was going to enjoy herself with him.
Chapter 21
A crowd was gathered at the bottom of Hyde Park Lane. Ordinary working-class men and women were listening to those with something to say about the state of the nation and local affairs. Mary-Anne stood at the garden gate and listened as the crowd yelled their agreement with the speaker or booed when they did not agree with what was being said. She pulled her shawl around her shoulders and set off down the street in the hope of talking to Tom Thackeray. She’d left Ma Fletcher asleep in front of the fire and a stew was simmering nicely on the fireside, ready for dinner on her return. She followed the cobbled street. As Tom stepped up onto an upturned wooden crate to give his talk about pit safety, the onlookers clapped. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd and looked at the man her sister should have married. Although years older, Tom had not changed a great deal. He cleared his throat and started to speak.
‘Thank you, thank you, good people.’ Tom looked at the crowd. The woman who’d made her way to the front of the looked vaguely familiar, and then he realised who it was. Mary-Anne Wild, back from America. How long had she been back in the country and why was she there listening to him?
Tom concentrated on the matter at hand. ‘This morning, people, I was going to talk about the safety of our mines and the lack of care given to us mine workers by pit owners. However, firstly I need to tell you of the latest grave news.’ Tom heard a mumbling in the crowd. Those who already knew what had happened in the Black Mine in Lancashire were telling others the news. ‘Fifty-four men and boys have perished in the Astley Deep Pit over these last few days. This, my friends, is due to the mine owner’s love of money over human lives.’ Tom saw the anguish on the crowd’s faces. ‘A roof collapsed seventy feet below ground and released a large amount of firedamp. Because the owners would not invest in Davy safety lamps, a lot of the miners down at the face were wearing open lanterns with candles lit for light.’ Tom looked down at his feet for a few moments before looking back up at his audience. ‘I don’t have to say much more, you can guess the rest. That the natural gas in the firedamp exploded when it reached the lit candles. The explosion and fire raged through the pit, making further shafts collapse and taking the fifty-four poor souls to their death. The fire is still raging and many more men have been injured. You can understand the hurt and pain that is going through the community of Astley, but the trouble is any pit could have a disaster like this. The pit owners must be made responsible for their miners’ safety and stop thinking solely of their own pockets! Much like local pit owner Edmund Ellershaw at the Rose. I lost my position there because he wouldn’t listen to my concerns about his penny-pinching. Then, when an accident happened because of inadequate spending on pit props, he told me it was all my fault. He had not one care for his workers, he just wanted to save his own skin from any retribution there might have been from an inquiry, so I got the blame. We can’t let this continue. It is your husbands, sons – aye, and in some cases your daughters – who are dying for the lack of basic safety.’
The crowd were all nodding their heads in agreement and clapped him loudly as he continued his litany of crimes of the local mine owners, especially those of Edmund Ellershaw, finally finishing with a minute’s silence for the lost souls of the Astley Pit before he stood down off his crate.
Tom shook the hands of those who had agreed with him and gave comfort to those who were moved by the deaths. Mary-Anne made her way towards him.
‘Hello, Tom Thackeray, it’s been a long time. You spoke well, the people listened to you, and know what you say is right.’ Mary-Anne smiled as he shook her hand.
‘Thank you. It’s been years, Mary-Anne. Now, what brings you back to Leeds? I thought America was your home now.’ Tom remembered the hours spent in the parlow of Pit Lane when he had lost his heart to her sister.
‘My daughter, Victoria, among other things. Eliza, bless her, has been like a mother to her, but now it is time to rectify things.’ Mary-Anne looked at the surprise and hurt on Tom’s face.
‘She is yours, then. I didn’t believe her when she begged me to believe that she hadn’t been unfaithful. I didn’t even believe old Bill Parker when he told me the baby wasn’t hers, thinking she was lying to them as well. When I told my mother that Eliza had lifted her skirts to someone else, she was delighted, and she took the opportunity to pour more of her poison in my ear.’ Tom bowed his head, thinking of all the years that he had loved Eliza. He’d never been able to love anybody else. The hurt he had felt had been unbearable.
‘Yes, Victoria is mine, born in disgrace. She, until recently, was ignorant of who her father was. Now, I’ve returned to secure her something of what should rightly be hers.’
Tom looked puzzled. ‘I knew she wasn’t John Vasey’s, else you wouldn’t have left her behind. Go on, tell me what I think I’ve known for a few years now. I’ve had my suspicions as to what was happening at the Rose.’ Tom took Mary-Anne by the arm, guiding her away from the crowd to a quiet place along Hyde Lane.
‘Yes, we have a lot in common, Tom. Edmund Ellershaw ruined your prospects just as he ruined mine. He took advantage of me when we could not pay the rent. I’m ashamed to admit that I lowered myself to let him bed me so that we could keep a roof over our heads. He’s a bastard. He would bleed his own mother dry.’ Mary-Anne held back the tears as she confessed her past to him.
‘Mary-Anne, I should have realised sooner … there were rumours that he had that arrangement with quite a few of his worker’s wives. I used to wonder why the women of the family were coming to pay the rent. I was innocent back then, not realising what sort of man I worked for. You must have gone through hell.’ Tom put a comforting arm around Mary-Anne. ‘Now, where is John? Are you living back here? I’d like to catch up with you both.’
‘Oh, Tom, I left him back in New York, only for him to follow me here. I couldn’t live with him any longer but, unfortunately, he couldn’t live without me. After I refused to return to America with him he was found drowned in the cut. I have caused so much hurt to so many people, including yourself. If it hadn’t been for me you would be happily married to Eliza, in a house of your own and with your own children.’
‘Nay, it wasn’t just you. My mother would never have agreed to our marriage and I was stupid enough to listen to her poison more than my heart. I’m sorry to hear about John, he was a good man.’ Tom sighed. ‘Is Eliza all right? I see she’s doing well for herself.’
‘She is. She always did have the better business head on her. She misses you though, I know she does. Even after all these years. You know she’s never married? She often told me in her letters how much she loved you and missed you and I believe she still does.’ Mary-Anne noticed a spark light up in Tom’s eyes.
‘She does? I thought I’d be long forgotten. Especially now when she’s doing so w
ell for herself.’
‘Get yourself along to see her, she’d be so happy to see you. I will give you her new address. I still think she loves you deeply, it would be a shame for you to miss out again.’ Mary-Anne linked her arm in Tom’s as she started walking towards her home. ‘I’m living with Ma Fletcher, just here. We are plotting Edmund Ellershaw’s downfall between us. She hates him just as much as we do.’
‘Ma Fletcher lives here in this grand house? Bloody hell, she must be worth a bob or two!’ Tom whistled as he looked at the double-fronted house.
Mary-Anne grinned. ‘She is, but she’s not well and she’s a nightmare to live with.’
‘I can imagine. She always was an awkward old bag when she stood in the market. Do you really think Eliza would accept a visit from me?’
Tom let go of Mary-Anne’s arm as she opened the garden gate to go back into Ma Fletcher.
‘I sure she will, Tom Thackeray. It is time two broken hearts were mended.’ She kissed the man that she had wronged on the cheek. ‘It would make me very happy.’
‘Then I will pluck up courage and visit her and beg forgiveness.’
‘Good, make sure you do.’ After giving Tom Eliza’s address, Mary-Anne left him standing at the gate. She hoped that Eliza was going to get her true love back into her life.
‘Victoria, have you seen the other of these invitations for the Guild Ball? I seem to have mislaid one.’ Eliza picked up the solitary invitation and hunted through the pile of correspondence that was on her desk.
‘No, I’m sure I put both back together after I had shown my mother them. But I can’t say for certain as I thought nothing about it when I replaced them back in the desk after leaving them on the fireplace.’ Victoria looked worried. ‘Have we lost one, does that mean I won’t be able to go?’
‘No, I’m sure I will be able to secure a replacement, but I just find it strange that I have one but not the other. Did you leave your mother alone with them?’
‘Only to get her a drink of water. She had a cough.’ Victoria raised her head from her book and looked across at her aunt hunting through her desk.
Eliza knew exactly where the invitation had gone to but didn’t want to admit it to Victoria. The discovery of who her father was – and how she had been told – had hurt her enough.
‘Blind me! Look here it is, it was hiding under this pile of correspondence. Thank heavens for that.’ Eliza quickly put the desk lid down. ‘Shall we go and visit your mother? It’s a lovely spring day and I’ve not been to see where she lives yet.’
‘But it’s Sunday, mother, and I am reading my book. George recommended The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to me. I can’t believe that he has read it. The content is so romantic.’ Victoria didn’t really want to visit her mother. She was felt vulnerable and hurt after the admission of who her father was. She had found it particularly hard when George had asked her to join him for tea at Highfield House and she had made an excuse, frightened that she might give herself away.
‘You can read that anytime. Come, we will get a Hackney cab from Aire Street. A good horse will have us there by two and we will return for supper.’ Eliza took the book out of Victoria’s hands. ‘Stir your stumps. It will do you good to get out of the house, you can’t hide away in here for the rest of your life. No one knows who your father is, and even if they did they wouldn’t give a damn.’ Eliza’s patience with her niece was running thin. Victoria’s long face and the surly mood were beginning to test her.
‘I don’t want to go and see her. I hate her! She is no better than a common whore!’ Victoria shouted. ‘How could she let Edmund Ellershaw do that to her and why didn’t she think about his family and wife? All she thinks about is herself.’ Victoria threw her book down into the chair across from her and crossed her arms like a petulant child.
‘Victoria, don’t you ever say that. She did what she thought was right, keeping both her and me out of the gutter. You seemed to accept that when we explained that to you the other day. What’s changed? Nothing. She loves you and has come back to be the mother that she has always wanted to be, given the chance. Now, put that petted lip away and get your shawl. The more that you see of your mother, the more you will get to know her.’
‘If I must go, I will. But I can’t guarantee that I will be civil. She doesn’t deserve it.’ Victoria stood up and made her way to the hallway.
Eliza picked up the discarded book and placed it on the small table. Ma Fletcher and her big mouth. Why couldn’t she have kept the secret to herself for just a little longer? She heard Victoria open the door and slam it behind her. Eliza sighed as she picked up her gloves and bonnet. How she wished that her parentage has remained a secret at least until her mother had won her love and respect. Now all her niece was feeling was resentment and shame and she was on the receiving end of Victoria’s frustration.
‘Who’s this knocking on our door now? I was just going to have a nap after my dinner.’ Ma Fletcher moaned as Mary-Anne pulled the net curtains back from the window to see who their visitors were.
‘It’s Eliza and Victoria, what a lovely surprise.’ Mary-Anne checked around the kitchen to make sure all was tidy and then went to the door with a wide smile on her face.
‘It’s lovely to see you both. Especially you, Victoria.’ Mary-Anne reached to kiss her daughter on the cheek but was ignored, as Victoria pushed past her.
Eliza shook her head as she kissed her sister on the cheek and removed her hat, passing it to Mary-Anne to hang up on the stand next to the door. ‘We thought as it is such a lovely day we would pay you a visit, didn’t we, Victoria?’
Victoria said nothing as she stood with her coat still on. She didn’t want to be there, with an old woman who had ruined her life and a mother that she had no respect for.
‘I tell you what, Victoria, while you have still got your coat on, would you like to go to the house we just passed at the corner of the street? The woman had her front door open and was selling baking of some kind. See if she has any of her bannocks for sale. I think I noticed some when we drove past in the cab. They will be a real treat for us with a drink of tea.’ Eliza felt in her bag for a few pence, placing them in Victoria’s hand, who said nothing as she made her way out of the kitchen, glad to get away from her mother and aunt and especially the old bag that had broken her heart.
‘Well, she’s not got much to say for herself!’ Ma Fletcher said.
‘What do you expect, when you opened your mouth and told her things we had protected her from for years?’ Eliza said curtly before sitting down across from the old woman who she hadn’t seen in years. ‘Now, while she’s not here. Did you pinch an invitation to the Guild Ball, our Mary-Anne? We seem to have it missing and I know it is a trick that you’d do, even if it would break your daughter’s heart again if she found out.’ Eliza looked blackly at her sister.
‘I don’t know what you are talking about. It’s nothing to do with me!’ Mary-Anne tried to show no sign of guilt.
‘Nay, lass, come on, be right with your own. Aye, she’s got your invitation, she’s going to use it to seduce William Ellershaw, but if you ask me she’ll not be needing it. He’s already smitten. He’ll invite her himself!’ Ma Fletcher grinned.
‘Ma, do you never know when to shut up!’ Mary-Anne growled.
‘You don’t lie nor pinch from your own. Now give it back to Eliza before you lose your sister’s respect and all.’ Ma Fletcher knew that the two sisters were strongest when they stood together united. ‘You’ve caught him already, you don’t need a fancy frock and the trappings to catch him, and he’s ruled by his dick, just like his father. That’s the Ellershaw family’s downfall, their love of women.’
‘What am I to do with you? I can’t tell you anything!’ Mary-Anne marched off to retrieve the ticket and hand it back to Eliza before Victoria returned.
‘Well, at least you are straight, even though you don’t realise the harm you’ve done to my family.’ Eliza stared at the old woman. They waited
in silence until Mary-Anne returned.
‘Thank you,’ Eliza said when Mary-Anne handed the invitation to her. ‘If you’d have asked, I’d have given you it, but as it is now, I’ll be able to take Victoria with me. Don’t even think of stealing from me and mine again, just ask if you need anything. Now, what’s this about you trapping William Ellershaw? Will it reflect badly on Victoria? Because I don’t know how much more of her sulking I can put up with. You’ve seen the state she’s in.’
‘We are to go to the theatre together this Friday, he’s playing right into my hands, Eliza. Don’t worry about Victoria, she will come round, I’ll make a fuss of her once she comes back in. William is nothing to do with her anyway.’ Mary-Anne reached for some cups and saucers and set them out on the kitchen table.
Ma Fletcher glanced across at Eliza. ‘She’s a lot harder than she used to be your sister, and she’s got her head set on what she wants, nowt’s going to stop her.’
‘I’ve gathered that.’ Eliza sighed and looked down at her gloves that she was still holding in her hands. ‘I sometimes wish she hadn’t turned up on my doorstep and that Victoria was still living in ignorant bliss.’
Mary-Anne stopped in her tracks. ‘Eliza, I love you and Victoria. What I’m doing is for us all. Don’t worry about Victoria. It’s been a shock to her but she had to know sometime.’ Mary-Anne finished laying the tea table and caught a glimpse of Victoria coming through the garden gate. ‘Shush now, she’s back.’
‘You can stop talking about me now.’ Victoria closed the door behind her and took off her bonnet, placing four small currant bannocks wrapped up in brown paper on the table before she sat down across from her aunt.
‘Nay, we might have been talking about you but only because your aunt was saying that you will both be attending the Guild Ball. That’s quite a party you’ll be going to – and at your age as well. Can you dance, lass?’ Ma Fletcher enquired as Mary-Anne placed four gilt-edged tea plates on the table and buttered the bannocks before passing them to her guests.
