Love or Duty--A saga set in 1920s Liverpool

by Rosie Harris

  Within seconds the door was opened by a small stout woman with grey hair and a round apple-cheeked face who looked to be somewhere in her sixties. She was wearing a voluminous black skirt and a starched high-necked white cotton blouse fastened with a large cameo brooch.

  ‘Mrs Reilly?’

  ‘Ma Reilly; yes that’s me. Was you wanting something?’ Her sharp black eyes were questioning as she studied Penny closely.

  ‘I – I’m looking for a room and I was told you might have one to let.’

  ‘Is that so now; and who would be telling you such a thing as that may I ask?’

  ‘Mrs Murphy who lives in Cannon Court told me. I’m looking …’

  ‘Aah, sure, I knows you now.’ Her face creased into a broad smile. ‘You’re the young lady as what knocked over young Kelly Murphy when she was going for a day out at New Brighton and you’ve been looking after her ever since.’

  ‘That’s right. Well, she’s had another accident and broken her arm so she is going to need looking after for a while longer, I’m afraid.’

  ‘So why are you wanting to rent a room over here? I was told that you were caring for young Kelly at your own home over in Wallasey.’

  ‘Yes, I have been doing that up until now but it’s no longer convenient.’

  Ma Reilly regarded her shrewdly.

  ‘So you want a room for yourself and for her until she is fit again, is that it?’ she said at last. ‘Well, you’d better come inside and let’s talk about it over a cuppa, not out here on the doorstep where the whole world can hear our business.’

  ‘Is it all right if I bring Kelly in as well? She’s sitting in her pushchair and I’m sure she must be feeling squashed because our suitcase is balanced on top of her.’

  ‘Of course you must bring her in, you can’t leave her out in the street like that! Fetch her on in and all your luggage as well. I’ll go and put the kettle on. Do you need me to help or can you manage to get that pushchair up the steps?’

  ‘Yes thank you, I can manage,’ Penny assured her confidently.

  Ma Reilly’s kitchen was very bright and welcoming; everywhere was spotless and sparkling. It was obvious she took a pride in making sure that her home was neat and tidy and everything had a place of its own.

  ‘So young Kelly has had another accident has she and her own mam can’t be doing with looking after her as well as all the other little ones,’ she commented as she moved the suitcase and the pushchair into a corner of the hallway.

  ‘Well I suppose that’s understandable but why are you coming over here to look after young Kelly? As I said before I was given to understand that she was staying with you at your big house over in Wallasey.’

  ‘Well, yes, she was …’ Penny hesitated, biting her lip, uncertain how to go on.

  ‘Your folks have got fed up with having her there, am I right?’ Ma Reilly commented, giving Penny a shrewd look.

  ‘Something like that,’ Penny mumbled.

  ‘It’s because they don’t like me,’ Kelly chimed in with a grin.

  ‘I thought you were a schoolteacher,’ Ma Reilly went on, ignoring Kelly’s remark.

  ‘Yes I am …’

  ‘They sacked her because she took me to school with her and two of the girls there pushed me over in the playground and broke my arm,’ Kelly butted in. ‘When her bloke heard about it he dumped her as well because she couldn’t go out with him because of looking after me and then her mam and dad got real cross and—’

  ‘Kelly, that’s enough. Shush!’ Penny exclaimed in embarrassment.

  ‘I reckon she’s told me all I need to know,’ Ma Reilly said chuckling. ‘We’ll say no more about it. Now, about that room you want to rent. I do have a room vacant and it’s a fairly large one with two single beds in it so there’s plenty of room for you both in there.’

  ‘That sounds wonderful,’ Penny said, a look of relief on her face.

  ‘Come on then, I’ll take you upstairs so that you can see it for yourself before you make up your mind about whether you want to take it or not.’

  ‘I’ll leave Kelly sitting down here if you don’t mind,’ Penny said.

  ‘Yes, it will only take us a minute or two and she’s heavy for you to carry around,’ Ma Reilly agreed.

  ‘It’s in the front of the house and it’s got a nice big window and there’s always plenty going on out in the street for Kelly to watch,’ Ma Reilly commented. ‘You can both have your meals down in my kitchen with me,’ she added as they made their way upstairs.

  ‘The room was fairly big and spotlessly clean. It had two single beds side by side, a good size dark oak wardrobe and a matching dressing table with a big glass over it. As Mrs Reilly had told her, the window was very large and made the room appear light and airy.

  ‘This will be fine as long as I can afford it,’ Penny told her as she looked round. ‘At the moment I’m not working,’ she explained.

  ‘Oh, I see.’ Ma Reilly looked thoughtful. ‘I thought you said you were a school teacher, so why not get yourself a teacher’s job over here?’

  ‘It’s not as easy as that, Mrs Reilly. I was teaching at a private school and because of what happened to Kelly when I took her along with me the headmistress may not even be prepared to give me a reference.’

  ‘Don’t you worry your head about that. I’ll have a word with Father O’Flynn, sure I will. They’re bound to be needing good teachers.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you but I’m afraid I’m not a Catholic.’

  ‘Ssh! We’ll not talk about such things. If he needs a teacher then he needs a teacher and that’s all there is to it. You leave it to me. I’ll let you know in a day or two. Now what about that room? Are you going to take it? You can leave paying me until you get some wages,’ she offered.

  ‘Oh no, there’s no need for you to wait. I can pay you, I do have some money,’ Penny assured her. ‘Not a great deal, mind,’ she added with a wry smile.

  They settled the details and Ma Reilly insisted on them having a cuppa to seal the deal.

  ‘I haven’t had me breakfast yet, her dad wouldn’t let us have any,’ Kelly told Ma Reilly when she put the kettle on for their cup of tea.

  ‘Is that so, now. Then I’d better make you a butty to go with your glass of milk,’ Ma Reilly told her. ‘Which sort do you want a batty butty or a jam butty?’

  ‘Ooh, lovely. I’m starving so can I have one of each?’ Kelly asked, her face lighting up.

  ‘Fish paste in one of them and strawberry jam in the other,’ Ma Reilly murmured as she reached into the bread bin for the loaf of bread.

  They sat for almost half an hour drinking their tea and chatting while Kelly munched her butties. Then Penny carried the suitcase upstairs to their room and unpacked it and put away their clothes while Kelly stayed down in the kitchen with Mrs Reilly.

  When she’d finished unpacking Penny looked round with a feeling of satisfaction. She felt relieved that they had a roof over their head and knew she had been very fortunate to have found such good clean accommodation in such an area.

  Although it was very different from what she was used to she felt hopeful that things would turn out all right eventually once they had settled in.

  Thirteen

  Penny soon found that living with Mrs Reilly at Blenheim Road in Liverpool was something of an eye-opener after her own comfortable home in Wallasey.

  Although Ma Reilly’s house was spotlessly clean there were still a great many differences and most of them were a disadvantage.

  There was no bathroom or inside lavatory. This meant that she had to go out into the back yard to use the lavatory that was housed in a small wooden shed. Furthermore, it was shared not only by all the occupants of Ma Reilly’s house but by the people who lived next door as well. Even at night she either had to go out there or else use the enamel chamber pot that was secreted underneath her bed.

  Personal washing was also difficult. Having a bath was out of the question and Ma Reilly told
her that if she really had to have a bath then she would have to go along to the public baths that were in Upper Frederick Street.

  Penny discovered that the public baths were reasonably clean but as she looked around at the people waiting their turn to use them she found herself shuddering. It wasn’t that they were poorly dressed or spoke in such a thick Scouse accent that she could barely understand what they were saying, it was because they all looked so very dirty.

  Penny made one visit and then decided that in future it was better to have a daily strip wash at home, even if it was only from a bowl of tepid water in her bedroom.

  It didn’t take Penny long to realize that the standard of cleanliness in Ma Reilly’s home really was the exception. The lodgers she let out rooms to were also of a different type than the majority of people living locally.

  ‘I don’t have any long term lodgers,’ Ma Reilly explained to Penny a few days after she arrived. ‘Most of my regulars are commercial travellers who are only in Liverpool for a couple of nights at a time on business, and most of them have been coming here to stay for years. The others are people needing a stay over for a night or two because they are catching a boat to Ireland or somewhere abroad. They come from outside Liverpool and are recommended by people who’ve stayed here before.’

  Although Ma Reilly was barely five feet tall, she had a very strong will and personality and seemed to have the ability to get most people to do as she told them.

  Father O’Flynn, who was a regular visitor to the house, was tall and thin with a rather morose expression on his lined face. He and Ma Reilly would sit in her kitchen enjoying a glass of good Irish whisky together while they gossiped about what was going on in the world and in particular the latest happenings in the Scotland Road area of Liverpool.

  Between them they seemed to know everyone’s business and, although they had heated discussions about what the various people should do to improve their lot, there was never any malice in their judgement.

  True to her promise Ma Reilly introduced Penny to Father O’Flynn and immediately asked him to find her a teaching post. In the next breath she demanded to know when Penny would be starting.

  ‘My prayers have been answered,’ Father O’Flynn exclaimed clasping both Penny’s hands between his own thin ones. ‘She can start right away. It’s not permanent, of course, merely filling in for a teacher who is off sick,’ he explained when he saw the look of surprise on Penny’s face.

  When Penny thanked him but said that it was impossible for her to start work immediately because much as she needed to earn a living there was no way she could leave Kelly on her own.

  Ma Reilly shook her head and tutted Penny to silence.

  ‘You don’t have any problem about that,’ Ma Reilly told her firmly. ‘I’m always here so I can be looking after young Kelly while you are out at work; that is until she is well enough to go to school. It will only be for a few more weeks, to be sure. Once her little arm is strong enough to take her weight she’ll be able to use those crutches to get around again. By then her leg will be almost better so it will.’

  Kelly seemed to be happy enough with the arrangement, especially when Ma Reilly promised that she would let her help with the cooking and even show her how to make cakes.

  For Penny her new job was very exacting; absolutely everything was done differently from the way she had been used to doing it at the private school in Wallasey.

  What Father O’Flynn had failed to tell her was that all the other teachers were nuns and when Penny appeared in a cream blouse and a dark green skirt instead of a long black gown and starched white wimple the children were bemused and not at all sure that she really was a teacher.

  Not only were the teaching methods alien to her but religion played such a major part of each school day that she wondered if she was going to be able to cope with it all.

  Added to that, the children were themselves very different from those she had been used to teaching. They were mostly ragged and some were downright dirty. On several occasions she had insisted on one or the other of them going to the cloakroom and washing their hands before handling the exercise books.

  When it came to lessons, in some ways it seemed the children were extremely backward for their age and she often felt exasperated when they were unable to read fluently or carry out simple mathematical calculations.

  On the other hand both the boys and the girls in her class seemed to be extremely wily and were quick to catch on to any loophole that provided an excuse for their behaviour. Sometimes it was for their bad work, or for not doing the homework that had been set for them to do; at other times it was for missing school altogether.

  The sisters seemed to take all this behaviour in a bland almost dismissive manner and to Penny’s mind never seemed to administer adequate punishment. They never ordered any of the children to stay in after school and do the work correctly but merely told them to go away and remember to say ‘three Hail Marys’ or read a passage from their catechism before they went to bed.

  Penny was sure that behind the nuns’ backs the children laughed about their punishment and that very few of them did as they’d been told.

  The sisters were also equally dismissive of any new ideas Penny put forward to try and make lessons more interesting for the pupils.

  ‘None of them really want to learn,’ Sister Ambrose sighed. ‘They know they have to come to school because otherwise they will be in trouble with the authorities but many of the ones who play truant are aided and abetted by their parents.’

  ‘Whatever do you mean; why would they do that?’ Penny questioned.

  ‘Well, the children are more use at home. They can be set to work running messages or looking after their little brothers and sisters while their mother goes out charring.’

  Remembering how much Ellen Murphy counted on Kelly looking after the younger children Penny said no more. She also recalled that Kelly had not even started school yet although she had turned six. Father O’Flynn must be well aware of this fact, she thought, and yet he had not reported it or, as far as she knew, even said anything to Ellen Murphy about it.

  Penny had only been teaching for a couple of weeks when she arrived back at Blenheim Road to be greeted at the front door by Ma Reilly announcing, ‘There’s a visitor to see you so I’ve put him in the parlour.’

  Puzzled, she followed Ma Reilly through to the best room. It was in the front of the house and only used on very special occasions. Every piece of furniture in it was highly polished yet even so it smelled musty. She was very taken aback to find that Dr Bryn Cash from the hospital was in there talking to Kelly.

  He stood up immediately, but his dark eyes were hard and his greeting was extremely cool and straight to the point of his visit. ‘Kelly should have attended my clinic at the hospital over a week ago, Miss Forshaw, in order for me to check the progress she is making so why didn’t you bring her?’ he demanded.

  ‘Do you mean for her arm or her leg?’ Penny asked, feeling flustered. ‘I’m so sorry, Dr Cash, I completely forgot about it. There’s been so much else happening,’ she added in an apologetic voice.

  ‘So I understand from what Kelly has been telling me. However, it is still no excuse for neglecting to bring her to my clinic,’ he told her curtly. ‘Furthermore, you didn’t even inform me or let the hospital authorities know that you’d changed your address.’

  ‘That has only just happened and it was also unforeseen,’ she explained with an apologetic smile. ‘I really am sorry, Dr Cash. As you can see, Kelly is progressing extremely well so I don’t think there is any cause for concern.’

  ‘Not on your part perhaps, Miss Forshaw, but in order for my clinical records to be accurate and up to date it is imperative that Kelly is kept under observation until she is completely better. Then, and only then, will I discharge her from my clinic at the hospital.’

  He seemed to be so angry that Penny felt at a loss for words. She was relieved when Ma Reilly appeared in the doorway
to ask, ‘Would you be taking a cup of tea with us doctor?’

  Bryn Cash frowned and took out his pocket watch and studied it for a moment. ‘Thank you but I’m extremely pressed for time.’

  ‘Then it’s a good job I’ve gone ahead and brewed it. Come on through to the kitchen. I’ve already poured you out a cup and you can drink it while you’re talking; you too Penny, I’ve poured one out for you as well. Young Kelly will be needing a biscuit and a glass of milk after all this palaver so come on through to my kitchen the lot of you.’

  A quarter of an hour later they were still in Ma Reilly’s kitchen talking and drinking tea. Bryn Cash no longer seemed to be an ogre but a very charming young man.

  Penny was surprised to hear that he lived in Liverpool not all that far from Blenheim Road. She also discovered that he belonged to a tennis club and felt rather pleased when he invited her along as his guest even though she knew it would be impossible for her to go.

  ‘Right, I must be off. I’ll pick you up on Saturday afternoon at about two o’clock,’ he told Penny as he picked up his trilby and doctor’s bag and prepared to leave.

  ‘I’d love to accept but I’m afraid it’s impossible,’ Penny told him with regret. ‘I have Kelly to consider and I really can’t leave her on her own.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that; you won’t mind keeping an eye on Kelly for the afternoon will you, Mrs Reilly?’ Bryn Cash said, smiling at her confidently. Before either of them could say any more he was gone.

  ‘That young man is not only rather handsome but he has a very forceful way with him,’ Ma Reilly said with a smile. ‘Still, it will do you good to mix with some of your own sort even if it is only for a couple of hours. After all,’ she added with a chuckle when she saw that Penny was about to speak, ‘you will have to go because it’s “doctor’s orders”.’

  Their outing was a great success and the first of many. When the tennis season ended in late September he invited her to all sorts of other events. Gradually it became an accepted arrangement that Bryn Cash would be calling to take Penny out somewhere most Saturdays and that Ma Reilly would keep an eye on Kelly.