by Jonker, Joan
It was only when she turned into her own street that her spirits fell and she stared reality in the face. How could she ensnare a rich man when she lived in such a poor neighbourhood, amongst people of the lower class? Philip Astbury would take one look at the street and turn tail and run. And what about Amelia, how could she hide the fact that she had a daughter? And how was she to manage working full-time when it would mean the girl being on her own for two hours every night when she came home from school?
As Evelyn walked down the street, looking neither to left nor right, she began to have dark thoughts about her daughter. If it wasn’t for Amelia, she wouldn’t be living like a pauper. She would still be a member of the Lister-Sinclair family, enjoying the sort of lifestyle that only their sort of money could buy. She would have had to pretend she was heartbroken over Charles being killed, of course, and gone into mourning for a few months. It would have been a small enough price to pay for a lifetime of being waited on hand and foot. The truth was, she hadn’t mourned him at all. She was sorry he was dead simply because it had cost her so dearly. But she could be a good actress when necessary, and it would have been worth it for the reward. It could well be that with Mr Philip she’d have a second chance of the good life … if only she didn’t have the drawback of a daughter nobody knew about.
When Evelyn reached her house she could see the two women who lived opposite out of the corner of her eye, but was in no mood to acknowledge their presence. If they had nothing better to do than stand jangling all day, what a sad life they led. They’d never know what it was to walk into the Adelphi on the arm of one of the wealthiest men in Liverpool, wearing clothes that were the height of fashion and had cost a fortune. Well, she was going to do her very best to get away from this tiny house in this narrow street full of common people. How she’d do it, she didn’t know right now, but she vowed that as soon as Mr Philip began to woo her – as she had no doubt whatsoever that he would – then she would manipulate him until he was so crazy about her he’d do anything to keep her happy.
After hanging her coat up Evelyn sat at the table, wanting to clarify things in her mind. That her daughter would be in from school any minute meant little to her. She never cooked a proper meal anyway, it was only ever egg on toast, a sandwich or a pennyworth of chips from the chip shop. And for that they’d consider themselves lucky, for many a time all they had to eat was bread and dripping. Even if she’d had enough money to make dinner, though, she would have turned her nose up at the thought of soiling her hands peeling potatoes.
A knock on the door brought a frown to Evelyn’s face. The girl was home. She would have to go to the chip shop again, there was nothing to eat in the house. When Amelia looked up at her mother she was met with a hostile glare. There was no greeting, but then she didn’t expect something she’d never had. She was left to close the door after herself, and when she entered the living room her mother didn’t even meet her eyes as she said, ‘Sit down, I have something to tell you before you go to the chip shop for our tea.’
Always afraid of doing something to upset her mother, Amelia pulled a chair out from under the table, taking care to keep the legs clear so they didn’t get scratched. ‘Yes, Mother?’
‘I had some very good news at the office today, Amelia, which I am sure will make you feel proud of me. I was offered the position of private secretary to one of the partners. It is a promotion, which is an honour, and also brings with it an increase in wages.’
‘Oh, Mother, that’s wonderful news. When will you start this new job?’
‘I am to begin learning on Monday, and start the job proper in two weeks. But I am in a dilemma, Amelia, and need to ask your advice.’
Her daughter was not used to being spoken to so softly, and young as she was, sensed her mother was putting on a show because she wanted something. ‘I don’t see how I can advise you, Mother, when you are far more clever than I am.’
‘Perhaps advice was the wrong word, I should have said I need your help. You see, I would be working full-time, which means you would be back home from school two hours before I was home from the office. That is the only thing that stands in the way of my taking up a position of importance which would bring in enough extra money to make a difference to our lives. We wouldn’t have to borrow any more, and there would be a vast improvement in the meals we eat and the clothes we wear. We wouldn’t be rich, not by any stretch of the imagination, but we would be better off.’
‘Mother, I can look after myself for two hours, you know I can! You need have no fear, I’ll not come to any harm. Is that all that is worrying you, my being left alone for two hours?’
These weren’t the words of a young girl, nor did she sound like one. But that was how Amelia had been brought up. She acted and spoke differently at school, knowing the girls in her class led a very different life from her. But she was too young to be in any position to change her lot. ‘You can trust me, Mother, you know you can,’ she said eagerly.
‘Yes, I know I can trust you, but what are the neighbours going to think if they know you are left on your own for two hours, especially in the dark nights of winter? They will think I am a very wicked mother.’
This gave Amelia food for thought. She had forgotten the winter nights, and the prospect of sitting in the dark for two hours every day filled her with dread. She wasn’t allowed to light the gas and there would be no fire in the grate to give out light so it would be pitch black. ‘Could I not go into Miss Bessie’s to wait for you? I think I would be afraid in the dark nights, Mother, with no fire to see by and not being allowed to light the gas.’
‘What a silly child you are. Once you are in your own house, with the curtains drawn, what harm can come to you?’
‘I am afraid of the pitch dark, Mother, which is what it would be.’
‘How silly! The street lamp isn’t far away, there’d be light through the curtains. I do not want the neighbours knowing my business, so if I am to take advantage of this opportunity you will have to learn that one can’t have everything one’s own way. If we are to have a more comfortable life, it will have to be earned – by you as well as by me. Now, do you understand me?’
Something in Amelia made her rebel. ‘I do understand, Mother, but I don’t want to be in a dark house on my own ’cos I’d be frightened. I’d rather stand outside and wait for you, then I wouldn’t be scared because there’re always children out playing.’
Evelyn was about to scold her daughter when a thought entered her head. If Mr Philip were to ask her out, something she confidently expected in the very near future, she couldn’t refuse by making her daughter the excuse because she had no intention of telling him about Amelia. On the tram journey home, she’d made her plans very carefully. She would take things slowly, charm him into wanting more than she would give him at first. She needed him to become besotted by her, to desire her so much he would do anything for her. But all her dreams and desires would come to nought if he knew where she lived, and that she had a seven-year-old daughter. So she had to lead a double life, and for that she would need help.
‘I’m surprised at your being scared, Amelia, but we’ll have to find a way around it. What time does Miss Bessie get in from work?’
A smile crossed the girl’s pretty face when she saw a glimmer of hope, but she quickly hid it for fear it would displease her mother. ‘I’m not sure because she sometimes goes in at seven in the morning and finishes at four o’clock. I think she told me it depended on whether they have an urgent order to finish or not. I’m not sure what she meant by that, and I didn’t like asking.’
‘I wonder if she would be kind enough to mind you for two hours every night, if I were to pay her a shilling?’
The girl’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. ‘A whole shilling! That’s a lot of money, Mother. I’m sure Miss Bessie wouldn’t ask you for that much just to let me sit in her house for two hours each night. I could pay her back by running messages for her, or helping her with the dishes.’
‘I think we should ask her first before we discuss it any further. She could possibly refuse point blank. If so, I would have to reconsider the situation.’ Evelyn shook her head as though to dismiss the possibility of being turned down. She knew Miss Maudsley had a soft spot for Amelia, and it was to this she would appeal. ‘I heard the front door closing a few minutes ago so I know she’s home. If you will go to the chip shop for a pennyworth of chips and a pennyworth of scallops, I’ll slip out the back way and put my request to her.’
Amelia jumped from her chair and stood by the table waiting to be given the two pennies. Chips and scallops, that was a rare treat. Being offered a promotion must have made her mother very happy. As soon as she had the two coins in her hand, she skipped out of the door and down the street. She could hear the other children out playing, but tonight she didn’t envy them. And all the way to the chip shop she kept on praying that Miss Bessie would agree to mind her each day until her mother got home from work. If she had to choose between having a nice meal from the chip shop tonight, or Miss Bessie agreeing to what she was now being asked, then Amelia would starve tonight and live on the thought of the pleasure she’d have every night thereafter. For in their neighbour, she knew she had found someone who really liked her and would enjoy her company. And she wouldn’t have to watch every word that came out of her mouth in that house, or be afraid to laugh out loud. Oh, it would be lovely.
As Evelyn walked up next door’s yard, the smell of bacon frying wafted towards her. But although it made her empty stomach rumble, she wasn’t jealous. In the not-too-distant future she would enjoy food only the rich could afford, things which Miss Maudsley and her cronies had probably never heard of. But of course she mustn’t say anything to annoy her neighbour, she needed her now.
When Bessie opened the door she showed no surprise, she’d seen her neighbour pass the window. She wasn’t particularly pleased to see Evelyn. She’d not long got in from work and was longing to sit down and eat the bacon, the smell of which was making her mouth water. She was wearing a floral wrap-around pinny that almost reached the floor, and which she’d been promising herself for months that she’d put a hem on to save her tripping herself up. But she wasn’t a snob and didn’t care whether her neighbour wrinkled her nose at the sight or not. ‘Yer’ve just caught me making me dinner, Mrs Sinclair, so can yer make it quick before me bacon burns?’
‘I’m sorry to call at an inconvenient time, Miss Maudsley. If you like I will call later when you are more prepared?’
Bessie pushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. ‘Was it something important?’
‘Yes, it is really.’ Then Evelyn played her trump card. ‘Important for me, and for Amelia. But I can see you’re busy so I’ll call back later.’
Had it not been for the mention of Amelia’s name, Bessie would have told her to come back. Instead she opened the door wider. ‘Come on in. I don’t want me bacon to be ruined, but I’ll make a butty of it and yer’ll have to put up with seeing me eat it. I can’t afford to waste good food.’ She waved Evelyn through to the living room. ‘Make yerself comfortable, I won’t be a minute.’
While she was waiting, Evelyn looked around the room. She had to admit it was clean and polished, like a new pin. But the furniture wasn’t up to her own standards, far too cheap-looking.
Bessie bustled through with a plate in one hand and a cup and saucer in the other. ‘I won’t offer yer a drink ’cos I know yer’ll be having yer dinner soon.’ She sat at the table and lifted the butty, which was very substantial and which her neighbour was mentally comparing to a doorstep. In fact, she was having trouble trying to stop her nose from wrinkling, which Bessie noted and found hilarious. What a snob Evelyn Sinclair was! Before taking a bite from the butty, she said, ‘I don’t mind yer talking while I’m eating, Mrs Sinclair, so don’t let me stop yer. I’m too hungry to be polite and wait until yer’ve gone.’
These people were not brought up to be genteel, they had no manners whatsoever. This was the thought running through Evelyn’s head, followed by one that said she must make sure her neighbour’s lack of manners didn’t rub off on Amelia. But right now it wouldn’t do to offend the woman she was going to ask for help.
‘Please don’t think me forward, Miss Maudsley, and please don’t hesitate to refuse what I am about to ask you if it is something you wouldn’t want even to consider. But I’m going to ask a big favour of you.’ She thought a little craftiness would help her cause. ‘At least, it was Amelia who put the idea in my head for, as you know, my daughter is very fond of you.’
Bessie’s eyes narrowed as she took another bite. This one was after something, the two-faced, stuck-up article. And she didn’t have the nerve to come straight out with it, had to pretend she was asking for her daughter. She must think I was born yesterday, Bessie told herself. That I’m green around the gills.
‘Yer can only ask, Mrs Sinclair, and I can only say yes or no. Which I will do, if yer’ll tell me what it is?’
Evelyn laced her fingers and put her hands on her knees. ‘I was pleasantly surprised today when one of the senior partners in the office where I work asked if I would like the position of private secretary to a new partner who is starting with the firm next week. It is obviously a great honour and brings a not insignificant increase in salary. It was only after the interview that I realised it would mean my working full-time, which would leave Amelia to come home from school and be alone in the house for two hours each night. That is something I couldn’t even contemplate. The girl is only seven, after all, and couldn’t be expected to stay in the house on her own on dark nights. So I was intending to tell my boss tomorrow that, sadly, I am not able to take up the position …’
Bessie could see what was coming, but she certainly wasn’t going to make it easy for a woman who looked down her nose at everyone in this street. It was a wonder she’d sat down on the couch without flicking her handkerchief over it in case it was dusty. So let her sweat it out for a while. ‘Ye’re not taking the job then?’
‘That is what I was telling Amelia when she surprised me by saying perhaps you would mind her for those two hours every night? I pooh-poohed the idea at first, but Amelia was so taken with the idea, she wanted to come and ask you herself. Of course I wouldn’t let her do that, so I’m here instead. There would be recompense for your trouble, I wouldn’t expect you to do it without payment. I thought a shilling a week would be appropriate.’
Bessie didn’t reply for a while as she stared down at a tea leaf floating on top of her cup. Of course she would have the child, she would love to. And she knew jolly well the girl would be overjoyed. But although her first instinct had been to tell her neighbour to stick her shilling where Paddy stuck his nuts, a voice in her head told her she would be stupid not to take the money. She could use it to buy treats for Amelia because she had never seen the child with a bag of sweets in her hand in the three years she’d lived next door.
‘I’m not always home before Amelia, it depends whether I start at seven or half-past. We sometimes have to pack orders, yer see, and they need to be on the cart by eight. Mind you, some of the women go in at seven all the time, so they can be home for their kids coming in from school. I could do the same thing.’ She pretended to give the idea some thought, but it was only to keep the queer one in suspense for a while. Then she said, slowly, as though she wasn’t really keen, ‘I suppose we could try it for a week to two, see if it works out. I mean, I’m not used to having children in the house, and on the other hand, Amelia might not like sitting with an old woman every night.’ Then she felt like a little bit of devilment, and came out with something she knew would fill her neighbour with horror. ‘She would be better playing out in the street with the other children. I could keep me eye on her through the window, make sure she came to no harm.’
The colour drained from Evelyn’s face, and Bessie, who held conversations with herself as people who live alone often do, told the frying pan later that night as she was washing the
dishes that her neighbour looked so shocked anyone would think a doctor had just told her she dying, and only had minutes to live.
‘Oh, I can’t allow Amelia to play in the street, Miss Maudsley, not under any circumstances. Heaven alone knows what sort of diseases those children could be carrying, not to mention head lice. It is entirely out of the question. I will not subject my daughter to their lack of hygiene or their ignorance. And I must insist that you do not allow her to play in the street.’
How Bessie kept her temper she would never know. There wasn’t a woman in this street wouldn’t lay down her life for her children, and many of them were going hungry to give food to their families but never moaned about going without themselves. Family always came first. But if Bessie told Miss High and Mighty what she really thought of her, she’d be cutting off her nose to spite her face. The stuck-up snob might take the huff and say she had decided it wasn’t appropriate to leave Amelia in her care, which would mean Bessie and the girl losing out on something they would both enjoy.
‘If that is the way you want it, Mrs Sinclair, then of course that’s the way it shall be. She is your daughter after all. So shall we start our trial period on Monday and see how it goes?’
Evelyn kept her sigh of relief silent. Although she’d meant what she had said about her daughter playing in the street, she knew she needed Bessie more than Bessie needed her. She hadn’t the slightest intention of telling Mr Simon she wouldn’t be taking the job, for his nephew was at the forefront of all her plans. And she wasn’t letting the welfare of her daughter get in the way of those plans. If all else failed, the girl would have to be in the house on her own for two hours each night, whether she was frightened or not. In her twisted mind, Evelyn put the blame on Amelia for everything that had gone wrong in her own life.
‘You are very kind, Miss Maudsley,’ she said now, ‘and I’m sure we shall both benefit from it. And Amelia, of course, will be delighted when I tell her the result of our conversation.’ Evelyn got to her feet. ‘I must go now, Amelia will be waiting for her tea. I want you to know I am very grateful, and hope our little arrangement is of mutual benefit. And I do apologise for calling when you were about to have your meal.’
