by Anne Doughty
‘Aye,’ he beamed at her. ‘That was good luck meetin’ you that day. You were a great help.’
‘Oh Sam, I only encouraged you to choose what you’d have chosen anyway,’ she said dismissively.
He shook his head vigorously. ‘It wasn’t just that, Ellie. I’d had a bit of a shock that day. Ye helped me get over it.’
She looked at him, startled, concerned by a tone she’d not heard in his voice before. She waited to see if he would go on.
‘Last year, I was engaged to be married, Ellie, and the girl broke it off,’ he began, looking down at his large hands. ‘I’d the furniture bought an’ we were just waitin’ for a house we could rent. I was that upset I thought of goin’ to New Zealand. I had the plans made, though my two sisters told me it would do no good. The only way was to face it here.’
He paused for so long, Ellie wondered if he’d be able to continue.
‘You said you’d given your sisters a bad time,’ she prompted gently.
He nodded again. ‘I blamed myself for what had happened. I thought it was me had done somethin’ amiss and I couldn’t face thinkin’ about it every day, comin’ and goin’ to work, aye an’ at work too. I never knew when it was goin’ to come over me. I just wanted to get away from the thoughts of it. That day I met you in the market I’d found out it wasn’t me at all. It was somethin’ she’d done.’
He paused and laid his hand on hers as if to underline the point he was about to make.
Ellie didn’t move her hand away. She just waited, anxious for him to finish the tale, for it had taken away the ease from his body and the sparkle from his eyes.
‘Ellie, the worst of it was I nearly made a terrible mistake.’
‘What was that, Sam?’
‘I nearly let that woman drive me away from here. From this place I love and my home and my family. If it hadn’t been for Da and Rosie and Emily, I’d a’ been away months ago.’
‘Oh Sam, that would have been so sad. You’ve a good job and you’ve friends and sisters here. You might have been very lonely away on the other side of the world.’
‘Aye, that’s what Emily and Rosie said.’
‘I’m a bit envious of you, Sam. My sister’s are all away,’ she said suddenly. ‘When things go wrong for me, I so wish I had Polly round the corner.’
‘I can imagine that all right after this last year. Where is your Polly?’
‘Peterborough, Ontario.’
‘An’ does she like it there?’
‘That’s the trouble, Sam. You can’t always tell. Her husband Jimmy is with Quaker Oats. It’s only maintenance work, all he could get when his company in Toronto went down. She has three wee boys and they’ve not much money. I know she makes the best of things, but I often wonder if she wishes she was home.’
Ellie watched as he nodded vigorously. He seemed quite restored to his good spirits again after the tension and distress of telling her about what had happened to him. She was touched by his concern for Polly and the way he listened so carefully to all she’d said about her.
‘My granny always says you hear so much about those who go and make a great success, but you hear less about those who fail, an’ hardly anythin’ at all about those who come home, or those who spend their life wishing they could come home.’
‘That sounds like a very sensible granny,’ replied Ellie, smiling at him. ‘I haven’t got a granny either,’ she went on matter-of-factly. ‘Does yours live near you?’ she asked, thinking how fortunate he seemed to be with his family.
‘No. I wish she did,’ he said sadly, ‘she lives in Belfast now with my Uncle James. She used to live over Banbridge way, a place called Ballydown, but then Granda died and she lost her great friends, Richard and Elisabeth Stewart, so Uncle James asked her to come and live with him …’
‘In Cranmore Park, off the Lisburn Road?’
Sam stared at her, eyes wide in astonishment.
‘How d’ye know that?’
So Ellie told him how she had spoken to a woman feeding birds in the park and how they had become friends.
‘I can hardly believe it,’ he said, shaking his head yet again. ‘And did you not tell her you knew a Sam Hamilton?’
‘No, it never occurred to me. There are so many Hamiltons around Armagh I never thought of you,’ she said, laughing herself. ‘She told me a lot about her family, but she said even her grandchildren were getting middle-aged these days. That could hardly include you. She did mention a Sam Hamilton, but that was her son. She said he always wanted to drive road-engines. I’m not quite sure what a road engine is, but it must be a long time ago. James, Sam, Hannah and Sarah. Four of them. She told me a lot about each of them, but she didn’t get as far as grandchildren.’
He brought his other hand over to join the one already resting lightly on hers, took her hands firmly between his and squeezed them.
‘Just wait till I tell her,’ he said beaming at her, ‘that I know her wee friend Ellie Scott. I’m going up for her birthday in a fortnight. She’s going to be eighty. Did she tell you that? She’ll never believe me that I know you.’
Ellie looked at his smiling face and laughed.
‘I can always tell her myself, Sam. She’s invited me to her birthday party, so I’ll be going too.’
Before Sam had quite taken this in, the Master of Ceremonies announced that the First Supper would be served in the basement. They consulted their tickets, were pleased to find that First Supper included them, and five minutes later they were sitting down at a small table where Susie and Joe had kept seats for them.
The talk was lively, but did not interfere with the consumption of a generous supper of cold meats and salads, fresh rolls with butter, fruit trifle with cream, and coffee or tea.
Ellie looked across the table at Susie to see if she was enjoying herself. To her surprise, she found that the girl who was always talking, joking and laughing was eating her trifle very slowly and listening with close attention to something Joe was saying.
‘My goodness,’ she thought to herself, ‘how little we know of people if we always see them in the same situation.’ She’d seen these two talking to each over and over again in the last months, but there was something she saw now she’d quite missed. Susie wasn’t just ensuring that Joe, wasn’t left out of things, she was quite absorbed in what he was telling her. For his part, Joe was talking to her with a quite new confidence. A moment later, he stopped and she laughed. An easy, happy laugh which clearly delighted him, a laugh that spoke of something more than friendship. Susie wouldn’t be sixteen till November. But then, Ellie thought, she’d been younger than Susie when she and George first went out together.
‘Could you manage another wee dance, d’you think, Ellie, now we’ve got a bit more energy?’ Sam asked, as they rose from the supper table.
‘That would be lovely,’ she said, taking his hand as they wove their way through the next instalment of hungry people waiting expectantly outside the supper room.
The dance floor was emptier, the band reduced in number, the lights dimmed somewhat further. They said little to each other but when the dance sequence ended, they made no move to separate and when the Master of Ceremonies announced the Last Supper they laughed with everyone else.
Moments later, they moved into a vigorous quick-step as the band got their second wind, much refreshed by their supper and the encouragement of the dancers.
‘You’re a lovely dancer, Ellie,’ he said, as they paused once again, stood side by side, clapping the band.
‘You’re not so bad yourself,’ she said lightly.
The moment she spoke a wave of sadness swept over her just as it had in the supper room when she’d looked at Susie and Joe and heard them laugh together. It was so unexpected, she nearly missed her step as the band struck up again.
In the relative quiet after the applause when the dance ended, they noticed the Master of Ceremonies bend down to the dance-floor and take a note from a member of the committee. He
came forward to the microphone, his face inscrutable. He waited and waited, till he had all their attention.
Ellie wondered what on earth could have created such a solemn face and began to feel uneasy. Sam fidgeted at her side, then suggested it might be the winner of the raffle.
‘Ladies and gentlemen. It has been suggested to me by your committee that you might like to make requests for particular numbers. I cannot promise that we will be able to play them all, but we shall try. I have already received the first request. I have it here.’
He paused yet again, then his face broke into a broad smile.
‘We will be delighted to play ‘If you were the only girl in the world,’ for Sergeant Frank Armstrong and his partner Miss Daisy Hutchinson who have just become engaged.’
There was a riot of cheering and stamping and clapping. Without any previous signal, all the dancers moved to the sides of the ballroom, leaving Daisy and Frank quite alone. Daisy looked rather pink, but Frank was perfectly at ease. He put his arms round her and they circled the ballroom twice to the continuing shouts and cheers of Frank’s colleagues and the clapping of all their friends in the Tennis Club.
Ellie clapped as hard as everyone else but she had no idea at all what she was going to do if Sam should look down at her and noticed the tears streaming down her face and splashing on the soft blue fabric of her best dress.
‘I’ll walk over to Sleators with you, Ellie,’ Sam said quietly as the last strains of God Save the King faded away. ‘What about wee Susie? I can’t see her anywhere, can you?’
Ellie looked around. Moments ago the members of the Constabulary had been so obvious by the set of their squared shoulders and the solemn look on their faces as they sang the National Anthem. Now they relaxed, moved, became again just young men at a dance. She scanned the faces that streamed past and spotted Daisy and Frank but there was no sign of Susie.
‘I’ll probably find her in the cloakroom.’
‘Most likely. I’ll wait for the pair of you outside. I don’t think Daisy will need us to see her home,’ he said nodding back over his shoulder.
But Susie had no more need of a companion than Daisy. As Ellie retrieved her coat, she saw her meet Joe on the staircase.
‘No Susie?’ asked Sam, a hint of anxiety in his tone.
‘I don’t think we need worry. I saw her go off with Joe.’
‘Ah well, she safe’s enough with him. I always thought he was a desperate quiet lad, but there’s a big improvement there. He seemed to be enjoyin’ himself tonight. And so did Susie.’
He put an arm round her, drew her through the crowd milling through the double doors and out on to the pavement, waiting for friends, or getting into the few motors that had drawn up outside.
There was no moon and the only lamplight was the single gas lamp outside the Post Office, but the sky was perfectly clear and there was a mass of stars. Their pale light gleamed on slate roofs and was reflected back from the glass in the dark shop windows.
‘D’ye mind the day you brought the parcel for Wee Johnny?’ he said as they moved quietly past the front of Sleators.
‘I do. I didn’t know what to make of you that day,’ she said easily. ‘You gave me such a strange look, but then you weren’t expecting to see anyone …’
They paused, crossed the empty street and slowed their steps. Ahead of them, Susie and Joe were walking very slowly, their arms entwined.
‘Dear be good to them,’ Sam said unexpectedly. ‘If that’s a match, it’ll hardly suit the Sleators. Sure what prospects has Joe as a shop assistant?’
‘He’s a clever boy,’ said Ellie, ‘if he weren’t from a big family, he might have gone to college and become a teacher or something like that, but he certainly won’t be able to marry on what he’ll ever earn as an assistant at Freeburns. Just like George and his ten shillings a week, clothes and his keep. That’s why he went to Canada.’
Ellie stopped abruptly, amazed she had spoken so freely. But then, why shouldn’t she? Sam was just as open with her. If they were going to be friends, then that’s the way it should be.
‘And does he like it out there?’
‘I don’t think he’s terribly keen on the lumber camp, but it’s a stepping-stone. His uncle is a partner in a big lumber business in Peterborough, but he wants George to get experience in the camps before he comes down to the mills.’
‘And the money would be good there, wouldn’t it?’
‘Oh yes, when he first told me he was going, I couldn’t believe how much he’d earn.’
Sam smiled and nodded. ‘Aye, I know all about that. Emily went and got a job in Macy’s.’
‘But I thought Emily was married and lived at Stonebridge.’
‘Oh yes, she does. She met her husband out there. But he’s from here, just outside Monaghan, and the two of them saved up to come home. He has a wee business now making car bodies, specialist work. Emily keeps the books. She’s always been great with money.’
‘Like Daisy,’ she said, laughing. ‘She can do a sum in her head while Susie and I are still looking for a piece of paper.’
They paused at the steps leading down to the broad walk crossing The Mall, the short way home to Sleators house on the other side.
There was no one anywhere in sight. The green space with its surrounding trees at the heart of the city, lay absolutely still in deep shadow. Ahead of them, the marble slabs laid edge to edge all the way across to the matching steps on the other side shone like a bridge through the darkness.
‘Wonderful night, isn’t it?’ he said, stopping and scanning the sky.
‘It’s a long time since I’ve seen so many stars,’ she said wistfully, ‘but then I’m not often out at two o’clock in the morning.’
‘Ach it’s a pity that. Do you think George would be annoyed if you went out with your friends now and again?’
‘I don’t know, Sam. You know how people talk,’ she began thoughtfully. ‘The Club is great. I must say I’m grateful to Daisy, I’d never have thought of joining if she hadn’t kept on at me.’
‘Aye, she’s good at that. Sure that’s why I joined as well.’
‘Aren’t we lucky, Sam, we have such good friends?’
‘We’re lucky all right. We’ve an awful lot to be thankful for, the way things are these days. There’s a lot worse off than we are.’
They walked together across the shining path, up the steps and turned along the pavement under the trees. They could see a light in the bedroom that was Ellie’s. As they watched a light came on next door.
‘That’s Susie,’ she said quietly.
‘It might be a while before Daisy appears,’ he said lightly.
She nodded, suddenly feeling sad that the evening was over, that he would turn away into the darkness, walk back up to Sleators and ride home. In the deep silence, she would probably hear the roar of his motorbike as he headed out the Portadown Road.
‘Ellie, I want to ask you somethin’. I don’t want you to take it amiss.’
She looked up at his face, now visible in the spill of light from the windows above.
‘If you and George hadn’t grown up side by side and you hadn’t been spoken for long ago, an’ if you’d met me, like Frank met Daisy, or Joe met Susie, d’you think I might have been in with a chance.’
For a moment she felt overwhelmed with anxiety. What could she say? Then it came to her. There was no question about what to say. He’d been truthful with her. She could only be as truthful with him. She nodded.
‘Oh yes, Sam. You’d have been in with a chance.’
‘Good,’ he said firmly. ‘I’m glad about that,’ he added as they crossed to Sleators front door. ‘I hope you’re not tired out in the mornin’.’
‘If I am, it’ll have been worth it,’ she said, putting her key in the door.
He stepped back, watched till he saw the door swing open.
‘Goodnight, Sam. Thank you for a lovely evening.’
‘Goodnight, Ellie.
It was great.’
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ellie woke early on the morning of Rose’s birthday party, blinked in the June sunlight, looked at the clock and gave thanks there was no need to get out of bed for another half hour. There was a great deal to be done at home before Sam Hamilton and his father arrived to collect her for the drive to Belfast. As they were due at twelve noon, however, it meant she couldn’t go to church and that would give her a bit more time.
Her father liked her to go to the parish church on the hill most Sundays, though he never went himself. She’d never managed to discover what had caused the falling out between him and the Rector. Even Charlie, could only say it was about money. Though he couldn’t be sure, he had a feeling that, once, when the Rector had come looking for subscriptions for the church fabric, Robert had told him he thought the church was too interested in money for its own needs and too little concerned for those in real poverty.
It had surprised her that her father should have spoken out so strongly, for he always tried to be on good terms with everyone, unlike Charlie, who didn’t care who took offence at what he said provided he knew what he was saying was true. But then, she reflected, people were always capable of surprising you.
She thought of Susie and how slow she’d appeared when she first came to Freeburns. And Joe, who’d been good enough at his job but so desperately quiet they could hardly get a word out of him. As Susie had gained in confidence she’d revealed just how practical and imaginative she could be. Since she’d finished redecorating the staff-room she’d been looking out for other ways of making life easier and more comfortable for all of them. As for Joe, he had amazed everyone including Mr Freeburn himself.
‘Miss Scott, I wonder what you think of these,’ he’d said, as he waved her to a chair one morning only last week.
He’d passed over some documents he’d been studying.
She leafed through a collection of graphs and diagrams beautifully drawn and neatly labelled in Joe’s small but very legible hand with coloured inks to distinguish particular points he wished to emphasise. She’d been so fascinated by them, it was several minutes before she realised exactly what Joe had done.
