No Place for a Woman

by Val Wood

  On the Monday evening after he had returned from his day at the bank, he brought the subject up again. ‘As Lucy is going to be four next week, I think she should have a birthday tea,’ he said decisively. ‘She should invite two of the children she met at Mary’s wedding, and,’ he emphasized, ‘I met a former friend of Joseph and Alice’s today. Matthew Warrington. He came into the bank and introduced himself. He’s a doctor at the Infirmary and has two children, a boy and a girl, both a little older than Lucy, more Oswald’s age. I suggest we invite them along as well. They are both home on holiday at the moment. The boy, Henry, goes to Pocklington School and I was thinking—’

  ‘Oh, but Oswald is too young to be sent away to school,’ his wife began to object as she realized where the conversation was heading.

  ‘I quite agree, but what I propose is that we organize a governess for Lucy for September.’ Without waiting for an answer he went on, ‘Oswald could take lessons too, or perhaps you’d prefer him to go to a local school. And that would prepare him to go to Pocklington, or somewhere else if you choose, when he’s eight.’

  She put her hands to her face. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’

  ‘You can’t keep him by your side for ever, my dear,’ he said quietly. ‘He needs a good education if he is to succeed in life. Joseph and I both went to St Peter’s in York, but I thought as Pocklington is nearer—’ He saw her obvious distress. ‘I am willing to do whatever I can for the boy, you know that, don’t you? But the decision is yours alone.’

  Lucy was delighted to hear about the promised birthday tea. Her aunt told her that she could ask Ada’s sister and one brother, ‘but not Bob,’ she said, ‘as he’s too old.’

  ‘I’m going to ask our Edie and our Joshua.’ Lucy clapped her hands. ‘Then Oswald can play with our Joshua if he wants to.’

  ‘Lucy! Please will you stop saying our Edie and our Joshua and our whoever else,’ her aunt said in exasperation. ‘They are not your relations, they are Ada’s!’

  Lucy gazed at her in bewilderment, not understanding what she meant.

  ‘You don’t say our unless they are brothers or sisters, and even then not always!’ Her aunt huffed out a breath, knowing she hadn’t explained herself properly. How difficult it was to bring up a child who wasn’t hers, and to do right by her. A governess is a good idea, she thought. She can teach her so much more than I can.

  ‘I thought they were their names,’ Lucy said in a small deflated voice. ‘It’s what they all say to each other. Should I say our Oswald?’

  ‘No.’ Her aunt was brusque, although not really meaning to be. ‘Oswald isn’t related to you either.’

  ‘Isn’t he a cousin?’ Lucy whispered. Then she pouted when her aunt shook her head, muttered, ‘Well, I’m glad that he’s not,’ and rushed out of the room and ran upstairs.

  The tea party was not a great success. Henry and Elizabeth Warrington hadn’t wanted to come to the birthday party of a four-year-old girl they didn’t know, even though their mother said they had met her before. They were brought into the hall by a maid who said she remembered Miss Lucy when she was a baby in her baby carriage. ‘You were walking by then, Miss Elizabeth,’ she said, smiling down at her charge, but Elizabeth didn’t answer. ‘I’ll come back about four o’clock,’ she told Ada. ‘Master Henry, behave yourself. No fighting or I shall tell your father.’

  ‘Tell-tale,’ he called after her and then turned to glare at Joshua and Edie who had also just arrived at the door, but had come alone, having been given directions by Bob.

  ‘Who ’you staring at?’ Joshua asked him.

  ‘Don’t you mean what am I staring at?’ Henry retaliated loftily. ‘Because the answer would be that I don’t know.’

  Joshua took a step towards him, but Ada said swiftly, ‘Come in, all of you. Miss Lucy and Master Oswald are waiting for you in ’sitting room.’

  ‘I don’t know who they are,’ Elizabeth complained. ‘I’ve never met them in my life!’

  ‘We’ve met Miss Lucy,’ Edie pronounced. ‘She’s our friend, mine and me brothers’.’

  ‘Really?’ Elizabeth said. ‘How old are you?’

  ‘Six,’ Edie said, ‘and our Josh is eight.’

  Joshua squared his shoulders, and before they entered the sitting room he said to Henry, ‘If you like fighting I’ll tek you on after. I’m going to be a sodger when I’m old enough.’

  ‘Pah!’ Henry answered. ‘I shall be an officer, so I shan’t fight the likes of you.’

  ‘Get inside, all of you.’ Ada gave them a push towards the sitting room door. ‘And you, Joshua. Behave yourself. Don’t fight the young gentleman.’ She looked pointedly at Henry. ‘You might hurt him.’

  ‘Do come in.’ Nora greeted the doctor’s children. ‘You must be Master Henry and Miss Elizabeth. This is Lucy, whose birthday it is, and this is my son Oswald.’

  Lucy smiled delightedly at Elizabeth but hesitated in front of Henry. ‘Have you been here before?’ she asked. There was something about him that brought back a hazy memory.

  Elizabeth shook her head and Henry shrugged. ‘Might have been,’ he said nonchalantly. ‘Is your father a doctor?’

  Lucy’s smile slipped and she looked up at her aunt, who turned to Edie and Joshua, saying, ‘And you must be Ethel and Joshua?’

  ‘It’s Edith,’ Edie proclaimed. ‘My teacher says it’s an aynshunt royal name and—’

  ‘So is mine,’ Elizabeth interrupted. ‘Mine’s a queenly name.’

  ‘Mine’s a kingly name,’ Henry said, and looked disdainfully at Oswald, who scowled back at him.

  ‘Would you all like some lemonade?’ Nora broke in, beginning to think the party was not a good idea.

  ‘We’ve got some board games to play,’ Lucy said eagerly, and ran towards the window where boxed games that her uncle had bought for her birthday were waiting. ‘I’ve got Ludo and—’ She hesitated over the name on another box.

  Edie came to look. ‘That says Tiddledy Winks,’ she said, pointing. ‘We’ve got that at home.’ She picked up a small box holding a set of cards. ‘Snap,’ she said. ‘I know how to play this. I’ll show you, Miss Lucy.’

  Elizabeth heard her and came over too. ‘It’s best with four people,’ she pronounced, ‘so we’ll need one more. Henry, do you want to play?’

  ‘Do you have chess? Although who will I play with? I don’t suppose you play?’ Henry turned to Joshua, completely ignoring Oswald, who so far hadn’t uttered a single word to any of them.

  ‘No, but I can learn. I’m good at games – an’ fightin’,’ Joshua responded.

  ‘This says Chess,’ Lucy said, holding out a box to Joshua.

  ‘You, boy,’ Elizabeth said to Oswald. ‘You can make up the fourth for snap.’

  ‘Don’t want to,’ Oswald muttered. ‘I’m not playing with girls.’

  ‘Please yourself,’ Edie said placidly. ‘We can play wi’ three.’

  Nora Thornbury heaved a sigh of relief when Ada came in with a tray of glasses and a jug of lemonade, but was rather disconcerted when she saw Joshua look up at his older sister and give an artful grin and cunning wink.

  At four o’clock, after tea and games, the Warrington children were collected by their maid even though they only lived in the next street, and Edie and Joshua followed behind them. Later on, while Lucy was having her bath before bed, Nora sat on the sofa sipping from a glass of sherry that William had poured her.

  ‘That was the most exhausting day I’ve ever had,’ she moaned. ‘I thought that Henry would be just the right companion for Oswald, but he didn’t even speak to him!’

  ‘Who didn’t speak to whom?’ William asked, sitting down in an easy chair by the window.

  ‘Henry. He didn’t speak to Oswald and Oswald didn’t want to play with any of them, certainly not the girls. And as for Joshua! He wiped everyone off the board at every game they played, including chess which he had never played before.’ She laughed in spite of her frustration. ‘Henry w
as furious.’

  ‘Smart boy,’ William said, meaning Joshua, whom he had met only briefly on his return from the bank. ‘I’ll teach Oswald to play chess,’ he murmured. ‘Every boy should learn. Where is he anyway?’

  ‘In his room reading; and I’ve decided that you’re right about schooling. Oswald can share a governess with Lucy rather than attend a local school, and then – can we afford to send him to Pocklington?’ She hadn’t as yet considered Lucy’s ongoing education.

  ‘Yes, I think so,’ he said quietly. ‘I’ll look into it. Lucy’s education will be paid for out of her estate, of course, when the time comes.’

  What a huge responsibility it is, looking after others’ children, he reflected. It is not something I ever thought I would be contemplating; and yet Lucy seems almost like a daughter now. As for Oswald, he doesn’t like me very much, or anyone else for that matter, but I must still do my duty by him.

  During the rest of the month there was a mixture of weather conditions, heavy downpours of rain, blustery winds and occasional bright and warm sunny days, and on one of the good days Ada offered to take Lucy and Oswald to the public park on Beverley Road.

  ‘In Pearson’s Park children can run about and throw a ball, ma’am,’ Ada told Lucy’s aunt, ‘and there’re lots of flowers and trees to look at. We can walk there but maybe we should get ’omnibus back again. Bairns’ll be tired after running about. It’s a penny fare,’ she added, ‘although Miss Lucy might go free if she sits on my knee.’

  Mrs Thornbury agreed that she could take them, although Oswald didn’t want to go. He dragged his heels all the way there and it wasn’t until they arrived at the gates and he saw the grass and the trees that he perked up and began chasing about trying to catch the ducks that had come ashore from the pond. Lucy loved it all, the fish in the pond, the flower beds, the trees, which were in full leaf, and she too ran about on the grass. Ada thought that if the weather held she would ask Joshua and Edie, and maybe even Stanley, who was ten, if they would like to come too. We could bring a picnic, she thought, getting carried away by the idea. We could bring a blanket to sit on and some lemonade and ask Cook to prepare some food. Miss Lucy would like that. It’s good for her to mix with ordinary folk like us; otherwise her aunt will encourage her to only see rich children like the Warringtons who are not much fun at all.

  ‘What do you think, Master Oswald? Miss Lucy, wouldn’t it be nice if we brought a picnic one day? Lemonade and cake?’

  Lucy clapped her hands in delight and looked at Oswald, who gazed at Ada for a moment before saying, ‘I’ll only come if I can play cricket and maybe ask that boy and girl you know. But not Henry, because I don’t like him.’

  CHAPTER SIX

  The sunny weather held for the rest of August and Mr Thornbury decreed that they should all go on the picnic. He would take the afternoon off from the bank and declare it to be a holiday. ‘We’ll hire a wagonette to carry all we need. Is that acceptable, Ada?’ he added, thinking she seemed rather crestfallen.

  ‘I’ve asked my brother ’n’ sister, sir. Master Oswald said he’d like to play cricket and wanted our Joshua and Edie to come, but not Master Henry.’

  ‘Ah. Getting choosy over his companions, is he? Well, that’s not a bad thing. Ask your brother and sister to be here for … what shall we say, twelve noon? There’ll be plenty of room for everyone. Can someone bring them?’

  ‘They know their way, sir,’ Ada told him. ‘It’s not far.’

  ‘Nevertheless, tell them to be careful; there are buildings being knocked down and some of the streets are not safe. I have to take a detour on the way to the bank.’

  She nodded. ‘I’ll tell them sir, but there’s no need to worry.’ She had heard from various members of her extensive family that the younger boys and some of the more intrepid girls were having a great time climbing on the piles of rubble every night after the workmen had gone home, in spite of the notices that said KEEP OUT in large letters and a watchman who could never catch them.

  ‘Good.’ He rubbed his hands together. ‘And we’ll send our Bob up into the loft and see if we can find the old cricket bat, though I rather think we might need some new balls.’

  On the chosen day, the sun was hot and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Cook had made two large meat and potato pies, cooked and sliced a chicken and a small ham, hard-boiled a dozen eggs, and made a large apple tart and two fruit cakes.

  ‘You’ll never get through all of this,’ she said, putting two bottles of lemonade in the picnic basket along with several glasses, plates, cutlery and table napkins.

  ‘Bet you we will,’ Ada said. ‘And two more bottles if you’ve made enough. Our Josh can eat and drink all of that himself.’

  ‘I’ll put a loaf of bread in as well then, and they can fill up on that.’ And just to be sure that there’d be enough food to go round she put a frying pan on the range and cooked two pounds of sausages.

  At a quarter to twelve the front door bell rang and a grinning Joshua and Edie stood on the step. Joshua was carrying a bag with a variety of balls and Edie a brown paper parcel.

  ‘Our mam said we had to bring some food,’ Edie said, ‘but we didn’t have much in so I brought bread and jam. Is that all right, Ada?’

  Ada ushered them in and took them to the kitchen. ‘Yes, course it is, but we’ve got plenty for everybody,’ she said, and vowed to make sure there’d be something for them to take home afterwards.

  Mr Thornbury arrived five minutes later and on the stroke of midday, as they all clustered in the hall with blankets and picnic basket at their feet, the wagonette arrived. Lucy was excited at seeing Edie and Joshua again and they were all hopping about at the prospect of a ride in the wagonette.

  ‘The bat!’ Mr Thornbury gasped. ‘I didn’t ask Bob to look for the cricket bat! It’s too late now to go up in the loft. Sorry, Oswald. Is there somewhere on the way we can buy one?’

  Oswald looked angry and then as if he were going to cry, but Joshua spoke up. ‘Our Stanley’s bringing a bat. He wouldn’t let me have a lend of it unless he came as well, so I said it would be all right.’ He looked up at Mr and Mrs Thornbury. ‘It will be, won’t it? I said we’d see them at ’park.’

  ‘Who else?’ Ada frowned. ‘Who else is coming?’

  ‘Onny our Max,’ Joshua said. ‘It’s his bat really. We just look after it for him.’

  Ada relaxed. ‘Our Max is all right, sir. He’s a good lad. He and Stanley won’t be a bother.’

  ‘Well, that’s all right then,’ William Thornbury said heartily, whilst his wife looked decidedly pale at the idea of so many boys in tow. ‘Come along. Let’s be on our way.’

  They drove up Beverley Road and all the children cheered when they overtook a horse tram. As they drove through the ornamental park gates, Joshua spotted the other two boys on the footpath and stood up to shout and wave at them. Edie pulled at his arm and hissed at him to sit down. ‘Our mam said you had to behave,’ she said, but she too waved as they passed them by and the two boys set off at a run to catch them up.

  ‘Stop here,’ Mrs Thornbury said. ‘William! Tell the driver to stop here and we’ll sit under that pine, where there’s plenty of shade from the sun.’

  The driver drew up as directed and the children piled out and immediately ran across the grass to claim the space beneath the huge tree. Joshua held out both arms as if to stop anyone else from coming there, and then Oswald copied him. Lucy giggled and held her arms out too and Edie did the same until Ada arrived with the blankets and the hamper. Mr Thornbury followed, carrying two wood and canvas chairs, and last of all came Mrs Thornbury, with the mackintoshes and umbrella she had insisted on bringing despite its being a perfect summer’s day.

  ‘This is me brother Stanley,’ Joshua announced, as the other boys came across the grass, ‘and that one is our cousin Max. It’s his bat.’

  Stanley was almost a copy of Joshua with his brown curly hair, dark eyes and cheeky grin, except that he was sligh
tly taller and two years older. Max was taller than Stanley by half a head and looked nothing like his cousins, being fair-haired with blue eyes. He went over to Mr and Mrs Thornbury. ‘I’m Max Glover, sir, Mrs Thornbury,’ he told them. ‘Thank you for letting me come with you today. Joshua said it would be all right. I hope that it is? I don’t really mind lending my bat.’

  For a moment they were both taken aback by his politeness, and then William cleared his throat. ‘Of course, of course, you’re very welcome, even though the numbers seem to be growing by the minute. Do you know my stepson Oswald and my niece Lucy?’

  Max turned round. Oswald stared at him and was then astounded when Max came towards him and put out his hand and Oswald, mesmerized, held out his limp one.

  Lucy gazed up at the blond giant who seemed to have stepped out of one of her story books and licked her lips as he bent down to speak to her. ‘Hello, Miss Lucy,’ he said softly. ‘I saw you at Aunt Mary’s wedding. It’s nice to see you again.’

  She unclasped her hands, which had been locked together, and still holding his gaze she held them both out in front of him. He smiled and took them in his. ‘How do you do?’ he murmured.

  ‘Very well, thank you,’ she whispered, and although she was only just four she decided there and then that when she was old enough she would marry Max Glover, for she loved him already.

  On being questioned by William regarding his relationship to the other children, Max confirmed that he was a cousin. ‘There are a lot of us,’ he said. ‘My mother Susan is ’eldest of three sisters and then there are four older brothers as well, and all of them are married with five or six children. I’ve onny got one sister, though, so there’s just the two of us. Jenny’s fourteen and I’m twelve.’

  ‘And is your sister working?’ Nora asked him. There was a reason behind her question; she was considering that if Ada ever left her employ then this polite boy’s sister might be a possible replacement.

  ‘She works for my father. He’s a general grocer. We both work in ’shop at weekends and school holidays. Jenny helps behind ’counter and I’m ’errand lad. She’s started full time now she’s fourteen, but I’ve been given ’day off today.’