The Girl From Pit Lane

by Gracie Hart

  ‘Well, that’s that then. You take it easy these next few weeks, look after yourself and all will be well.’ Patsy stood up and patted Mary-Anne on her shoulder. ‘I should have known that Edmund Ellershaw had something to do with this. The man is depraved and his wife is such a well-to-do woman. I don’t know what she saw in him. I feel guilty that I never came after your mother’s death and warned you about him.’

  ‘You weren’t to know and you have enough of your own problems. Will you be getting a replacement lodger now that John has gone?’ Eliza asked, noticing Mary-Anne’s silence.

  ‘I think I’ll keep his room empty for a while. See how things pan out. Mick and I like our own company.’ Patsy cast her eye on the silk roses that Mary-Anne had been fashioning next to the fire for Priscilla Eavesham’s wedding dress; she’d put them to one side when Patsy had knocked on the door. ‘They are bonny!’ Patsy exclaimed. ‘Are they for somebody’s dress?’

  ‘They are for William Ellershaw’s bride and her bridesmaid. He is to wed Priscilla Eavesham from Levensthorpe Hall on the first Saturday in September,’ Mary-Anne said and went to pick them up.

  ‘That’ll be Edmund’s lad, is it? Aye, lass, you are making his son’s intended a wedding dress, while carrying his father’s child … I bet with every stitch you are wishing that family ill. He’ll only be like his father and be marrying for gain; they’ll never be happy. No good ever comes out of a marriage match for brass.’ Patsy pulled on her shawl.

  ‘I hate him as much as his father; I pity poor Priscilla. As you say, it will not be a happy marriage.’ Mary-Anne sighed.

  ‘Take their brass, lasses. Take as much as you can get out of them and then look after yourselves. And don’t worry, this baby will be born safely and then your true worries begin. If you decide to bring it up.’ Patsy kissed both girls on the cheek before saying farewell and stepped back into the sunshine on her walk back into Leeds. She’d a letter to write, one that she hoped would change John Vasey’s hasty decision and bring a little pleasure into Mary-Anne’s life.

  ‘I thought you had a liking for William Ellershaw?’ Eliza said as she cleared the table.

  ‘I hate him. He’s just like his father and Aunt Patsy is right, he is just marrying for money. That is all the family thinks about.’ Mary-Anne looked down at her stomach and rubbed her hand over it.

  ‘You’ve certainly changed your tune. Grace is all right, she’s put business our way,’ Eliza said as she rattled the pots.

  ‘She’s just the same, she’s using you. She knows that the dresses you make are special and that one day she will gain from it. I hate the whole lot of them. One day Edmund Ellershaw will regret the day he ever lay his hands on me. I don’t know how, but I will get my revenge. Mark my words, Eliza, they will hate my name by the time they have all had their day.’ Mary-Anne remembered her mother and thought of the heartache that she must have endured. Revenge just wouldn’t be for herself but for her mother too; it was time the tables were turned.

  Twenty Eight

  ‘Tom’s coming this evening. He can’t make Sunday, and, besides, I thought you’d probably not want to see him at the moment. I can’t wait, I haven’t seen him the last few weekends as I’ve been busy with the dresses and his mother decided he wanted him at home for a few Sundays. Selfish old bat.’ Eliza looked across at Mary-Anne. ‘He dropped a note in under the shop door to tell me.’

  ‘I’ll make myself scarce. You’re right, I don’t want him to see me in this state. Besides, it is best he doesn’t know, just in case I give the baby away. His mother would have a fit if she got wind that I was having a baby, and I’m surprised next door haven’t said anything yet.’ Mary-Anne looked worried. ‘They don’t usually miss a thing and would be the first to give my state away.’

  ‘You still don’t know what you are going to do, do you? Tom will have to know sometime; I’ve told him that you’ve been feeling under the weather and not been going to the shop or into Leeds these past weeks. He was worried about you, so I said it was because you were melancholy over John Vasey leaving for Liverpool, which is partly true; you haven’t been yourself since he left.’ Eliza glanced at her sister, fearing a backlash for saying the truth.

  ‘I can live without him, I don’t miss him that much. He’d only have dragged me over to America with him and what would I have done there? Besides, I couldn’t leave you on your own. Tom need not know anything until the baby is born, so don’t you go shooting your mouth off.’ Mary-Anne went quiet when she heard the knocker on the front door go.

  ‘He’s early … he said he’d be here at seven. It’s only six-thirty and he doesn’t usually knock nowadays.’ Eliza looked at herself in the mirror and pinched her cheeks in readiness to meet her lover. ‘Get yourself upstairs, Mary-Anne. I’ll wait until you are safely up before I open the door.’ She watched has Mary-Anne took herself up the stairs to her bedroom, where she lay silently on her bed.

  ‘I’m coming, Tom, won’t be a minute.’ She brushed her white apron down and opened the door latch with a wide beam on her face, closing her eyes and puckering her lips up to be kissed by her beau.

  ‘Now, that’s some greeting. John didn’t warn me of that. Tha’s a bit forward for our first meeting.’ George Towler stood on the doorstep and grinned, his sack of material down by his side, hastily dropped when confronted by the eager Eliza. ‘I’d have been here earlier, if I’d have known that was waiting for me.’

  Eliza opened her eyes and looked at the scruffy young man on her doorstep whom she had nearly kissed. ‘Who are you?’

  ‘I’m George. I worked down at the quay with John. Before he left he asked if I wanted to keep you supplied with any material I could get my hands on. It was on the understanding that you might give me the odd bob or two if it was to your liking. But I’ll not argue if you want to pay me another way … tha looked fair inviting just then.’

  ‘I think you’ve got me wrong, George. I’m not that sort of a woman. But I’ll have a look at what you’ve got in your sack. You’d better come in, we don’t want to do business in public.’ Eliza invited him into the house and took him into the kitchen. She stood by the side of the table and watched as he emptied the contents of his sack.

  ‘John said you wanted some white cotton. My lass says that’s what this is when I showed her it. I haven’t got a bloody clue myself so I hope this will do. John said you were looking for something white with tiny holes in it, but that sounded bloody wrong. What would you want with material with holes in it for? I asked myself.’ George laid his boards of material out upon the table and waited as Eliza looked at them. ‘There’s some good stuff there, lass; you’d pay a good price anywhere else. I can always lay my hands on more, if we can come to an agreement.’ George wiped his nose and waited as Eliza inspected and smiled.

  ‘I don’t know; the cotton is not that good in quality and this crepe looks as if it’s rolled around a bit. What do you want for it all? I haven’t got a lot of money in the house.’ Eliza played her usual game of bartering, not used to paying for the material in the past and not wanting to do so now.

  ‘I’d say five shillings for the lot; it’s nearly cost me that in boot leather, trailing it here from Leeds.’ George stood back and waited, watching Eliza’s expression as she pulled a face at his price.

  ‘Three shillings and sixpence,’ Eliza offered quickly.

  ‘Four shillings and that kiss you were readily making available to me if I’d been the right man.’ George grinned as she looked at him and wondered if she’d dare.

  ‘Right, we have a deal.’ Eliza reached for the money box and counted out the four shillings into George’s hand and braced herself to kiss a man she hardly knew, knowing she’d only to shout and Mary-Anne would come to her rescue if he got out of hand. She closed her eyes and put her arms around his neck kissing him on the lips quickly. He smelt of sweat and ale and she was glad when he released her. But as she stepped back she realised that the front door had opened and in the doorwa
y of the kitchen stood Tom, who had just witnessed the embrace.

  ‘I’ll have another one of them. Take a penny back and give me another, my old lass doesn’t do owt like that.’ George fumbled in his pocket as a look of sheer panic crossed Eliza’s face.

  She watched as Tom went down the passage without a word and slammed the front door. Racing after him she shouted, ‘Tom, Tom, wait! It isn’t what it seems. He’d only come to me with some material. He means nothing to me.’

  But Tom didn’t wait or reply. He remembered the conversation when Bert Simms had told him about her kissing somebody early morning at the garden gate and the gossip that the Wild girls attracted with their devil-may-care attitude to life. His mother had been right; she’d broken his heart and was nothing more than the hussy his mother had told him she was. That was the last time his feet would take him down Pit Lane, he thought, as he went deaf to the pleas that Eliza shouted at him, and hurried home.

  Mary-Anne closed the door behind the visitor that had caused so much upset. She sighed and nodded her head as she walked along the passage and into the kitchen, where her sister sat sobbing.

  ‘I thought that you had learned from the first time, when next door witnessed you with John, that you just can’t go kissing folk to get your own way.’ Mary-Anne sighed. ‘Don’t worry, Tom will be back. He thinks too much of you not to be.’ She poked the fire and looked at her sister.

  ‘He won’t. You didn’t see his face and he didn’t even turn when I shouted his name. I’m just an idiot, Mary-Anne, all for the sake of sixpence. But we’ve never paid for the material before and all I could think of was how much money we could make and would we even get paid for the dresses if, as you once said, the Eaveshams have no money.’ Eliza sobbed.

  ‘She wouldn’t dare not pay for her and Grace’s wedding attire, you idiot. You just like getting the cheapest deal you can and now it has backfired upon you. He wasn’t even good-looking and he smelt. You’d no reason to kiss him.’ Mary-Anne shook her head.

  ‘What am I going to do? Tom will never talk to me again and I’ve ruined my life.’ Eliza looked across at her sister with tears in her eyes.

  ‘When it comes to men, we’re not lucky, are we? Don’t ask me for advice, I’m not in any position to tell you anything. But if you do love him, go and see him, explain and tell him how much you love him. We both can’t be broken-hearted. Surely one of us must deserve the man we love in our lives.’ Mary-Anne ran her hand along the back of her sister’s shoulders and stood by her as she shook in grief.

  ‘I do love him, I don’t want anyone else. I wish I’d never opened the door to that rat and his material.’ Eliza looked at the boards of fabric still on the kitchen table. ‘You’d think I’d have learnt by your mistake, but no, I just blundered into losing my Tom, all for the sake of a lump of cotton.’

  ‘It’s fools that we are, Eliza, and now we are fools without a man in our lives.’ Mary-Anne sighed. ‘Perhaps it is best that way.’

  ‘No, one of us has to be happy in love; I won’t let my Tom go!’ Eliza wiped her eyes and lifted her chin firmly as she got angry with herself. ‘I’ll go and visit him tomorrow evening and explain.’

  Mary-Anne looked at her sister. She was determined, but somehow she doubted that Tom’s affections would be easy to win back, especially when he told his mother of the circumstances that he had found Eliza in. However, she’d leave her to it and hope that Tom would listen.

  ‘You’ve got to let me talk to him, Mrs Thackeray. I’ve got to explain. He’s got it all wrong.’ Eliza stood on the step of Tom’s home and begged his mother to let him come to the door.

  ‘You can just bugger off,’ Madge shouted at Eliza as she stood in the doorway. ‘I told him what sort of lass you were, but he didn’t listen. Well, now he’s learnt the hard way. You are not welcome here anymore. He wants nowt to do with you.’ Her face was red with anger, and she knew that her neighbours were listening to the ongoing exchange of words. ‘Now I’m closing the door and don’t come this way again. And don’t be thinking of pestering him at work. That would only make you look like a real hussy when them lot hear what you’ve been about. My Tom is a respectable lad and not for the likes of you.’ The door slammed in Eliza’s face as she stood her ground, defiant but beside herself with grief over losing the love of her life.

  ‘Well, piss off, you old bitch,’ Eliza shouted, and banged on the wooden door, belying her true feelings of who could have been her mother-in-law before she wandered back down Wood Lane sobbing and distraught. Her life in tatters.

  ‘Well, I did warn you, lad. Nowt but trouble, that’s what she is … just like their mother. She turned her man to drink, so she did. You heard her calling me an old bitch; no decent lass would come out with that language. Although she nearly had me fooled, coming with her baking and flowers and her sweet words. I should have known better.’ Madge Thackeray sat down across from her son and looked at the gloom that had been on his face for over a week now. ‘You are best off with your old mother. We want for nothing, and you never know, one day the right lass may come along.’

  ‘I thought Eliza was the right lass. I loved her, Ma, I nearly thought of wedding her. But when I saw that man offering her money for another kiss, I knew what Bert Simms had said was true. You can’t be in love with somebody like that, you’d never be able to trust her.’ Tom hung his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

  ‘You mean, this isn’t the first time she’s been seen with another man?’ Madge crossed her arms under her ample breasts and went a deeper shade of red.

  ‘Aye, Bert said he’d seen her early one morning with a fella, but I chose not to believe him. He’s always gossiping about somebody.’ Tom looked up at his mother.

  ‘The dirty little trollop and I’ve been letting you see her. Not again, do you hear? You have nothing more to do with her.’ Madge fumed.

  ‘I know, I should have listened, but I thought she loved me.’ Tom sighed. No matter what she had done, a part of his heart would always be hers.

  ‘That’s it then, she’s gone and things are back to normal.’ Madge stood up. ‘Now, I’ll make you a nice steak and kidney pudding and then you can read me the paper.’ Madge smiled; she’d got her precious son back, out of the arms of a wanton hussy, and he was not about to escape again.

  Twenty Nine

  ‘Isn’t it beautiful, Mama?’ Priscilla Eavesham looked at her reflection in the long mirror that stood at the back of Eliza’s workshop and admired herself. ‘The neckline is just superb and look at the fineness of the flowers that adorn the skirt and finish on the bodice.’ Priscilla turned one way and then the other and then looked at Grace as she came from behind a curtain that gave her privacy as she tried on her accompanying dress. ‘Grace, you look beautiful!’

  ‘I must agree, the dresses do look fine, but the premises, Priscilla … they are quite unbelievable. Your father would not be impresssed.’ Alice Eavesham looked around her with disdain as Eliza pulled the skirt out to the full extent of her daughter’s wedding dress. ‘And this chair that I’m sitting on … I’ve seen better in the gardener’s potting shed.’

  ‘Mother, do you know how rude you are being? Just look at Grace and myself. Now tell me where else could we have found dresses like these? Forget about where they are made. Eliza here is just starting out; I’m sure better premises will be secured in time.’ Priscilla smiled at Eliza as she moved over to Grace, her lack of comment being noted by both Grace and herself.

  ‘I think Eliza here will be a name to be remembered in years to come. I’ve never worn a more exquisite dress. Everyone will comment about them, Mrs Eavesham … all our friends are followers of Miss Eliza’s work.’ Grace smiled down at Eliza as she pinned and tucked her skirt, making the last few adjustments.

  ‘I just think we could have gone to somewhere a little more established. I’m in no doubt that the dresses are well made, it’s just they don’t have a name behind them, do they?’ Alice Eavesham looked at Eliza
in her plain clothes and straight, long blonde hair and then gazed out of the window as the girls looked at their reflections together and giggled. ‘What does your mother think, Grace? Would she not back me up?’

  ‘I don’t think she will be too worried where the dresses come from as long as they fit and look the part, and these certainly do. Besides, she knows I support both Mary-Anne and Eliza, and purchase clothes on a regular basis. I have always found them to be of good quality. My father might complain, but what does he know about ladies’ fashion?’ Grace smiled at Eliza, noticing the worried look upon her face.

  ‘Oh, I suppose if they are good enough for your mother, then I’m just being a pain. Your mother always shows good taste and is well known in society. You both look beautiful, my dears.’ Alice stood up and looked at both radiant girls. ‘The trouble is, I can’t believe that I am to lose my only daughter so soon. Your brother had better take care of her, Grace.’

  ‘I’m sure he will, Mrs Eavesham, he’s counting the days to the wedding now, along with my mother.’ Grace smiled.

  ‘And your father?’ Alice enquired.

  ‘Father is Father – if it doesn’t include coal he is not too bothered. Although I think he is glad that William is to manage High Watermill, as he showed no interest in mining and is thankful that Mr Eavesham and my grandfather have given William the opportunity to prove himself. Everyone has to start somewhere and we all know William truly loves Priscilla.’

  ‘Thank you dear Grace, I cannot wait until we are sisters-in-law.’ Priscilla smiled and took a final look at herself in the mirror, as Eliza stood back and admired her handiwork on both.

  ‘Right, girls, if you are happy I will accept them both. Go and get changed behind that dreadful curtain. Hopefully no one will be able to see you.’ Alice watched as both young women giggled and followed Eliza to change back to their daywear behind the curtain that saved them from prying eyes. ‘Deliver them to Levensthorpe and I will see you get paid,’ she told Eliza. ‘I want an itemized bill, mind you; nothing else will do. I need to know just exactly what was used in the making of these dresses.’ She pulled on her gloves and waited, standing next to the shop window. She turned and looked at the two girls who were flushed with excitement. ‘How one could make such a thing of beauty in such squalid conditions I really don’t know. But there you go. Perhaps you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Come, girls, we are to have tea with your mother, Grace, at Highfield; she will be waiting and wanting to know our progress. I can tell her now that the dresses are complete at least.’