Winners and Losers

by Catrin Collier

  ‘All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one,’ Father Kelly recited in his rich Irish brogue. ‘But we should not forget that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’

  The ‘Amen’ that followed resounded in the still air, muffling the sound of the coffin hitting the earth at the bottom of the grave. Mrs Palmer, Betty Morgan and Huw’s sister each threw a rosebud into the grave and Sali dropped the posy of rosebuds she’d cut that morning.

  ‘Well,’ Billy Evans said as he limped alongside Sali and his sons back towards the road, ‘that was some funeral service, but I don’t think it could be said to be Catholic, chapel or Anglican.’

  ‘It was beautiful.’ Sali laid her hands over her stomach. She could feel her baby moving within her and, remembering Megan’s story of how Lena had been orphaned, prayed that she’d be able to give it a better life than Lena’s parents had given her. She stopped and looked back from the gate. Huw Davies was standing alone at the edge of the grave watching the gravediggers filling it in. ‘He shouldn’t be by himself.’

  ‘He’s not,’ Lloyd reassured. ‘Look behind him.’

  Huw’s father, brothers and sister were waiting for him.

  ‘Let’s go home.’ Victor felt that he had never needed Megan quite as much as he did at that moment.

  ‘The bloody minister must have planned this,’ Billy swore angrily as Annie fought back tears. ‘He knew we’d be at the funeral, that there wouldn’t be a man in the house.’

  ‘Victor,’ Lloyd stood in front of the door, blocking his brother’s path, ‘where are you going?’

  ‘To see Mr Walker to find out where her father’s taken her.’

  ‘You confront Mr Walker in this mood and you’ll be spending the next ten years in gaol,’ Lloyd warned.

  Victor eyed his brother then turned on his heel.

  ‘Joey, stop him!’ Lloyd shouted, as Victor headed for the basement door.

  Joey did his best, but at six foot, he was six inches shorter and three stone lighter than Victor, who picked him up and set him to one side before opening the basement door and leaving.

  Mr Evans reached for his cap. ‘I still haven’t got the hang of this leg. You boys run on ahead to the minister’s and try to stop Victor from doing something he’ll regret. Sali, you stay here,’ he ordered, as she exchanged the veiled hat she’d worn to the funeral for her everyday one. ‘We can’t risk you getting involved in anything in your condition.’

  Sali looked at Annie, who was still tearfully clutching Harry.

  ‘I shouldn’t have let them take her ...’

  ‘You couldn’t have stopped them, Annie,’ Sali comforted her. ‘Megan’s father had the law on his side, a police sergeant to enforce it and Mr Walker as his witness.’

  ‘What do we do now?’ Annie asked.

  Sali set her mouth into a thin grim line. ‘We wait.’

  ‘The minister isn’t in,’ Mrs Walker snapped when she opened her front door to see Victor filling her small porch.

  Victor pushed his foot in the doorway when Mrs Walker tried to close the door. ‘Then I’ll wait until he comes back.’

  ‘Not in this house, you won’t, I don’t allow strangers inside.’

  ‘What time are you expecting him?’

  ‘I’m not. Jenny?’ Mrs Walker shrieked to her maid of all work. ‘Go out the back door and run to the police station to fetch a constable. Tell him we have trouble at Mr Walker’s house.’

  ‘I need to see the minister urgently,’ Victor pleaded. ‘He has taken my fiancée ...’

  Lloyd looked up the hill and saw Victor shouting at Mrs Walker on the porch of her detached villa.

  ‘You know what he’s like when it comes to anything to do with Megan. We’ll never calm him down.’ Joey ran alongside Lloyd as he quickened his pace.

  ‘I doubt that Mr Walker took her to his house. I’ll see what I can do here. You go down to the station and see if they’ve already left Tonypandy by train.’

  ‘They could have gone by tram.’

  ‘Whatever,’ Lloyd countered impatiently. ‘Annie said they left the house in a hired brake. Someone must have seen them.’ He charged up the hill towards Victor, who was still shouting at Mrs Walker. Lloyd lifted his hat and slowed his step as he walked up the steps to Mrs Walker’s front door.

  ‘I’ve sent for the police.’ She tried to slam the door again, but Victor refused to move his foot.

  ‘Victor,’ Lloyd touched his brother’s arm, ‘I think Mrs Walker wants to close her front door.’

  ‘And I want to see Mr Walker,’ Victor repeated obdurately.

  ‘I am sure that Mrs Walker can have no objection to us waiting on the road for her husband.’ Lloyd smiled at the minister’s wife.

  Victor looked at the woman and realized he’d terrified her. He moved his foot and lifted his cap. ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Walker but -’

  The door slammed in his face.

  ‘I sent Joey to the station to see if he can find out where the hired brake took Megan and her father.’

  The anger that had sustained Victor ebbed and he sank down on the doorstep in despair. ‘It’s as Annie said. Megan’s father had Sergeant Martin with him. That man does everything by the book. The law is on their side. She’s her father’s daughter and he can do whatever he wants with her.’

  ‘Whatever we think of Mr Williams, or however misguided he is, he must care for Megan and sincerely believed that he is doing what is best for her.’

  ‘Do you really think that?’ Victor questioned acidly. ‘You heard Annie. The Sergeant said Megan was in need of moral protection. You know what that means. They could put her into a correctional ward in a workhouse and even if I find her I’d have no right to take her out. Not until she is twenty-one and perhaps not even then if her father has had her committed.’

  ‘He could have taken her home.’ Lloyd sat beside him.

  ‘And pay for her keep?’ Victor dismissed cynically. ‘All he’s interested in, all he has ever been interested in, are the postal orders Megan sends him.’

  ‘Well, there won’t be any more of those.’

  ‘If I had money I could try to buy him off, but as much as he loves money I doubt he’d take it from a Catholic.’ Victor rose to his feet and dusted off the back of his trousers when he saw the maid, Jenny, walk up the steps accompanied by a constable.

  ‘We’ve had a report of a disturbance here,’ the constable informed them officiously.

  ‘We are waiting for Mr Walker. He removed a young girl from my father’s house this morning,’ Lloyd interposed. ‘And we are concerned for her safety.’

  ‘Constable.’ Mr Walker opened his front door and joined them.

  ‘Mr Walker,’ Victor crossed his arms and looked at him. ‘Mrs Walker said you weren’t in the house.’

  ‘I have just walked in through the back door.’ He turned to the constable. ‘Sergeant Martin, whom I’m sure you know, and I helped a young girl’s father to remove her from Mr William Evans’ house this morning because she was in a morally precipitous situation. Her father is her legal guardian.’

  ‘How old was the girl?’ The constable unbuttoned the breast pocket on his tunic and removed a notebook and pencil.

  ‘Under twenty and she was in moral danger.’

  ‘And she is now with her father?’ The constable scribbled a note.

  ‘She is.’

  ‘Where?’ Victor demanded.

  ‘Somewhere where she will receive care and Christian guidance and you will never find her.’

  ‘Victor!’ Lloyd pulled his brother back as he towered over Mr Walker.

  ‘I will find her, Mr Walker, and if she has been harmed or humiliated in any way, I will be back here to make you pay for what you did this morning.’

  ‘You heard him, constable, he’s threatening me,’ the minister squeaked. ‘His name is Victor Evans. He’
s a criminal -’

  ‘I will do a lot more than threaten you if you’ve hurt Megan.’ Victor advanced on the minister.

  Mr Walker retreated and crashed backwards into the wall of his house. ‘I’m injured, send for the doctor,’ he cried, rubbing the crown of his head.

  The constable put his hand on Victor’s arm. ‘You’d better come with me.’

  ‘You’re arresting him?’ Lloyd looked from Mr Walker to the constable.

  ‘Threatening behaviour and bodily harm,’ he confirmed.

  ‘Victor never touched Mr Walker,’ Lloyd protested.

  ‘But he caused him injury. That’s bodily harm.’

  ‘Take him away.’ Mr Walker ran into his porch. ‘And if any of you Evanses come round here again, I’ll send for the police. I’ll see the lot of you in gaol for corrupting that girl.’

  Lloyd ran his hands through his hair. ‘Dear God, Victor, I begged you to stay home.’

  ‘You can’t keep me away from Victor forever. I love him and he loves me -’

  ‘Any more fuss from you, girl, and I’ll put you in the workhouse and tell them to throw away the key,’ Ianto Williams warned Megan, as they sat in a third-class carriage.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’

  ‘That’s for me to know, and you to find out. But don’t for one minute think that I didn’t mean what I said about the workhouse. You’re under twenty-one and I can do what I like with you.’

  ‘I haven’t even a change of clothes.’

  ‘You won’t need one where you’re going,’ her father interrupted ominously. ‘Now sit quiet. I can’t think for all your jabbering.’

  Any hopes Megan had of running away from her father faded when they reached Cardiff station. A woman and two men were waiting for them. The woman and a man moved either side of her, grabbing her arms and holding her tight. Her father and the other man went into the waiting room. They emerged a few minutes later. Her father walked away without a backward glance. She was hustled down the steps that led from the platform and up another flight. A train was waiting. The men pushed her into a carriage. The woman sat beside her, a whistle was blown and they moved off.

  ‘Gwyn Jenkins came up to the house. He told me that Victor is in court again tomorrow?’ Mr Evans caught up with Lloyd outside the police station.

  ‘Unfortunately,’ Lloyd confirmed.

  ‘This is one instance I can’t send for Geoffrey Francis, unless he’s prepared to defer payment until we start back in the pit.’

  ‘Given the amount of work our family has put his way lately, I’m sure he’d be happy to do that. Victor’s going to need a good solicitor. He didn’t hit Mr Walker, but he did threaten him, unfortunately in front of a constable, his wife and me, so even I could be called as witness for the prosecution. And he frightened Mr Walker into backing into a wall. Apparently, technically at least, that constitutes bodily harm.’

  ‘What about extenuating circumstances? He was looking for his fiancée.’

  ‘Who is under age and in the guardianship of her father,’ Lloyd reminded.

  ‘So it’s not looking good.’

  ‘That’s putting it mildly. Look, there’s Joey, I sent him down the station to see if he could find out where the brake took Megan and her father. Any luck?’ Lloyd asked his younger brother.

  ‘They caught the Cardiff train, but as Phil station said, they could have got off anywhere on the way, Porth, Ponty, or even changed in Cardiff to get a train to Swansea. I heard about Victor, dull,’ a constable passed them and Joey tempered his language, ‘idiot. Magistrates’ court in the morning, I suppose.’

  ‘It’s become a family tradition,’ Billy Evans agreed sourly.

  ‘Sali must be worried sick. I’m going home.’ Lloyd lifted his hat to a group of women who passed them.

  ‘I’ll call in the County Club on the way; we’re hoping to hear something from management today on when the pits will reopen. I’ll see you back at the house later.’

  ‘If you like, I’ll come up to the County Club with you, Dad.’

  ‘I’m seeing to union business. There’s no money for drinking,’ Mr Evans warned.

  ‘With Lloyd needing to spend more time with Sali, I thought I could take over some of his work,’ Joey said.

  ‘You volunteering to help the union?’ Billy said in amazement.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Never let it be said that I turned away a volunteer. Let’s go and quickly, before you change your mind.’

  ‘I’ll go down to Pontypridd tomorrow and see Mr Richards.’ Sali dropped the last potato she’d peeled into a saucepan of water.

  ‘My father intends asking Geoffrey Francis if he’ll take the case, so there’s no need to involve Mr Richards.’ Lloyd looked around the kitchen. ‘Where’s Harry?’

  ‘Playing on the mountain with Dewi and a gang of small boys. They called after you left and informed me that they were off to discover a new world. I told them that I hoped it would be an improvement on this one, made them a couple of jam sandwiches, gave them a bottle of water and sent them on their way.’

  ‘I hope they succeed. This world is looking pretty miserable at the moment.’ Lloyd sat on the easy chair.

  ‘I thought it might be worth asking Mr Richards if he could try to find out where Megan’s father has taken her. I had a long talk with Annie after you left, went over everything she could remember and I have a feeling, from what the sergeant said about Megan needing moral guidance, they’ve put her into a workhouse.’

  ‘And I think her father is too fond of money to put her somewhere where she won’t be earning any money, but even if he has put her in a workhouse, there’s nothing we can do about it, sweetheart. Her father’s her legal guardian.’

  ‘Housekeepers looking for staff go to workhouses to recruit girls.’

  He gave her a small smile. ‘Housekeepers like Mari?’

  ‘Precisely, if we find out where Megan is.’

  ‘Clever girl.’ He patted his lap. ‘Come here for five minutes.’

  Sali looked down at her swollen body. ‘The two of us are too big for you.’

  ‘Rubbish.’ He grabbed her hand and pulled her down as she tried to pass his chair. Wrapping his arms around her, he rested his hands lightly on her bump. The baby moved and he smiled. ‘Did you feel that?’

  ‘I’m pregnant not insensitive, Lloyd.’

  ‘She’s going to be a dancer.’

  ‘Or a footballer.’

  ‘It will be a girl, you mark my words.’

  She fell serious. ‘I only hope Megan will be around when he or she arrives in six weeks. I was counting on her to help.’

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Every muscle in Megan’s body ached. She was in pain, completely exhausted but worst of all, she had absolutely no idea where she was. The men had pulled the blinds on their carriage windows so she hadn’t been able to read the signs at the stations they’d passed through. And, as they hadn’t left the train until after darkness had fallen and she had been hustled straight into a van, she hadn’t been able to read any signs at their destination. They had driven for what seemed like hours, and now, as she stared up at the grey, forbidding mansion in front of her, she wanted to sink to the ground and cry.

  There were bars at every window, and she counted four locks as well as bolts being drawn back when one of the men tugged at the bell pull on the front door. They stepped inside and the man who had admitted them proceeded to lock the door behind them.

  ‘The girl Mr Walker recommended?’ A woman in a matron’s uniform walked down the corridor to meet them.

  Megan had to strain to hear her. The noise level was unbearable; high-pitched screams, cries and moans echoed into the high-ceilinged hall that was lit by a single inadequate gas lamp. She clapped her hands over her ears.

  ‘You’ll get used to the noise.’ The woman who had accompanied her finally broke her silence.

  ‘Where am I?’ Megan ventured.

  ‘In an asylum.�
�

  ‘My father has had me committed to an asylum?’

  ‘You are not mad, are you?’ the matron asked.

  Megan shook her head.

  ‘Good, because you will be employed here as a maid.’

  ‘A maid.’ Megan breathed a heady sigh of relief. She’d get days off, she would find out where she was and get a letter to Victor ...

  ‘We’ve paid your father in advance for your services. You will get time off but you will not be permitted to leave the building and the walled garden. There is no point.’ The matron gave her a cold smile that failed to reach her eyes. ‘It is over twenty miles to the nearest farmhouse, thirty to the village.’

  The following morning Victor appeared before Porth magistrates, who listened to Geoffrey Francis’ pleas and released him on condition that he stay away from Mr Walker’s house, and pay a bail of fifty pounds, which to his shame, Sali arranged to borrow from Mr Richards against the ring that the solicitor hadn’t, as yet, managed to sell for her. He returned home from the court morose, silent and determined to travel to the Swansea Valley to ask Megan’s father what he had done with her.

  ‘If someone doesn’t go with Victor, he could end up on another charge of threatening behaviour, or creating a disturbance and assault,’ Sali warned Lloyd, when Victor went upstairs to pack a spare shirt.

  ‘We don’t have enough money to pay one train fare to the Swansea Valley, let alone two,’ Lloyd pointed out. ‘And as Victor is determined to walk and get rides where he can, he’s better off going alone.’

  ‘If I wasn’t pregnant you’d be going with him.’

  ‘But you are pregnant, Sali,’ Lloyd said logically.

  ‘Sali’s right,’ Billy Evans said flatly. ‘Victor can’t be trusted to go alone.’

  Although Lloyd was glad that his father was reasserting his authority and resuming his place as head and mentor of the family, he was concerned at the thought of leaving Sali. The baby wasn’t due for weeks but the warm weather had taken a toll on her health. ‘I can’t leave Sali, and you can’t go with him because you’re needed to finalize the arrangements for the reopening of the pits with management. There’s no use in Joey going because he’s even more headstrong than Victor,’ he added, glad that Joey was delivering goods for Connie and wasn’t there to argue with him.