by Valerie Wood
She led Eleanor through the curtain into a small room furnished with a table and four chairs. On the table stood a loaf of bread and a jug of milk. In the corner of the room a parrot in a cage was chattering to itself as it preened; the old lady threw a cloth over it.
‘He talks non-stop when we have visitors,’ she said. ‘Can’t shut him up. Now then, dearie.’ She pulled out a chair for Eleanor and one for herself. ‘Sit down and tell Aunt Marie all about it.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Eleanor didn’t tell her the full story, of course, but what she did tell Aunt Marie was that she was no longer able to live with her parents and so had come to find her brother who was now working in London.
‘What? You’ve come all the way from the north to find him and you haven’t got his address?’
Eleanor shook her head and dried her tears and accepted the small glass of ale which was offered to her. It was her first taste of alcohol and she didn’t really like it, but she was thirsty as well as hungry, so she sipped it and eyed the bread on the table.
‘You want some of that?’ Marie asked her. ‘I seen you lookin’ at it. You can have a slice and welcome.’ She got up from her chair, seized a knife and cut a thick slice from the loaf, which Eleanor took gratefully. There was no butter or jam offered with it and when Eleanor looked about her she saw that there was little else in the room that would serve as an evening meal.
Marie sat down again and placed both hands on her ample hips as she considered. ‘Our Josh might know the name,’ she said. ‘He works below on the wharves. Got a regular job with one of the wharfingers; he’s not one of your casual labourers ain’t Josh, not one of the butcher, baker, candlestick-maker men down on their luck and desperate to earn half a crown.’
She leaned forward and spoke in a confidential whisper. ‘He was doing all right till he married yonder tuppenny-ha’penny hussy. Caught him in a weak moment she did, flashing her Scotch pegs and getting herself pregnant when he was old enough to know better. Now she spends all he earns.’ She sat back, pursing her lips and nodding her head. ‘She reckons it’s for the child, but I’ve seen the stuff she brings home, shoes and clothes and what not, and she pays nothing for her board and lodging!’
Eleanor made what she hoped were the right comments, but she really didn’t understand half of what Aunt Marie was saying.
‘Anyway, Josh might know your brother or the company he works for. He knows most folk hereabouts.’ She sighed. ‘But where will you stay? We’ve no spare bed, but you can sit in a chair by the fire, if you’ve a mind.’
‘Oh, yes please,’ Eleanor said eagerly. ‘I would be so grateful if I could. I don’t know what to do or where to go otherwise.’
‘All right, that’s settled.’ Marie got up from her chair. ‘Now then, I’ve to mind the shop whilst Dolly goes out for our supper. Can you manage to entertain the baby for a bit?’
‘Oh, I think so. I don’t know. I’ve never done it before.’ Eleanor too rose from her chair. ‘I’m sure I’ll be able to.’
She followed the old lady into the shop and listened as she gave instructions to the girl to get pie and peas for four, and then took the child from her. ‘And don’t hang about,’ Marie added. ‘Josh will be here any time now and will want his dinner on the table.’
Dolly stuck her head in the air. ‘What he wants and what he gets are two different things,’ she said saucily. ‘And don’t let her drop ’im.’ She looked pointedly at Eleanor.
Aunt Marie handed over the child. ‘She won’t drop ’im,’ she said. ‘Now go!’
Dolly tossed her head and flounced out of the shop, but then she came back. ‘What about money? I ain’t got any.’
Marie gave her a mean look and put her hand in her apron pocket. ‘You’ve never spent what Josh gave you?’
The girl shrugged. ‘Might have. Nuffink to do with you.’
Marie flung some coins towards her and Dolly had to scrabble on the floor to pick them up. They cast looks of hatred at each other as the girl went out again.
Eleanor took the baby into the other room and sat him on her knee. She had never held a baby before and thought of how many new experiences she was having. He was a sweet-faced boy, although very dirty and not very sweet-smelling. He put up his chubby hand to pat her cheek and when she smiled down at him he gurgled, spouting bubbles from his mouth.
She heard the sound of voices coming from the front shop. The child heard them too and bounced up and down on her knee, clapping his hands. ‘Dada,’ he chortled. ‘Dada.’
A thick-set man with mutton chop whiskers ducked his head beneath the curtain and came into the room. The child held up his arms to be picked up.
‘How’s my little Tommy then?’ Josh said. He was much older than Eleanor had expected him to be, and no matter that, according to his mother, Dolly had inveigled him into marriage, he was clearly delighted with his young son.
He threw the child into the air and Eleanor caught her breath in suspense. Dolly had warned her not to drop him and here was Josh tossing him up and catching him in his brawny arms, to the child’s shrieking delight.
‘So,’ Josh said, looking down at Eleanor. ‘You’re a stranger to these parts. Come all the way from the north?’ The way he said it, it sounded as if she was from a foreign country.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I live – lived – in Hull and I’ve come to look for my brother. He’s been in London for about five years, I believe, but we – I’ve only recently heard from him. His name is Kendall, Simon Kendall, and I think he works for someone called Manners.’
Josh shook his head. ‘Never heard of ’em.’ He lifted Tommy up towards the ceiling and gave him a little shake. ‘You sure it’s a legit company?’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said apologetically. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I mean is it a proper company and not a fly-by-night? One that operates illegally – you know, handles stolen goods.’
‘Oh,’ she gasped. ‘I’m sure Simon wouldn’t do anything like that. He was brought up to be honest.’ But as she said it, she remembered the money apparently stolen by Simon from her father’s room, and the fact that she had sold some of her parents’ silver; and, even worse, remembered why her father was being taken to court, and she flushed deeply.
Josh saw her blushes. ‘Don’t mean to upset you, miss, but there’s always a lot of thieving at any dock or wharf. Folks set up in a warehouse or even in the back of a waggon and call themselves a company. They have men working from ships who offload to them and take a backhander. It’s hard to know who’s who.’
‘I see,’ Eleanor said huskily. ‘Then I don’t know. I only know we found a slip, probably from a packing case, printed with the name Manners Incorporated, and I assumed it was where he worked.’
‘I’ll ask around tomorrow,’ he said. ‘Somebody might know. Now then.’ He tossed the child into the air again. ‘Where’s your ma got to with our supper?’
After a supper of meat pie and peas, a few pieces of coal were put on the fire. Eleanor was given a thin cushion to place on her chair and a crate to put her feet on. Josh, Dolly and the child went into the shop with rolled-up palliasses and blankets, and Aunt Marie curled up in a corner on a straw mattress with a blanket over her.
Eleanor was astonished that no one washed or changed their clothing before going to bed, and for her own personal needs she was taken out to a privy in the yard. There was a water tap on the wall beside it and she rinsed her hands before she came back inside.
It’s very early for bed, she thought, but there’s nothing to read and nothing to do, except perhaps have conversation, and maybe they get up very early. She gazed into the fire and listened to Aunt Marie’s snores, and could hear low laughter coming from Dolly in the front shop and the rumble of Josh’s voice. Then she heard grunting and banging and thought it sounded like someone in pain. But then she heard a shout followed by a laugh and all went quiet again.
Someone fooling about outside, I
expect, she thought, and was comforted by the fact that Josh was so big and strong that he would quell any trouble should it come.
She barely slept, for she was uncomfortable on the straight-backed chair, and began to feel chilled as the fire burned low. There was one piece of coal left in the hearth, but no tongs, so she gingerly picked it up with her fingers and threw it on the fire.
The next morning Josh was up at five o’clock. He came into the room with a bucket of coal and, leaning over Eleanor, who was half asleep, he built up the fire and set the kettle over it, then cut a slice of bread from the loaf which had been left on the table overnight.
‘Cup o’ tea, miss?’ he whispered as the kettle started to boil.
‘Please,’ she answered croakily. ‘That’s very kind of you.’
‘That’s all right. I’m always first up. I start work at half past five, or as soon as it’s light, so I get my own breakfast.’
She watched him as he spread his bread with some kind of fat from a jar; dripping, she thought, like Cook drains off the meat. I wonder what it tastes like.
He saw her watching him. ‘Want some?’ he asked with his mouth full.
She put her finger to her lips. ‘Yes please.’
He cut another thick slice of bread and spread it with the fat, sprinkled it with salt and handed it to her, without a plate. As she took it she wondered vaguely if he had washed his hands this morning, but she bit into it and found it strangely satisfying, if rather greasy.
He cut himself another slice and ate it, then stood up and said, ‘Must be off. I’ll ask if anybody’s come across your brother. But if I were you, I’d go down to the warehouses behind the wharves and ask there. You just might find somebody who knows him. Take care, though, and don’t take any chances. Always ask for the manager or wharfinger and don’t ask the men.’
She thanked him and he went off whistling, not bothering now about being quiet.
Once Aunt Marie, Dolly and the baby were up and had finished their breakfast of tea and bread, Eleanor said she was going to wander down towards the warehouses as Josh had suggested and make enquiries about her brother.
‘You take care now who you’re talking to,’ Marie said. ‘They’re not all genuine dock labourers. There are some thieving bank clerks and so-called gen’lemen who are there to make a dishonest penny and would thieve from you as soon as look at you.’
‘May I come back?’ Eleanor asked. ‘If I don’t find Simon, I mean. I’m willing to pay you for your trouble.’
‘Bless you, child, it’s no trouble,’ Marie said, but Eleanor noticed that Dolly turned up her nose.
Eleanor walked back towards the Thames. There were still crowds of people there and she came to the conclusion that this was how it always was; today there were stalls set up along the bank selling everything from tarnished jewellery and sweet-smelling lavender to whelks and jellied eels.
Although it was possible to walk along the embankment looking over the Thames, the docks and wharves below were blocked by the warehouses and they stretched for miles. It was like another town with buildings crowded one against the other. Nevertheless, she found her way down there and chose the first passageway between two warehouses. Immediately someone shouted at her that it was private property so she turned back and ventured through another entry.
Some of the routes through went straight down to the river; others were obstructed by buildings or sheds, and she came to the conclusion that these had been built after the larger structures, almost as if someone had come along with a barrowload of wood, found a space and put up a structure.
Someone else called out to her. ‘Who you looking for, miss?’
‘I’m sorry if I’m trespassing,’ she said. ‘But I’m looking for Manners Incorporated.’
‘Who?’ The man took off his cap and scratched his head.
‘Manners Incorporated. They’re an import company, I believe.’
‘Hang on a minute,’ he said, and shouted to someone. ‘Bill! Do you know anybody called Manners?’
The workman, who was pushing a barrow, called back, ‘Never heard of him.’
‘Sorry, miss, can’t help you. And I have to tell you that strangers are not welcome here.’
‘I need to speak to a manager,’ she said, remembering what Josh had said, ‘or a wharfinger.’
‘I am a manager,’ he told her and she was astonished, for she thought that a manager would at least wear a coat and trousers and not a pair of greasy breeches and flannel shirt.
‘I beg your pardon,’ she said, and in a small voice added, ‘It’s just that I’m looking for my brother and I don’t have any more information than that name.’
‘Well, I’m really sorry, miss. Try the company offices; they would know.’
She thanked him and turned back and went in search of a company office. But again she drew a blank. No one had ever heard of Manners Incorporated or her brother Simon. Now she was beginning to have doubts. Perhaps after all the slip of paper had got into the letter by mistake and was nothing whatever to do with Simon.
In which case, she pondered, as she walked with aching feet back towards Aunt Marie’s house, I’ll have to go home. Prudently she had set aside some of the money from the sale of the silver, which would pay for the return journey, but she felt melancholy at the prospect of it. How can I face up to the shame of my father’s disgrace and my mother’s downfall? Her friends and Mr Walton’s will know about it and will be constantly tittle-tattling, and how can I live with that? What do I do about the servants? Suppose we lose the house, and what will I do for money?
Over and over she put the questions to herself, but she found no answers.
She was exhausted by the time she reached the shop; she had walked and walked and had been appalled by the poverty she had seen in the district beyond the port area. Rows of dank, dark, one-roomed cottages, little more than blackened wooden boxes with old women sitting outside, stretching out their hands as she approached. Dirty barefoot children followed her begging for a penny for bread, and men crowded outside beer shops turned to watch as she passed, making her feel uneasy and vulnerable.
She hadn’t eaten all day, for she hadn’t seen anywhere where she would have wanted to buy food, and had merely taken a drink of water from a pump, but when she walked into the shop she was met by the smell of boiling cabbage and onions emanating from the back room.
Eleanor swallowed. She was hungry, but the stench of cabbage was overpowering. Dolly was in the shop with the baby, but she didn’t speak when Eleanor came in.
‘Is Aunt Marie in?’ Eleanor asked. Dolly tossed her head towards the back room.
Marie was stirring the contents of a pot on the fire and muttering to herself. She looked up when Eleanor came in. ‘That young – young,’ she took a breath, ‘madam! She’s spent every penny our Josh’s earned and there’s nuffink left till payday. He needs plenty of food for his kind of work and all I could scrounge was cabbage and onions. I sold all that lot I bought the other day!’
‘I’ll buy something,’ Eleanor said eagerly. ‘I must pay you back for your hospitality.’ She fished into her purse and brought out a shilling. ‘Here,’ she said, holding out her hand. ‘Take this. Please.’
The old lady looked at it. ‘A shilling!’ she said incredulously. ‘A bob! You can’t go giving that sort o’ money away.’ She blew out her cheeks. ‘Gimme a tanner if you’ve got one, that’ll be plenty.’
It didn’t seem much, Eleanor thought as she put the shilling back in her purse and handed over sixpence, but perhaps I can give her something another day. If I’m still here. If Josh hasn’t found out anything about the Manners company, then I’ll have to go home. There’s nothing else I can do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Josh came in hungry from work and was angry that there was only soup and bread for his supper. He shouted at his wife for being a spendthrift but she shouted back that he should take on extra work seeing as they had to keep his mother as well as thems
elves and their child.
‘Ma makes money from the shop,’ he bawled at her and Eleanor cringed. ‘We managed well enough before.’
Eleanor was sure he was about to say before he married her, but Dolly picked up young Tommy and said they would go home to her own mother if that was how he felt.
Josh immediately calmed down and Eleanor felt sorry for him. Yet how could Dolly threaten him with taking his son, she wondered, when Mama had said that she had no rights over Eleanor herself? She said I would have to stay with my father. Perhaps it’s different with poorer people.
She discovered that Marie took trips into town and scoured the backs of restaurants and cafés asking or sometimes searching in refuse pails for scabby vegetables that had been thrown out.
‘Round ’ere, darling, they ain’t so particular about a bit o’ mould or caterpillar,’ she told her, ‘but not all of ’em can get on a bus into town. You wouldn’t believe what those West End cooks throw out, so I rescue it and sell it on for a copper or two. We ain’t poor, but we ain’t rich either, so it buys a few extras.’
Marie gave Dolly a penny and told her to go out and get some of yesterday’s bread, if there was any left, to augment the soup. Dolly took it sullenly and went out muttering that she hadn’t known she was going to be an errand girl or she would never have come, but Marie ignored her comments and poured milk into a cup for Tommy and spoon-fed it into his mouth.
‘Did you find out anything about Manners?’ Eleanor asked Josh diffidently. ‘Did anyone know of them?’
Josh pulled a wry face. ‘Well, yes and no,’ he answered. ‘None of the regular men had heard of them, but we’ve had a casual labourer working for us and when I asked him he seemed a bit cagey. When I pressed him and said somebody was looking for a relative, he opened up a bit. He said he’d worked at Cinnabar Wharf a few months back, down Wapping way. It deals in tea, coffee, spices, that sort of commodity, not like St Katharine’s where I work. We handle valuable cargo: ivory, marble, wines and so on; that’s why we have more regular workers. You’d never get on to our wharves, security’s that tight.
