The Doorstep Girls Read online

  Grace laughed. ‘I don’t know yet what Miss Morris wants. She mebbe will ask ’impossible of me, but I’d like to go and find out. Mr Newmarch says that he’ll take me to her if I decide to go. I’ve to let him know my decision –’

  Her voice trailed away. The broad figure of a young man was striding in front of them. He was wearing wide cotton trousers and a thick wool jumper, and carried a canvas bag over his shoulder. ‘Look,’ she murmured. ‘Ruby! It looks like—’

  ‘It is!’ Ruby shrieked. ‘It is! Daniel! Daniel!’

  The man turned around on hearing his name, and his sun-browned face beamed. The girls ran towards him and he put down his bag and held out his arms to enfold them. Ruby reached him first and started to cry again as he hugged her, and Grace’s eyes sparkled as he put his arm around her. He stood back, holding them out at arm’s length so that he could gaze at them.

  ‘Look at you, Ruby,’ he laughed. ‘How lovely you look. As plump as a chicken! And Grace,’ his laughter faded. ‘Grace! You’ve been ill? You’re so pale and thin!’

  ‘No, not ill,’ she answered quietly. ‘But there’s been a good deal happening since you went away, Daniel. We shall tell all. Come back for a cup of tea, we’re just on our way home.’

  ‘I will,’ he said eagerly. ‘That’s where I was heading, to Middle Court to see Ma and Da.’

  Both girls fell into a shocked silence, not knowing how to tell him about his mother. Then as he gazed at them, struck by their startled demeanour, Grace said quietly, ‘They’re not there. The room’s been let to someone else. Your father’s gone into lodgings.’

  ‘And Ma? Where’s she?’ His face showed dismay. ‘What’s happened?’

  Grace shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Daniel. It’s bad news. Your father came to us one day to say that she was missing. He lived with us for a while – he couldn’t manage on his own. But then after he moved out – we heard, he told my da – I’m sorry,’ she repeated. ‘I’m afraid she’s dead. They found her body in ’Humber.’

  Daniel closed his eyes for a moment as he registered the news. ‘No! I can’t believe it! It’s my fault. I should never have gone away. She relied on me.’

  ‘You can’t blame yourself,’ Grace said softly, whilst Ruby put her hand in his to comfort him. ‘It might well have happened even if you’d stayed. Your da said she was often unhappy.’

  ‘Is Da working?’ he asked quietly.

  ‘He’s back with his old employer,’ Grace told him. ‘I only know because my da works there as well.’

  ‘I must go and see him.’ Daniel picked up his bag. ‘Find out what happened.’

  ‘Won’t you come back with us first?’ Ruby implored. ‘You’ve had a shock. I know what it’s like.’ She had a catch in her voice. ‘I’ve just lost my ma too.’

  ‘Later,’ he said, his eyes lingering on her. ‘I’m sorry.’ Then he glanced at Grace. ‘I never thought that there would be summat like this waiting for me. I’ve been so looking forward to seeing you both. I came back for your birthdays, you see!’ he added.

  ‘So you did, Daniel,’ Grace murmured. ‘So you did. And will you be staying?’

  ‘I’ll tell you my plans when I come back,’ he said, and walked away with his head down.

  Ruby waited for Daniel until she heard a church clock strike two. She had played with Freddie, who was cheerful and seemed much better, and then when he became tired she put him to bed on the mattress where he fell into a healthy sleep. Grace’s mother had gone out shopping, although Grace suspected that she was searching for work rather than food.

  ‘I must go,’ Ruby said dejectedly. ‘Edward will be coming. Tell Daniel I waited, won’t you, onny – onny don’t tell him where I’ve gone.’ She looked anxiously at Grace. ‘I’d rather tell him myself.’

  ‘I won’t tell him that,’ Grace assured her. ‘Not about you. I’ll tell him that I’m going away.’

  Ruby stared at her. ‘But – will you still go?’ She seemed astonished. ‘What if he’s staying? I mean – what if he’s not going back to sea?’

  ‘Why should it make a difference?’ Now Grace was astonished in turn. ‘Of course I’ll still go.’

  ‘He might want you to stay.’ Ruby’s mouth trembled. ‘He was allus sweet on you, Grace.’

  Grace considered for a moment, then said, ‘I think he cared for us both, Ruby, not one more than the other.’ She gazed at her friend. ‘He’ll have changed since he went away, just as we’ve both changed. We’ve all grown up. We want different things now.’

  Ruby’s eyes were wide and dark and moist. ‘I don’t.’ Her voice was husky, and Grace knew, at last, why it was that Ruby was always so close to tears.

  ‘Go on,’ she said gently. ‘I’ll tell him that you’ll be here tomorrow.’ And I won’t tell him, she mused, as she watched Ruby pass the window with her head bowed, I’ll let him find out for himself, that you love him more than you will admit to, because you think that he loves me.

  Ruby was so very confused in her emotions. Going back to Middle Court after an absence of only two days, she was appalled by the worsening conditions, at how putrid the stench from the privy was, at the rubbish piled up in the alley. As she looked towards the house that she and her mother had occupied, she saw that the planks across the door had been pulled off and that smoke was coming from the chimney.

  Her emotions too were in turmoil after meeting Daniel. How can I tell him that I’m a rich man’s mistress? That he keeps me in comfort because of what I do for him? She took a deep sobbing breath. He won’t want to speak to me when he finds out, and yet I have to tell him. Explain why, before someone else does. Perhaps he’s guessed! He said I was as plump as a chicken. Yes, of course I am, compared with Grace who is fading away before our eyes. I must bring her some food – and wine, that doctor said. Yes! That’s what I must do. Build her up before she goes away. Suddenly, Grace’s indisposition seemed to be the most important thing in the world.

  She walked back along Charles Street looking in the shop windows, at the grocer’s, the vegetable shop and the butcher’s, and planned what she would buy. Tonight, she thought, after Edward has gone home, I’ll come out and buy the things that Grace needs.

  ‘Hey, Ruby!’ A drunken voice hailed her and she turned around.

  ‘Jamie! I want to talk to you.’ Suddenly her anger erupted as she remembered her mother’s bruised face after she had been brought back to the Sheppards’ house, and she ran towards him. ‘You killed my mother!’

  ‘What! Me?’ Jamie threw back his head and laughed. ‘That loddy-tripper! She killed herself. Been killing herself for years!’

  He took a small bottle out of his pocket and waved it in front of her nose. ‘This is what did it, Ruby. Couldn’t keep off it, could she?’

  She prodded him in his chest and he staggered back. ‘And you helped her!’ she yelled. ‘You gave her some bad loddy, stronger than she was used to. You tempted her, you devil, and all because you wanted to pay me back.’

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her round a corner. ‘Black Drop!’ He glared at her and tightened his grip on her wrist. ‘That’s what I sold her and she begged me for more.’

  ‘Raw! That’s what you gave her!’ She tried to push him away. ‘Somebody saw you give it to her, then you hit her when she wouldn’t tell you owt about me, and left her to die in that filthy alley!’

  He laughed in her face. ‘Well, I found out anyway. You’re seeing Edward Newmarch from ’cotton mill! ’Same gent as I got for you. So by rights,’ he tapped her face with a dirty finger, ‘you should be paying me for all that lechery that you and him get up to.’ He gave a smirk. ‘But it won’t last, my darling. Any time now his wife will find out that he’s sleeping with a drab.’

  She pulled free and slapped his face. Passers-by glanced towards them, but walked on when they saw what looked like a lovers’ quarrel.

  ‘Don’t do that, Ruby,’ he warned her menacingly. ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He pushed her against
the wall. ‘When you come back to work for me, you’ll have to behave better than that. You’ll have to be a good girl or—’ His words were stopped in his throat as he was caught from behind by the scruff of his neck.

  ‘Or what?’ Daniel towered over him and roughly spun him round so that his back was against the wall where Ruby’s had just been. ‘What then, Jamie?’

  ‘Nowt to do wi’ you,’ Jamie croaked. His face paled. ‘It’s between Ruby and me. We’ve got an arrangement.’

  ‘No. No, we haven’t,’ Ruby cried, her eyes wild and feverish. ‘He’s a murderer. He killed my mother. He gave her opium so that – that –’ she took a deep sobbing breath, ‘and he hit her and left her to die.’

  Daniel’s grip tightened around Jamie’s throat. ‘Is this true? Do I send for a constable?’

  ‘Ask her! Ask her why!’ In spite of Daniel’s strangling grasp, Jamie still managed a leer. ‘Ask this whore what she gets up to.’

  Daniel’s fist smashed somewhere between Jamie’s nose and mouth, crashing his head back against the wall. ‘Ah!’ Jamie spat out blood, and putting his hand to his face spat a tooth into his palm. ‘You – whelp!’ He hurled himself against Daniel, but his opponent was taller and bigger than him and simply held him at arm’s length.

  ‘Don’t come near her again,’ Daniel warned. ‘And if I find it’s true about Ruby’s mother, then you’ll lose all your other teeth.’ He opened his hands, freeing Jamie. ‘Go on. Clear off before I change my mind and break your nose into ’bargain.’

  Jamie stumbled away. ‘Her ma was a drunken opium-ridden old hag,’ he shouted defiantly. ‘Mine’s a whore, and yours, well, she drowned herself, didn’t she.’ He tripped in his haste and almost fell. ‘Mothers!’ he yelled. ‘Who’d have ’em!’

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Daniel walked Ruby towards Wright Street. She was shaky and upset, but she told him that she had arranged to meet a friend there. He nodded thoughtfully but didn’t comment.

  ‘I shall be all right now, thank you,’ she said as they came to the top of the street. She was nervous of meeting Edward whilst she was walking with Daniel, but even more apprehensive of Daniel seeing Edward, especially after Jamie had called her a whore. ‘I’ll come to Grace’s house later. Perhaps,’ she gazed up at him anxiously, ‘perhaps I’ll see you there?’ He didn’t know and she didn’t want to tell him that she no longer had a home in Middle Court.

  He nodded and looked down at her, then lifted his head and followed the progress of a chaise down the street. ‘Perhaps you will.’

  Ruby didn’t dare to look around to see if Daniel was still watching her, for it was Edward’s chaise which was pulling up outside the house and he was driving it. He tied the horse’s reins to a lamp post and waited for her.

  ‘Where have you been, Ruby?’ he asked. He seemed very sombre.

  ‘Shopping,’ she said brightly and smiled up at him. ‘I’ve been naughty, spending your money on fripperies.’

  ‘So where are they?’ He put his hand on her shoulder. ‘Can’t I see?’

  ‘I’ve – I’ve ordered them. Onny a few trinkets,’ she lied.

  ‘Only,’ he corrected. ‘Not onny. I keep telling you.’

  ‘Sorry,’ she shrugged. ‘I keep forgetting.’

  He led the way upstairs and kept hold of her hand. ‘And where else have you been?’ He glanced around the sitting room: the fire was low. ‘You haven’t just been shopping!’

  ‘I’ve been to see Freddie,’ she confessed. ‘Grace came to look for me. She said that Freddie was fretting because he hadn’t seen me.’

  ‘She came here?’ Edward questioned. ‘You told her where you lived?’

  ‘I had to,’ she said defensively. ‘I told her ages ago where I was, when my ma was ill – in case I was needed.’ She looked at him apprehensively. ‘She hasn’t been here before.’

  He was wearing a grey frock coat and top hat which he took off and threw onto a chair. He unfastened his waistcoat buttons, loosened his neckcloth and sat down. She watched him curiously. This wasn’t his usual mode of behaviour.

  ‘Come here.’ He reached out to her and pulled her onto his knee. ‘I want to talk to you.’

  She blinked. ‘What about?’

  ‘About you and me.’

  She stroked his cheek and smoothed his sideburns. Was he going to tell her that this was the end of their arrangement? That he could no longer see her now that his wife knew about them? How will I manage? she despaired. I have no home to go back to, no work. What will I do?

  Some of the anxiety must have shown on her face because he pulled her towards him and kissed her. ‘Don’t look so serious,’ he smiled. ‘It’s nothing dreadful.’ He paused. ‘It could be very exciting.’

  She waited. The only thing that had been exciting in her life lately had been Daniel coming back. She thought of his dark tousled hair and his beaming smile as he had greeted her and Grace earlier in the day, and of how she wanted to put her arms around him when she saw his distress on hearing of his mother’s death. And she also thought of how he had arrived in the nick of time as Jamie had cornered her.

  Edward trailed his fingers along her neckline. ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he began, and she immediately became nervous. He wasn’t here to think. She had told Grace that he never talked to her. He only ever wanted the pleasure of her body. ‘I told you that my wife had found out about us?’

  She nodded, and wondered if she should tell him that it was Jamie who had spread the gossip.

  ‘She made a terrible fuss and I can’t think why. So many men take a mistress.’

  She flushed. ‘Does she think I’m a drab?’

  He pursed his lips. ‘Probably! She said that it was a pity that you were common and that I’d never be able to take you anywhere socially.’

  Ruby felt ashamed and yet angry too. How could this woman form an opinion of her when she hadn’t even met her? And anyway, I wouldn’t want to be in the company of such people, not even Edward or his friends. I know where I belong, she decided. I don’t want to move up the social ladder even if I could.

  ‘And of course she’s right,’ Edward continued. ‘In this country people are hidebound by the class they are born into. For instance if I was at home I couldn’t throw my things onto a chair as I have done now. The servants would be scurrying to pick them up and May would think I had lost leave of my senses.’

  He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, swung around and then threw her onto the bed where she bounced. ‘Nor could I do that to my wife,’ he laughed. ‘She would be quite affronted.’

  ‘Have you tried?’ she asked breathlessly.

  ‘Good heavens, no!’

  ‘So what did you want to talk to me about?’ she said, as he pulled off her boots and ran his hands up her bare legs.

  ‘Nor would she ever dream of being without stockings or corsets and the million other items of clothing that fashionable women wear,’ he breathed, his eyes becoming glazed, so she knew there would be no conversation for a while.

  But she was mistaken, for as he slowly undressed her, he gazed down at her nakedness and gently kissing her breasts and running his hands over her body, he murmured, ‘I love you, Ruby! I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would love anybody. I’m not the loving kind, but I adore you and I want to be with you and I’m willing to sacrifice everything to be with you. Even my wife and my home!’

  She sat up with a start, but he pushed her back onto the bed again. ‘I want you to come with me,’ he said, gazing down at her. ‘We’ll start a new life in another country. A country where there are no rules about what we should do and with whom. A country where we would have the freedom to be ourselves.’

  ‘Where is this country?’ she asked in a small breathless voice. ‘And how? How can we?’

  ‘America! Or Canada,’ he beamed. ‘I saw some people getting off a ship in Humber Dock only the other day. They were from Europe and on their way to another life. A better life.’
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  She gazed at him open-mouthed. Was he off his head? What about Freddie? What about leaving Grace? And Daniel? And do I really want to be with Edward for the rest of my life?

  She swallowed. ‘What would we live on?’ she asked weakly. ‘You haven’t ever been poor, you wouldn’t know how to manage. What sort of work would you do?’

  ‘I wouldn’t need to work, not to begin with.’ He lay down beside her and clasped his hands behind his head. ‘I have sufficient money from May’s dowry for us to live on for a few years, and I’ve heard that there are rumours of gold in America. Perhaps I’d buy a piece of land, employ some miners and dig for gold.’

  She would have laughed if he hadn’t appeared so serious, and then the implication hit her. ‘But how would your wife live if you took her money?’

  ‘It’s not her money,’ he said sharply. ‘It’s mine! She has nothing that doesn’t belong to me. Besides,’ he added, ‘her father has plenty. He’d make sure that she didn’t go without. She’d have to move out of the house of course, I couldn’t be keeping her there. She’d be buying all kinds of things out of spite if I left her and I’d be liable for her debts. Not that I’d be around to pay them,’ he mused. ‘And she’d soon run out of credit.’

  Ruby was aghast. She hadn’t always listened to Grace when she had talked about the ladies who were with her on the tour. But wasn’t that what they had been campaigning about? Equal rights for women as for men. Could she, in all honesty, go with Edward knowing that he had left his wife virtually penniless? She has done nothing to me, she thought penitently. And yet I have probably hurt her, even without intending to.

  ‘What about Freddie?’ she asked. ‘He’d have to come.’

  He frowned. ‘Freddie? Who is this Freddie? Oh! Your brother, you mean. How old is he?’

  ‘Nine. I couldn’t leave him!’

  Edward shook his head. ‘I’d rather not. He’d get in the way. We could send him to school somewhere, or wouldn’t your friend look after him if we paid her – what’s her name?’

  ‘Grace,’ she said slowly. ‘No, she won’t be here.’