The Barefoot Child, page 16
‘No, I could never do that,’ Arthur said softly and his hand grasped hers. ‘I admire and respect you – and I love you. I knew that your sister’s disappearance troubled you, and despite my failure to find any leads at your former home, I still hoped to do what I could to find some news of her but …’
‘You have been distracted by the search for your cousins,’ Katharine said and smiled at him. ‘Of course. I understand and they must come first.’
‘Yes, and I do appreciate your feelings,’ Arthur said and looked at her thoughtfully. He had not truly understood how much her sister’s disappearance had troubled her until now. ‘And you feel you cannot continue to live under your aunt’s roof?’
‘I am stifled by her overbearing ways,’ Katharine admitted. ‘She was kind to offer me a home but she seeks to dictate my life and I cannot allow her to continue.’
‘Then, if the house I spoke of would be acceptable, I shall be delighted to see you situated there – it can be a home to you all.’
‘I do not know how to thank you,’ Katharine said looking distressed.
‘I should be very grateful for your help, if you thought the situation would be of use to you,’ Arthur said and smiled. ‘You and your nurse would be ideal to teach the children their manners in the world in which you move yourself, and to care for their well-being – and I am certain that the elder girl will be as sweet as her sister. Hetty tells me that Kitty is a brave good girl and I think Lucy has had a hard time of it.’
‘I know Kitty is just nine years of age,’ Katharine said. ‘But how old is Lucy?’
‘Sixteen so I believe,’ Arthur said. ‘I hope we may find Lucy before too long, and Josh, but of him I have found no trace.’
‘You have tried the courts and the workhouse?’
‘Yes, my agents visit regularly looking for news and I hope that something may come of that but as yet …’ He shrugged his shoulders.
‘And if neither Josh or Lucy is found?’
‘We will face that when we come to it,’ Arthur told her. ‘Now, are you sure that you can be content in this position, Miss Katharine?’
‘Yes, Arthur, I can,’ she said and smiled at him.
‘I cannot thank you enough, dear Katharine – you have solved my most pressing problem for me – and now I can concentrate all my energy on looking for Lucy and her brother.’ He took her hand. ‘I give you my word that I shall set agents to inquire after your sister. Many years have passed since Marianne was lost and I think there is little hope – but you have my word that I shall try.’
‘First you must find your cousins,’ Katharine said. ‘Marianne is in all likelihood dead, but your cousins may yet live. I have waited a long time for the truth and can wait a little longer.’
Arthur leaned forward and kissed her cheek. She was beautiful, generous and caring, and he adored her. Yet there was a little ache inside him, because he sensed that although she cared for him, it was not the passionate love he felt for her.
Lil nursed her baby and examined her tiny fingers and toes. She was so perfect and Lil had never felt happier. Finishing her feed, Lil looked up as Hetty entered the room.
Lil got to her feet nervously. ‘I’ll be back to me work soon, missus. I had ter feed the little one.’
‘You must see to the little one’s needs first, Lil,’ Hetty said gently. ‘You are a good mother – and this is not the workhouse. There is plenty to do here, but we look after each other and a baby is important.’
‘It was a lucky day for me that you came to the workhouse,’ Lil said, smiling more easily now. ‘Mr Stoneham said you would ’elp – he’s such a kind gentleman, and very ’andsome.’
‘Yes, he is,’ Hetty said and looked at the baby. ‘Would it be all right if I held her?’ Lil put the babe into her arms and Hetty’s eyes misted with tears. She had not been able to keep her own baby long enough and it hurt that she’d had to pay another woman to care for her. ‘You must stay here and keep your little one for as long as you need, Lil. I promise I shall never put you out or make you take work that means you must give up your child.’
Lil caught her hand and kissed it. ‘You and Mr Stoneham are the best folk I ever met,’ she said. ‘No wonder you love him, miss.’
‘No …’ Hetty shook her head. ‘I do not love him, Lil – I may not, for he loves another.’
‘Then he be a fool like all the rest,’ Lil said. ‘A woman like you be hard to find.’
Hetty returned the baby to her and walked away. Her eyes were filled with sudden tears and she did not wish Lil to see them. She had hidden her love from Arthur for years but Lil had seen it immediately, which meant that Hetty must be even more careful in future. She would, she decided, continue to help in the search for Kitty’s brother and sister but she would keep away from Arthur as much as she could for otherwise he might guess her secret.
Josh felt better for the bath he was given by one of the female inmates at the spike. She scrubbed his back and his head until his scalp tingled and was none too gentle with the hard brush. Tucker yelled and complained but the other boy, whose name Josh now knew was Sam, bore it without complaint. Josh did the same, for there was no point in making a fuss and he was glad to be clean, even though he hated the clothes he was given with the badge that said he was a vagrant.
After they’d been scrubbed and dressed themselves, the boys were shown their dormitory and given food and a drink of water. The rules were read out to them and Tucker pulled a face, because he’d heard them all before.
‘Just keep yer mouth shut and do as yer told,’ he advised when they were left to themselves for a while. ‘In the morning they’ll put us to work. We get readin’ lessons once or twice a week and the rest of the time they’ll make us work.’
‘What do we ’ave to do?’ Josh asked.
‘They might put yer to a trade if they think yer could do it – else they’ll have yer pickin’ oakum, crushing filthy bones, or breakin’ stones.’
‘What sort of trade?’ Josh asked.
‘They put me to rope makin’,’ Sam said speaking for the first time in ages. ‘It’s ’ard and it ’urts yer hands.’
‘You’ve been in ’ere before, then?’
‘Yeah. The old bitch who was here afore sold me to a chimney sweep ’cos I was thin and small, see, and he made me climb the chimneys. He weren’t supposed to by law, but it’s the only way ter clean some of them old chimneys – and I ’ated it so I ran away from ’im and went on the streets. I’ve been caught a couple of times.’
‘I’m goin’ ter run away afore they get a chance to put me to a master and you can come too,’ Tucker said. ‘Until then, keep yer nose clean or yer might be locked up fer disobedience. The best time to run is when they take us to church. If we split and run three ways they can’t chase us all.’
Josh nodded. He’d had time to think and, like Tucker, he didn’t want to be given to a master and made to work for someone who might treat him badly. He thought with longing of the farm he’d worked on for a few days when he’d escaped from his captors. If he could get away from here, he would go back there, where he’d been treated well. Lucy had gone and left him and he knew he’d never be able to find her until he earned some money and could afford to pay someone to help him. So, no matter what they did to him here, he would keep his mouth shut and wait for his chance to escape – and the friends he’d made might help him. They knew the streets better than he did and it was just possible they might know where Lucy was, or even Kitty.
CHAPTER 15
‘How is she?’ Todd asked his wife when he came in from his work at the market that evening. He’d asked the same question each evening for the past seven nights, and the answer was always the same. Lucy had a fever and Sal wasn’t sure if she would live or die, but this night she was more cheerful.
‘Her fever is a little better,’ she said. ‘Afore yer ’ave yer tea, Toddy, I want yer to go to the apothecary in Halfpenny Street and ask for Miss Edith. Tell her to send Eliza to me. I want to ask her for some more herbs for the poor girl – something to ’elp her strength.’
‘All right, Sal,’ Todd said obligingly. ‘You eat yer tea, gal. Leave mine in the oven to keep warm.’
‘We’ll both have our meal when you get back,’ his wife said.
‘I’ll ask if Eliza will come back with me, shall I?’
‘Not unless you want ter walk ’er ’ome again, yer daft ha’p’orth,’ his wife said affectionately. ‘The mornin’ will do.’
Todd put his coat on again and went out. He walked steadily towards the apothecary’s shop, which he’d visited several times since bringing the unconscious girl to his home. Miss Edith’s fever mixtures had gradually helped Lucy’s sickness and it eased the gnawing anxiety inside Todd. He’d been back to the scene of Lucy’s ordeal and the murder he’d committed, but there was no sign of the meat cleaver he’d dropped in his anxiety to get Lucy away. Nor had he heard of a body being found or a hue and cry. Was it possible that he had not killed that rogue after all?
What had happened after he picked Lucy up and brought her home? Had someone been watching from the shadows? Had that someone taken the cleaver for his or her own purpose? And was that person intending to give it to the peelers – or perhaps blackmail him? Every day he worked on his stall on the market, and each day he expected to be arrested for violent assault, or be approached for money by someone threatening to reveal his crime.
Despite hearing nothing about a murder or an assault, Todd’s guilt was still eating at him, but his fear of being hanged had lessened a little. He’d attacked a man who deserved to die for what he’d done to that poor girl. His tender heart bled for her, because, as his wife said, nothing could ever be the same for Lucy Soames.
Todd and Sal had wondered if they should let Eric know that they’d found Lucy. They’d decided that was what Todd’s story would be – that he’d found her lying unconscious in the street and brought her home.
‘Perhaps it’s best to wait until Lucy comes to herself again,’ Sal said after one of their long talks. ‘If Lucy remembers being attacked she’ll know it wasn’t you and then we can tell Eric where she is.’
Todd had agreed, though he felt bad about it when Eric came to his stall one morning and asked for some chicken pieces.
‘I’m worried about Lucy,’ Eric said, ‘but the police told me she would turn up when she wanted – and they wouldn’t do anything because I’m not family.’
Todd sympathised with him, but his guilt was making his ears burn and he hardly knew how to face Eric. He wished that he could tell him the truth and he could hardly swallow his own meal when he got home that night, even though Sal had made him a lovely beef pudding.
Worst of all, he worried about what he would do if Lucy died. How would he explain it to the parson and the law when they asked questions?
He was in a right mess and all because he’d acted out of anger and the desire to save an innocent young girl …
‘Miss Edith sent some herbs that will help your niece recover her strength when she is over her fever.’ Eliza looked at the girl lying in a bed that smelled of clean linen and lavender. Her face seemed familiar and Eliza thought she half-remembered seeing her somewhere, but couldn’t recall her name. ‘How long has she been like this?’
‘Since she was hurt eight days ago,’ Sal told her. ‘I wanted to talk to you, Eliza, because … Oh, I couldn’t tell my man to ask for it, but the poor little lass was abused by a man. I wondered if Miss Edith would give her something to make sure nothing bad comes of it – you understand what I mean?’
Eliza frowned at her. She was still young herself, but living each day with a knowledgeable herbalist, and studying plants and their uses with Miss Edith, she knew that some could abort a child that was unwanted.
‘Miss Edith doesn’t like to make a mixture for that purpose,’ she said. ‘If your niece was abused, I suppose it’s different – but I’m not sure we can sell you what you want, Mrs Todd.’
‘You tell Miss Edith that she’s an innocent girl, just sixteen, Eliza. She was taken down by a rogue and I wouldn’t want her life to be ruined just because of that!’
‘I’ll ask her for you,’ Eliza promised, ‘but that kind of herbal mixture can be dangerous …’
‘Well, tell her I’ll be grateful if she can help. Poor little thing, she won’t want to carry that brute’s babe inside her.’
Eliza said she would ask and accepted the two shillings for the herbs she’d delivered. She was thoughtful as she walked back to Miss Edith’s shop. She knew how to make the mixture that would rid a woman of an unwanted child, but she also knew Miss Edith only sold it if she felt the need was desperate, and Eliza did not want to upset her. She was as happy as she’d ever been living with her, even though she sometimes felt that something was missing from her life.
Deciding that she wouldn’t say anything to Miss Edith, who had not been feeling well again, Eliza put the possibility from her mind. It was unlikely that Mrs Todd’s niece had fallen for a child due to being abused. Far more women came to the apothecary shop asking for something to help them conceive than for a mixture to abort a babe. Only the habitual prostitutes, or the occasional wife who simply could not bear the thought of another mouth to feed and begged for help, ever asked for such a thing. Miss Edith very reluctantly made it for those tragic women who could not afford to care for yet another child – but Mrs Todd did not even know if her niece was pregnant and therefore Miss Edith would certainly not give her the herbal mixture. Miss Edith dispensed it sparingly and Eliza could not think she would offer it to a girl who lay ill of a fever.
‘Good morning, Eliza.’ The sound of a man’s voice made Eliza look up and smile, because she was still grateful to him for bringing her back to Miss Edith when she was in fear of being hanged for murder. ‘Where have you been this morning?’
‘Delivering herbs to a customer, whose niece is ill,’ Eliza answered. ‘I am very well, Mr Stoneham – how are you, sir?’
‘I am very well, Eliza,’ he said. ‘I may call on Miss Edith’s services soon for a young girl I have taken under my care. Perhaps I may call to see her one morning soon?’
‘Yes, of course, sir. Miss Edith is always a little poorly, but she likes you, sir, and will be pleased to see you. She helps me make her cures in the mornings and rests in the afternoon – but we always have time for you.’
‘Thank you, Eliza.’ He tipped his hat to her. ‘Do not let me keep you from your work … good day to you.’
Eliza smiled and walked on. She liked Mr Stoneham and often thought it would be nice to see more of him, but he was such a busy man. Miss Edith said that he did a lot of good work, helping women and children in distress.
‘It is a pity that more gentlemen do not follow where he leads, Eliza,’ she’d told her once. ‘Oh, there are plenty who contribute to the poor of the workhouse and to other causes – but Mr Stoneham truly cares. The difference is that he is prepared to help individuals and not by way of putting them in an institution … as you know, I hate the workhouses.’
‘The new mistress is not as bad as the old one,’ Eliza had replied. ‘She is strict, but so different from Mistress Simpkins.’
‘That woman! Do not speak of her to me – after what she did to you she should stay in prison for the rest of her life, not just fifteen years. Indeed, I could have wished her hanged.’
‘I think perhaps they might have hanged her if her brother had not pleaded for her. I think his sentence of two years for neglect of duty was reasonable,’ Eliza said. ‘But she did some terrible things to the children in her care and I think she is suffering for it now.’
‘She ill-treated you.’
‘Until you rescued me,’ Eliza said and smiled at her fondly, because she had learned to love the woman who had taken her in. ‘I was fortunate, Miss Edith. I know how lucky I am to have good friends.’
Eliza was thoughtful as she entered the apothecary shop and saw that Miss Edith was serving a customer with some pills for constipation. She felt sorry for the young girl she’d seen lying in Mrs Todd’s spare bed. The girl looked so ill, a faint flush in neck and cheeks. It was sad that she had been abused … Suddenly, a picture flashed into her memory. She’d met that girl when she’d been taking the Reverend Mr Joseph his medicine, and her name was Lucy!
It was so strange how the memory played tricks. Eliza had thought she knew the young girl when she saw her in the bed, but she’d looked different when she’d seen her, of course, and recognition hadn’t come to her then. Mrs Todd had called Lucy her niece but Eliza wasn’t certain that was right, because she remembered Lucy telling her that she had no relations in London. That was a little strange, but perhaps Eliza had got it wrong, because it was months since she’d met Lucy.
Yet it played on her mind, because Lucy had told her about her sister and brother – and they hadn’t been living in Mrs Todd’s small cottage. Something did not seem quite right and it worried Eliza.
Had Miss Edith been well, Eliza would have consulted her, but she did not want to worry her. Perhaps she would visit Ruth another day and talk to her. Ruth had been almost her only friend in the workhouse, apart from Joe, the gipsy boy, who was travelling somewhere in Ireland with his family, and Ruth had looked after Eliza all her life, as much as she could.
Yes, she would talk to Ruth as soon as she had time – but perhaps she was concerned for nothing. After all, Sal Todd wasn’t the sort to harm anyone … was she?
Lucy grimaced as the bitter fluid trickled down her throat and pushed at the hand that was holding the glass to her mouth. ‘No more,’ she begged. ‘It’s nasty …’
‘Are yer awake at last, lass?’ Sal asked and looked down at her as Lucy’s eyes flickered open, staring at her in bewilderment. ‘You’ve been proper bad these past ten days and I did wonder if you might die …’
‘Who are you?’ Lucy asked and there was a frightened look in her eyes now. ‘Where am I?’
