Eve and Her Sisters (41 page)

‘Right. And Mr Grant got knocked down by a runaway horse.’

For a moment Eve didn’t understand. ‘No, doctor, I told you. They were on a march and—’

‘I have to report any injuries as a result of conflict with the law during this strike, Mrs Ingram. A runaway horse is a different matter. Accidents with horses happen all the time.’

She was trotting to keep up with his long legs but flashed him a grateful smile. ‘It was a horse that did the damage, doctor.’

‘I thought so. They can be lethal when they run wild.’

It proved to be a long night. When Dr Hogarth had examined Toby, he pronounced he was not at all happy with the nature of the break and the injury to surrounding tissue. He had a colleague with a private practice on the outskirts of Gateshead who was the man for this job. He would telephone him and inform him he was bringing Mr Grant to see him tonight if Mr Travis could assist him.

Mr Travis could.

Within a short while Nell had cleaned Toby up as best she could after Dr Hogarth had given him a strong painkiller and fixed the leg in a splint for the journey. The doctor would not allow him any food or drink because he was almost certain the patient would need an anaesthetic. If it was possible, Toby went even greyer at this point. Once the doctor had brought his car to the front door, he and Caleb carried Toby out of the house. Eve and Nell stood on the doorstep with Matthew and watched the car disappear from view.

‘Oh, Eve, lass, this is going to cost a packet.’ Nell was wringing her hands as Eve closed the door and led her sister into the kitchen. ‘I’ll pay you back somehow.’

‘Don’t even think about that, I can afford it, Nell.’ She didn’t add that since being back in Washington she had almost felt ashamed of her wealth when she saw how Nell was placed.

Once Matthew had gone back to bed, the two women sat in front of the fire talking quietly and dozing a little. At one point just before dawn, Eve got up and made a pot of tea. As they drank their first cup, she said, ‘You know, lass, it’s occurred to me that this might be a blessing in disguise.’

‘It’s a darn good disguise then.’

‘Hear me out. Reading between the lines of what Dr Hogarth said, I can’t see Toby being able to go back to crawling along tunnels on his belly even if his leg does heal well.’

‘And you call that a blessing, lass? I wouldn’t want to be involved in what you’d term a disaster.’

‘But perhaps it’s time for him to do something different. For you both to do something different. What I mean is, I’ve been thinking for a while now that I can’t stand Newcastle much longer, and this lock-out and the way Howard’s friends, our social circle, reacted, showed me I’ll never fit in there. I don’t think I’ve ever really wanted to but I made the effort for Howard and the boys. I knew Howard wanted Oliver and Alexander to follow him into the business and move in his circles, but it’s different now. I’ve sold the business, it’s gone.’

Nell peered at her sister, her mind momentarily diverted from Toby. ‘What are you saying exactly?’

‘Exactly?’ Eve grimaced. ‘I don’t know. But I do know I want to be with folk like Mr Hutton and Tilly and you and Toby, and not the likes of Annabelle Sheldon and Verity Alridge. I suppose in the back of my mind I’ve been thinking of buying a big place that can be converted into a school as well as a home, for bairns like Tilly and maybe those who have lost their da in the war and their mam’s unable to look after them. Or orphans. There’s plenty of those about. But I’d want a place where there’s ground to build workshops and things, so I could employ people to teach the bairns a trade if they’re so inclined. Academic opportunities in the school but for those who are good with their hands more practical instruction once they’re old enough to leave the school. And they could make things to sell while they’re learning so the place could be productive financially. And we could grow all our own vegetables, keep our own hens and pigs and cows. Even set up a market garden and sell produce. The place would be run on the same principle as the Co-op, everyone a part of it together, but it would be a big family.’

She stopped for breath. She hadn’t realised all this had been bubbling inside her for months.

‘Blimey, lass,’ said Nell. ‘You don’t do things by half.’

‘It could work. I know it could work.’

‘It’d cost a fortune.’

‘I’ve got it, Nell. I’m what I suppose you could call a financially independent woman of considerable means.’

Nell smiled as she was meant to. ‘And you see me and Toby fitting into this set-up?’

‘I don’t suppose I had before tonight,’ Eve said honestly. ‘But this accident, well, it makes you think.’

‘Aye, you’re right there. It does.’

They stared at each other. ‘It would need some cottages separate from the school for workers who had families like you and Toby, and me and Alexander, but there’d be other staff who would live in the home itself all the time.’

‘So it would be like a little community?’

‘Aye, I suppose so, but one which prepared the children for the outside world. Think of it, Nell. Bairns who had nothing and nowhere to go being loved and cared for. Oh, I know it would only be a drop in the ocean when you think about Newcastle and Gateshead’s dockside tenements and the workhouses and the brothels.’

‘Not for the bairns who would come under its protection, it wouldn’t,’ said Nell softly. ‘For them it would be home.’

Somehow Nell’s words panicked her. ‘It would be an enormous undertaking.’ Could she do it by herself ? If she had been contemplating something like this with Howard at her side, it would have been different. Could she, a woman on her own, take on the responsibility for so many lives, bairns and adults alike? She had Alexander to consider, after all. But what use was her money in the bank? It just gathered interest and made more money, it didn’t
do
anything. There were so many Tillys, so many bairns like she and Nell and Mary had once been. Desperate, afraid. ‘I’d have to look into it properly but it’s something to think about.’

 

It was just after seven o’clock when Caleb tapped at the back door and walked in. Eve had finally persuaded Nell to go and lie down a little while ago, and the children were still asleep, worn out by their work in the fields the day before. It was a beautiful autumn morning, mellow and warm, and Eve felt more tired than she could ever remember feeling.

It was the first thing Caleb said. ‘You look tired.’ ‘I am. How is Toby?’ She had just made yet another pot of tea to try and keep herself awake and, without asking, she poured Caleb a cup.

‘Asleep.’ He ran his hand round his face. His chin was bristly and his hair tousled. ‘It was a long old business. Dr Hogarth assisted this friend of his and all I could do was wait. It wasn’t just one break, apparently. Coming back, Dr Hogarth said anyone other than his friend would have amputated. The knee was damaged and,’ he took the cup from her, ‘it was a mess. But this friend is a marvel, apparently. Recently qualified and as keen as mustard. Rich father, which helps.You ought to have seen his place.’ He took a long sip of the tea, scalding hot as it was. ‘He said Toby will always have a stiff leg but at least he will have his leg.’

Eve stared at him. She wondered why it was that a woman looked tired and that was all she looked, whereas on a man it made him doubly attractive. On Caleb, at least. Trying to concentrate her wandering mind, she said, ‘Where is he? Toby?’

‘Still there. This bloke wants to keep an eye on him for a day or two. I think it’s some kind of hospital, private like, for the toffs but,’ he shrugged,‘Dr Hogarth said this bloke thinks he’s an interesting case. Because of how bad it was. Gave him a chance to try out a couple of things.’

‘But Toby will be all right?’ she asked with faint alarm.

‘Aye. Aye.’

‘What is it? What are you looking like that for?’

‘He won’t be able to go down the pit again, Eve. I don’t know how he’ll take that when he knows.’

Perhaps it was because she was so exhausted that in her relief she didn’t think about what she was saying. ‘Is that all? Oh, I think we can get round that. Nell and I have been talking and I want to—’

Her voice was cut off abruptly as Caleb got to his feet so suddenly his chair skidded on the flagged floor. ‘Is that all?
All?
Have you considered that he might not want to be beholden to you for the rest of his life? You come here in your fine clothes flinging your money about like Lady Muck.’ He drew in a deep, ragged breath. ‘Oh, to hell with it. Tell Nell I’ll be along this afternoon about three. She can go and visit Toby then.’

Eve had gone white. ‘Caleb, I didn’t mean - Nell and I had been talking, that’s all, and I was trying to reassure her that if the worst came to the worst I’d got a plan in mind.’That sounded worse. ‘Something that would still give Toby his dignity,’ she said desperately. ‘I wouldn’t be giving them money. It’s not like that, really.’

‘It’s none of my business, Eve.’ His eyes were black and hard. ‘I’ll be along later.’

He saw a quiver pass over her face as he turned away but he did not hesitate, continuing out of the door which he shut quietly behind him. Out in the back lane he walked a few yards before stopping. It was very quiet, there were no bairns playing out yet. He stood staring at the dusty rutted ground beneath his boots and then lifted his eyes up to the blue sky. There was a faint smell from the privies at the end of the terraced yards but the sky was high and wide and clean looking. A bird was drifting on the air currents far above him, circling lazily and then gliding on, free and untroubled.

What had he had to say that for? He remembered the look on her face and groaned. Of course she would want to help Nell, that was her nature, it was nothing to do with how much money she had. She had been the same when she’d had nothing. And it was time to face something. Knowing Eve as he did, she would have married her husband for love. And that was what stuck in his craw. If she had married him for money he would have found that easier to come to terms with. So what did that make him?

He began to walk. He didn’t like what it made him. He knew he had faults but he had never considered himself a small-minded man before this moment. Stubborn, aye, and arrogant on occasion, but never petty or small. And there was another thing. Loving her as he did, he ought to be able to say her wealth didn’t matter. Wasn’t love supposed to surmount all obstacles if it was true? Of course if the boot had been on the other foot as it always had been until she’d left Washington, if he had been the wealthier one, that would have been all right.That was how it was supposed to be. No one looked down on a woman for marrying a rich man.

Was he worried what people would think? Again the answer wasn’t to his liking and he clenched his teeth, his jaw rigid.

Anyway, it was all irrelevant. She had never by word or action indicated any interest in him in that way so why should she be inclined to do so now? Even if he did pluck up the courage to say how he felt. Likely she’d look at him with those great green eyes of hers and gently - because she would be gentle, she wasn’t cruel, not Eve - inform him he hadn’t a hope in hell. Well, he knew that, didn’t he? Aye, he did. She had her life, a life with her son and her rich friends and a position in society, and he couldn’t match that. He might one day, he might make his fortune in New Zealand and end up a rich man, but it would be too late to make any difference to Eve.

At the end of the back way he stood for a moment before stepping into Spout Lane. He wasn’t going to think about this anymore, thinking never did anyone any good. She would probably have left to return home to her boy by the time he went back that afternoon. And that was fine, just dandy. If by any chance she came to the inn to rest in her room beforehand he would be polite. No more outbursts. He would keep it civil. Perhaps even apologise for his tetchiness. Not that he thought she would come after how he had behaved.

 

She didn’t. Until he left in the horse and cart for Nell’s at three o’clock that afternoon, Caleb was on tenterhooks. Every time the door to the inn opened, his eyes sprung to it, and each time one of the barmaids brought food through from the kitchen, he tensed in case it was her. But no tall, slim woman with hair the colour of warm chocolate and green eyes came to hear the apology he had been mentally practising.

The afternoon carried a thick mugginess that spoke of a storm brewing, you could feel the pressure behind your eyeballs. As the horse ambled down Spout Lane, Caleb knew that if she had already gone back to Newcastle he would have to go and see her before he left the country. He didn’t want their last meeting to be one of discord. And he couldn’t forget the look in her eyes.

There were a number of children playing in the field opposite the houses in Spout Lane, and as he drew up outside Nell’s, Betsy detached herself from the others and ran into the house calling, ‘Mam, Mam, Mr Travis is here.’

Caleb sat on the long wooden seat of the cart waiting. He felt extremely irritable and weary and at odds with himself.This changed the moment Nell stepped out of the door with Eve at her side. She hadn’t gone. His heart gave a bound.

‘Eve thought she would come with me and see Toby for a minute or two and then take a cab from Gateshead, if that’s all right,’ Nell called. ‘She’s more than halfway home from there.’

‘No need, I’ll take you home,’ he said gruffly, his eyes meeting Eve’s. She nodded her thanks but did not smile.

‘This is so good of you, Caleb.’ Nell climbed on to the seat beside him and Eve sat next to her sister. ‘And last night an’ all. I appreciate it an’ I know Toby will be grateful. Eve went to see Dr Hogarth earlier and settled up with him.’

‘Good.’

‘He was ever so kind, wasn’t he? Mind, I don’t know what his friend will charge.’ For a moment Nell’s chatter ceased. ‘Dr Hogarth said to Eve his friend’s a surgeon but he’s an inn-innov—’