Katy's Men (3 page)

Matt
tried to come to terms with what he had been told. His father was going to be a soldier. Matt would be living in a strange place with a new school and none of his friends, just boys he did not know. He was not sure whether he was frightened or excited.

Chapter
Three

WALLSEND-ON-TYNE. DECEMBER 1903.

‘
Listen
to me, Katy. Listen to what I tell you.’ Ethel Merrick was propped up by pillows in the bed where she lay. It seemed the flesh had run from her frame in these last weeks. Her thin hand held feebly to that of her thirteen-year-old daughter.

‘
Yes, Mam.’ Katy was frightened because she knew she was looking at death though she tried to deny it to herself. ‘I’m listening.’

Ethel
paused to get her breath. She thought with pride, She’s nearly a woman, a fine young woman — but still too young to be left. She said, ‘I want you to have the brooch, the one your Aunt Augusta left to me. It’s in the bottom of the chest of drawers. I want you to think well of her. I know what your dad’s told you, but she thought well of you.’

Barney
Merrick still remembered Aunt Augusta at intervals, when he cursed her for bequeathing him: ‘Not the price of a bloody drink!’

Ethel
went on, ‘And she wanted you to have some advice. She saw when you were just little that you were going to turn out a bonny lass. She said the men would be after you and you had to look out for yourself, that they’d ruin you if you let them. I want you to remember that, always. You hear now?’ The grip on Katy’s arm tightened.

‘
Yes, Mam.’ Katy knew that, of late, some men had looked at her — differently. Sometimes it had instilled in her a vague fear. Her mother had taught her the basic facts of life but that had been just talk. Experience was something else.

Ethel
fumbled with the fingers of one hand with those of the other, took off a plain, gold ring and held it out to Katy: ‘My mother gave me this. Put it away until you’re older.’ And as Katy took the ring, Ethel went on, ‘I’ve got some things for your sisters. I’ll treat you all alike, as I’ve always done.’ But Ursula and Lotte had always taken their father’s side while it was Katy who cared for her mother. The two older girls respected and feared his strength and power. They had some affection for their mother but he came first in their thoughts because he made the rules. Now Ethel pushed up from the pillows and urged her, ‘Be a good girl. Try not to get across your father. I’m only trying to save you from a lot of grief. He can have a terrible temper.’

Katy
knew what was meant by this warning. Over the last few months she had taken over a lot of the work of the house because of her mother’s illness. The two elder girls had been excused because they were at work and putting money in Barney’s pocket — and Ursula, the eldest, was his favourite among the girls. So Katy had been working with or for her father and had begun to question his orders and argue against his judgments when she thought them wrong or unfair. She had been browbeaten and shouted down by him but had not given up. Her mouth had set in a stubborn line now at thought of him, but softened with her mother’s eyes on her. ‘I will, Mam.’

Ethel
sank back on the pillows, satisfied with that assurance. ‘You’ll be finished with school before long. Your teachers said you were a good scholar and there’s a job waiting for you in Mrs Turnbull’s shop. Your dad has arranged it.’

Katy
knew this and was not enthusiastic. She did not know what she wanted to do when she left school but hated the idea of serving behind a counter in a small corner shop. But at that moment she did not care. ‘Thanks, Mam.’

Her
mother smiled at her weakly. ‘I didn’t want to keep on at you, but I worry about you. You’re such a bonny little thing.’ She reached out to stroke Katy’s hair then let her hand fall. ‘Give me a kiss now and let me have a word with Winnie.’ So Katy left and cried in the kitchen.

Ethel
asked Winnie, ‘You’ve done what I asked? You’ll not let me down?’

Winnie,
not jolly now but close to tears herself, held Ethel’s hand, soothing: ‘I’ll see they get their rights. Just as you want.’

Ethel
said, ‘You don’t need to worry about Barney.’

Winnie
agreed, ironically, ‘No.’

Ethel
smiled faintly, ‘He cares for me, you know. He hasn’t — been near me for months — close on two years, in fact. Because the doctor said, you know, I couldn’t ...’ She paused, embarrassed.

Winnie
said quickly, to save her from it, ‘You told me.’ ‘Aye.’ And then after a time: ‘There’s somebody else.’ Winnie protested, ‘No, Ethel.’

‘
There is,’ Ethel insisted gently. ‘I know. I can tell from the way he walks out of here some nights, and then he doesn’t come home till late. But he can’t help it. It’s just the way he is. He’s hidden it from me — or thinks he has —because he doesn’t want to hurt me. So don’t blame him. Promise me?’

Winnie
had to agree, ‘I promise.’

Ethel
managed to laugh softly. ‘Promises! It’s like we were two little lasses again. We had some fun in those days, didn’t we?’ And they talked of the old days and old friends, of when they were children playing in the street, until it was time for Winnie to go home and Ethel was exhausted.

Winnie
saw that and said, ‘I’ll come round tomorrow.’ Ethel sighed, ‘Aye. Tomorrow.’

But
there was no tomorrow for Ethel because she died in the early hours of the morning.

Ursula
and Lotte had a day off work for the funeral while Katy and the two boys stayed home from school. They stood around the grave, shivering in the bitter cold. The freshly turned earth, dug only the previous day, was silvered with the frost. Katy saw her father grieving for the first time in her life, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes and wiped away on the back of his thick-fingered hand, scarred from a lifetime of fighting. She felt close to him then but it was not to last.

Some
days later, after they had all eaten the tea which Katy had set out, and when they were trying to get back to normal living, Katy asked, ‘Dad, can I have my mam’s brooch, the one she promised me, please?’

Barney
put down his cup and said shortly, ‘Anything your mother left comes to me. I’ll decide who gets what.’

The
others were listening. Ursula, stolid and unimaginative, her dark hair crinkled like that of her father, nodded at Lotte, the other girl who always sided with her father: ‘We should have first choice.’

‘
Aye, that’s right.’ Lotte, sallow and plain, agreed as always.

Katy
protested, ‘But Mam said I was to have it, that Aunt Augusta wanted me to have it.’

Barney
declared, ‘Nobody said owt to me. Anyway, what does a young lass like you want with a thing like that? It’s more suited to a grown woman.’

Ursula
put in, with a jealous glance at Katy, ‘You were always a favourite of that old Aunt Augusta.’

Katy
persisted, partly because she liked the brooch. It was of little value, a piece of costume jewellery Aunt Augusta had worn on stage, but it was pretty, with blue and white stones which sparkled in the light. But Katy also wanted it because it was hers by right. ‘It was Mam’s brooch and she said—’

Barney
shouted over her, ‘I’ve told you and I’ve had enough! Now shut up!’

Katy
was chalk white but for two splashes of red colour high on her cheeks. She refused to give in: ‘No, I’ll not! It should be mine! That was the last thing Mam said to me. She said—’

‘
Never mind what she said!’ Barney kicked back his chair and started round the table towards her. ‘I’ve told you to shut up! You’ve got too much lip — a troublemaker!’ He had his hand lifted for the blow and Katy saw the others either ducking away from him or, like Ursula, waiting eagerly for punishment to be meted out. Katy ran. Barney shouted, ‘Come back! Damn you! Come back!’

Katy
did not. She fled in terror down the passage and out into the street, then wept as she walked around and around the streets. She was bitterly glad she had hidden away the ring her mother had given her. She had, at least, kept that. Fear kept her walking but the cold and lateness of the hour finally drove her home. As she entered, shivering and frightened, anticipating a beating, Ursula gloated, ‘Serves you right. Dad’s got dressed up and gone out. But he said he’d deal with you tomorrow.’

Ursula
was to be disappointed. The next day Barney was in high spirits, grinning as he left for work and when he returned. It was a week later when Katy learned the reason. A letter arrived at the house, in a thick, white envelope addressed to Barney in copperplate. He opened it when he came in from work and nodded with satisfaction. When tea had been eaten he flourished the letter and fixed Katy with a grim stare. ‘You were supposed to have another two or three weeks at school but I’ve seen the headmaster and he’s letting you off that. He thinks you’re bloody marvellous but he hasn’t seen you around here like I have. Anyway, you’ll finish at the end of this week. I’ve got you a position through an aunt on
my
side of the family, never mind your Aunt Augusta. That’s Jinny Merrick as was. She married that Jim Tucker in North Shields and she’s been dead and buried these last ten years, but before she was wed she was a maid with the Barracloughs. I went up to see them the other night and it turned out they’re wanting a lass.’ He wagged the letter again. ‘Aunt Jinny was well-thought-of by them so they’re taking you on.’

Katy
whispered, ‘But I’ve got a job waiting for me at Mrs Turnbull’s shop.’ That seemed attractive now.

‘
You can forget that,’ said Barney brutally. ‘I’ve told that Winnie Teasdale and she’s going to take you shopping for a box for your clothes and get you fitted out with black dresses, white caps and aprons. It’s costing me a pretty penny but you’ve been making too much trouble for me so you’re going to work at the Barracloughs’ house. They’ll pay you a pound a month but they’ll send ten shillings to me. Ten bob a month is enough for a lass like you.’

Katy
listened, shocked into silence, as her sentence was pronounced. At thirteen years old she was going into service! A lot of girls went into the big houses of the wealthy to work as maids or in the kitchens. She did not want to do that anymore than she had wanted to serve the customers in Mrs Turnbull’s shop, but it seemed her fate was determined for her and there was nothing she could do. She saw Ursula grinning and her father’s air of ‘That’ll straighten you out, my lass!’ Katy would not give them any further satisfaction. She would not beg for reprieve. She kept her face expressionless and said calmly, ‘All right.’ She saw her father’s look of righteous confidence replaced by one of baffled anger and Ursula’s smirk slipped away. Katy could have wept but instead she made herself smile at them. She would not let them get any change out of her.

The
next morning she saw her father and the two girls off to work then accompanied the boys as far as the school gates. Katy was fond of them, and they of her; she had taken the place of their mother. She blinked away tears as they moved away from her but then she turned around. Back in the family home, she packed a small case with all she owned. Then she searched for her mother’s brooch but could not find it. She hesitated a long time then, sitting by the fire, reluctant to take this awful step, but finally sighed and rose to her feet. Katy told herself there was nothing else for it. She left the house carrying her case and made her way through the streets lining the Tyne to the rooms a mile or so away. They were upstairs rooms in a terraced house like that she had left. She walked along the passage that had a strip of thin carpet running from front door to back, climbed the stairs and knocked on the kitchen door. Winnie Teasdale opened it, stared at her and asked, ‘What are you doing here? We’re not going shopping for your things until the weekend.’

Katy
said, ‘I’ve left home.’ And burst into tears.

Winnie
breathed, ‘Oh, my God! Come in.’ She put her arms around the girl and comforted her. After a time Katy dried her tears and Winnie said softly, not wanting to frighten her, but warning: ‘He’ll know where to look for you, and you know what his temper is like.’

‘
I don’t care.’ Katy looked at Winnie, pleading. ‘Will you take me in? I’ll get a job and pay board.’

‘
Aye, you can live here.’ Winnie had no need to remember the promise she had made to Ethel Merrick because she was fond of this girl, but also afraid for her. She thought, If Barney will let you stay. But she said, ‘You can have the little bedroom over the passage.’ That room had always been intended for her children but she had none.

Barney
came that evening. Winnie answered his knock to find him standing on the landing outside the kitchen door. He was still in his work clothes of old suit and cap and unwashed. He craned his neck to look past her as Winnie said, ‘Hello, Barney.’ Behind her, Fred Teasdale, her husband, stood up from his seat at the table, scenting trouble.

Barney
saw Katy sitting by the fire and beckoned her: ‘I want to see you, miss. Outside.’

Winnie
answered, ‘She’s not going anywhere. You can talk to her here.’

But
Katy was already on her feet. She would not have Winnie upset by a scene. ‘I’m coming.’ She walked past Winnie and followed her father down the stairs and along the passage to the front door. She halted on the step and he turned to face her. His pale blue eyes were like chips of ice flecked with the red of blood. She could see his mouth working with his suppressed rage and was frightened, but she had spent some hours anticipating this meeting and was ready for it.