Pauper's Gold (12 page)

‘I could go with her,’ Luke began, but Hannah interrupted swiftly.

‘No, I won’t have you getting in trouble because of me. Thanks, Luke, but I’ve got to do this on me own.’

‘Well,’ Mrs Grundy said slowly. ‘There’s another way. Ollie could take you as far as Buxton in the cart and then you could make your way from there. Mebbe you could catch
the coach from there. Or beg a lift with a carrier going to Macclesfield.’

The two youngsters stared at her. ‘Would Ollie – I mean, Mr Grundy – do that for me?’

Mrs Grundy shrugged. ‘I dunno, but we could ask him.’ She began to rise as if to go and ask her husband there and then, but Hannah touched her arm, ‘No, please, don’t
wake him.’

Lily Grundy sat down again, smiling comically. ‘P’raps you’re right. He’d not be in the best of moods to be woken from his Sunday afternoon nap.’ She thought for a
moment before saying, ‘I tell you what you could do. You might beg a lift with the chap who fetches our milk every morning. Mind you, he’s here early. One or two folks from the dale beg
a lift with him now and again. He won’t charge you anything and he’ll take you nearly to Buxton. You could walk the rest of the way. Mind you –’ she was thinking aloud now
– ‘you’d need some money to get a ride from there to Macclesfield.’

Hannah pulled a wry face. ‘I haven’t got any.’

‘You’ve still got your two guineas from the workhouse, ain’t yer?’ Luke reminded her.

‘Well – yes, but . . . but Mr Critchlow,’ she smiled ruefully, ‘or rather Mr Roper has charge of that. They’d likely demand to know what I wanted it for.
Besides,’ she grimaced ruefully, ‘Mr Edmund said it’s to pay for stoppages and I reckon Roper’s taken some out of it already.’

‘I’ll lend you some, luv,’ Mrs Grundy offered. ‘And then you pay me back when you can. Few pence a week. I wouldn’t mind.’

Hannah’s eyes filled with tears at the woman’s kindness. Mrs Grundy scarcely knew her, yet she was offering her far more than anyone at the mill would. She hesitated, but Luke urged
her to accept. ‘Go on, Hannah. You’ve got the chance of earning a bit now you’re a piecer, and Mrs Grundy wouldn’t offer if she didn’t mean it.’

‘It’s very kind of you and I will pay you back. Every penny.’

Mrs Grundy patted her hand. ‘’Course you will, luv. I know that. So, when are you going to go?’

‘Next Saturday,’ Hannah said firmly, before she could lose her nerve.

‘Right. Well, you’ll need to be up at the top near the Arms by five o’clock in the morning. Ollie always takes our churns up there for him. And I’ll get you the money
now. Enough for coming back, an’ all.’

‘I don’t know how to thank you.’ Now Hannah allowed the tears of gratitude to spill over.

‘What are you two whispering about?’

Hannah and Jane looked up guiltily at Nell’s question. The older girl’s smile faded when she saw their expressions. ‘Hey, I was only joking, but you really are up to something,
aren’t you?’ She pursed her lips. ‘I just hope it’s nothing that’s going to get us all into trouble, that’s all.’

Hannah forced a laugh. ‘’Course it isn’t.’

Nell moved closer. ‘What then? What’s going on? Is one of you in trouble already? Is that it?’

‘No, but she will be if she does what she says she’s going to,’ Jane burst out, her face red.

‘Jane!’ Hannah cried, but the damage was done. Now Nell wouldn’t let the matter drop.

Suddenly, she was very anxious. ‘You’re not going to run away?’ This was the unthinkable. It was what carried the severest of punishments. Even a girl could be beaten for
that.

‘No,’ Hannah said reluctantly. ‘I’ll come back.’

‘So – what are you going to do?’

‘She’s going back to Macclesfield to see her mam,’ Jane blurted out. ‘She’s never heard from her all the time we’ve been here.’

Nell looked at Hannah with a mixture of pity and fear. ‘I can understand you wanting to go, but you won’t half be in for trouble when you get back. And you probably won’t even
make it to Macclesfield. They’ll catch up with you long before you get there and they’ll never believe that you meant to come back.’ She pulled a face. ‘Not many of us
would, if we once got out.’ She paused, hoping she’d made the girl change her mind, but seeing the determination on Hannah’s face, Nell sighed and asked flatly, ‘So, when
are you going?’

Hannah put her hand warningly on Jane’s arm to stop her saying any more and faced Nell. ‘It’s best you don’t know.’

Now Nell was indignant. ‘Don’t you trust me?’

Hannah was quick to say, ‘’Course I do, but – like you say – there’s no need for anyone else to be in trouble. Only me.’

Nell nodded towards Jane. ‘Well, she will be. She sleeps with you, and the rest of us can hardly say we haven’t noticed you’re missing.’

‘I’ll go early, while you’re all still asleep. All you’ve got to do is to know nothing when they ask you.’ She laughed. ‘You can say you thought I was in the
punishment room. I spend enough time there.’

Nell snorted. ‘You’ll be spending a lot more in there an’ all when they catch you.’ Then she sighed and relented. ‘But we could cover for you for a bit. Give you
time to get right away.’

Hannah shook her head. ‘It’s good of you, Nell, but I’d rather none of you knew. There’s just one thing. I’ve decided to go early on a Saturday. It’ll give me
two days. I know how I can get a lift part of the way and I’ll get back – somehow – on Sunday night. Thing is, Mr Scarsfield’ll miss me at work.’

‘He might not. He doesn’t come round so much on a Saturday. Spends the morning with the bosses in the office. Planning next week’s work. I know, ’cos—’ Nell
stopped suddenly and bit her lip. A faint blush tinged her face. ‘Anyway,’ she went on swiftly, ‘me and Jane’ll play dim, and the rest of them really won’t know
anything. And I’ll cover your machine for Mrs Martin. I’ll tell ’er you’re not well or summat.’ Now Nell glanced severely at Jane. ‘So don’t go telling
anyone else, see.’

Jane shook her head, red-faced and tearful that she had given away Hannah’s secret. ‘I’m sorry, Hannah.’

Hannah put her arms around her and hugged her. ‘It’s all right. No harm done.’

She hoped fervently that she was right.

On the Saturday morning, very early, Hannah slipped out of the bed she shared with Jane, managing not to disturb the sleeping child. Carrying her clothes, she tiptoed out of
the room and dressed on the landing outside the dormitory. It was still dark as she crept down the stairs and into the kitchen. The noise, as she opened the back door, seemed to echo through the
house. She held her breath a moment, listening, but there was no movement from above that might mean someone had heard her. As quietly as she could, she pulled the door shut behind her and set off
down the hill, then along the wall side and past the pillared gate leading into the mill. Once clear, she began to run up the lane. Passing the Grundys’ farm, she could hear sounds from the
cow shed but she didn’t dare to linger. She wasn’t sure of the time and she didn’t want to miss the man who collected the milk.

At the top of the hill she bent over to catch her breath but was relieved to see that Mr Grundy’s churns were still standing against the low stone wall. She sat down beside them, leaning
her back against the rough stones. As she waited she watched the dawn streaking the sky with a rosy peach colour and the world around her grew lighter. She listened, straining her ears for the
sound of the rattling wheels of a cart that might herald the carrier’s arrival.

She had no means of telling the time and she began to worry that she’d missed him. Perhaps the churns were empty, returned for the farmer to refill the next day. She tapped the side of the
one nearest to her and heard the dull sound that meant it was full of milk. She breathed a sigh of relief. But then she heard another sound – a sound she dreaded hearing. Footsteps were
coming up the last stretch of the hill, nearer and nearer. Someone else was coming from the valley to beg a lift too. She watched as a figure, climbing the last few feet, appeared. Hannah drew in a
startled gasp. The man was walking with his head bowed. She couldn’t see his features, but there was no mistaking his hunched stance. Shocked, she couldn’t move. And then it was too
late to run as he lifted his head and saw her.

‘You!’ Josiah Roper came towards her slowly, his beady eyes never leaving her face. As he drew closer she could see that he was smiling with sadistic pleasure. ‘Running away,
are you?’

Now her boldness returned. She stood up, facing him and saying stoutly, ‘No, I’m not. I’m coming back tomorrow tonight. I’m going to see my mother in
Macclesfield.’

For a brief moment even Josiah Roper seemed fazed by her bold, yet polite retort. But he recovered quickly to say, ‘I thought I heard Mr Edmund tell you distinctly that you couldn’t
go?’

There was a brief silence before Hannah muttered, ‘He did. But,’ she added, more strongly, ‘I mean to come back. I’m not a runaway, Mr Roper, truly I’m not.’
She stepped closer, trying to appeal to the man’s better nature – if he had one. ‘I have to see my mother. I have to know if she’s all right. I haven’t heard a word
from her ever since I came here. And you know I’ve written four times.’

‘That’s as may be, but you cannot go without the master’s permission . . .’

At that moment, they both heard the sound of the carrier’s rattling wheels.

‘Oh, please, Mr Roper, let me go. I beg you. I swear on my mother’s life that I’m coming back tomorrow night. I
promise
you.’

But he was smiling nastily. ‘I don’t believe you. I’ll have to take you back.’

‘But – but you’ll miss your ride too. Please, Mr Roper . . .’

But delivering an errant child back to the punishment that awaited her would bring Josiah Roper far more satisfaction than his monthly weekend trip to Buxton to see his widowed mother.

‘Mr Roper.’ Mrs Bramwell’s face was puzzled as she opened the back door of the apprentice house to the man’s loud knocking. Then her glance travelled
down a little to see the girl standing beside him and saw that he was gripping Hannah’s arm tightly. For a clerk who sat hunched over a desk all day, Josiah was surprisingly strong.

‘Francis?’ Now there was an anxious question in her tone as if she already knew – and feared – the answer.

‘I found this girl at the top of the hill, waiting – would you believe? – for a ride with the milk cart. And where, I’d like to know,’ Josiah put his head on one
side and smiled accusingly, ‘did she get the money to take a trip all the way to Macclesfield?’

Mrs Bramwell’s mouth dropped open and she glanced from one to the other. ‘Well, you needn’t look at me like that, Mr Roper. I know nothing about this, believe me.’

Josiah grunted. ‘Really. Then in that case you’ve shown a serious dereliction of your duties, Mrs Bramwell. Because you should’ve known and put a stop to it.’ He gave a
mock sigh, pretending that what he was about to say pained him. ‘I shall be obliged to report the matter to Mr Edmund.’

Ethel Bramwell stared at him before saying bitterly, ‘Oh, I’m sure you will, Mr Roper. Nothing’ll give you greater pleasure, will it?’

‘It’s not Mrs Bramwell’s fault,’ Hannah cried. ‘She knew nothing about it. No one did.’ She looked up at Ethel. ‘And I wasn’t running away, Mrs
Bramwell. I was coming back tomorrow night. I was only trying to see my mother.’

‘A fine tale,’ Josiah snorted. ‘Since when did any child voluntarily come back if they once got away from here?’

‘Me.’ Hannah glared up at him. ‘If I say I’ll do something, then I’ll do it.’

The adults looked down at her. She could see that Mrs Bramwell wanted to believe her, but there was no softening in Josiah Roper’s attitude. ‘Where did you get the money? Did you
steal it?’

‘No,’ Hannah gasped, horrified that anyone could think such a thing of her.

His grip tightened painfully on her shoulder and he bent menacingly towards her. ‘Then where did you get it?’ His face close to hers, Hannah stared into his beady eyes and shivered
fearfully.

But now Hannah couldn’t answer truthfully. She wouldn’t involve Mrs Grundy. ‘I . . . I saved it. It was mine.’

‘Saved it? How? You came from the workhouse and all they give you is the two guineas you handed to Mr Critchlow.’ He smiled maliciously. ‘And I still have that in my
safekeeping.’

‘That he took off us, you mean,’ Hannah said rashly and earned herself a clout across the side of the head from Josiah.

‘I asked you where you got the money,’ he shouted, but now Mrs Bramwell intervened.

‘That’s enough, Mr Roper. You’ve no right to touch this girl. No right at all. She’s my responsibility.’

Josiah turned on the woman. ‘Then you’d better start doing your job, Mrs Bramwell, or else—’

‘Oh yes, Mr Roper, or else – what? You lay another finger on this girl – or any of the children in my charge – and I’ll be the one doing a bit of reporting to the
master. To Mr Nathaniel Critchlow.’

They glared at each other, whilst Hannah stood watching, biting her lip and chastising herself for her wayward tongue. It’d got her into trouble before and it looked as if she’d made
matters worse now.

Josiah turned away, but as he did so, he wagged his finger in Mrs Bramwell’s face. ‘You watch out, Ethel Bramwell. You just watch your step, that’s all I’m
saying.’

As he turned to go, Mrs Bramwell reached out and dragged Hannah into the kitchen and slammed the door. ‘And now, young lady, I’ll deal with you.’

‘It’s out of our hands. There’s nothing we can do about it, Arthur.’

Mr and Mrs Bramwell were standing either side of the kitchen table, arguing over the girl who sat between them calmly eating her porridge. They glanced at Hannah with expressions of anger tinged
with pity. They were cross with her for – as they believed – attempting to run away. They, as well as she, would be in trouble. But more than the concern for themselves, they pitied the
golden-haired girl for the punishment they knew awaited her – a punishment of which she was, at this moment, blithely unaware.

‘Roper knows. He brought her back. He’ll waste no time in telling the master or Mr Edmund.’