The Best of Sisters (37 page)

By the time the washing was mangled and hanging damply on the rope line stretched in zigzags across the yard, Eliza had given up hope of seeing Freddie. She left Ada pegging out the last of the bed sheets in a mist of steam that was pungent with the smell of carbolic soap. In the living room, Eliza had taken down the tin from the mantelshelf and was counting the coppers. Despite her thrifty housekeeping, there was just enough money left to keep them in bread and tea for a week. They had not eaten meat for a month, and had been living mainly on vegetable soup or boiled potatoes. It would be at least a month before she was back in business and able to support her family. Millie had been so happy to have found work, but servants were usually paid quarterly, and that would come too late to be of any help. She stared at the coppers in her hand, aware that her options were limited. Aaron held the purse strings, paying for the building materials as well as the wages of the builders. He had already advanced her money and it would be difficult to ask for more. It was a hard truth to acknowledge, but Eliza suspected that she had sold her soul to the Millers and it would take her a lifetime to repay them. She was reaching up to put the tin back on the shelf when the front door
burst open, making her jump. The tin flew out of her hands, spilling its contents on the floor.

‘I’m sorry, Liza. I didn’t knock for fear of disturbing Dolly.’ Freddie went down on his knees beside her as she searched for the coins.

‘There should be more,’ Eliza said frantically, scrambling over the flagstones. ‘There should be another penny.’

He sat back on his haunches. ‘Steady on, love. One penny isn’t going to break the bank.’

‘Freddie, you don’t understand.’ Crawling on her hands and knees, Eliza went under the table, pushing the chairs aside in search of the lost coin.

‘Are things so bad then, Liza?’ He rose to his feet, brushing dust from the knees of his trousers.

Eliza went to stand up and banged her head on the table. ‘Ouch! That hurt.’ She stood up, rubbing her sore head. ‘I can’t lie to you, Freddie. This is all the money I have in the world and it’s got to last until Christmas.’

‘My dear girl, is that all?’ Freddie was smiling as he peeled off his gloves, one finger at a time.

As she watched him, Eliza could only think that the cost of a pair of fine kid gloves such as those would keep them for weeks. ‘I’m serious, Freddie. I have tenpence left to keep us in food, coal and candles. I don’t know how I’m going to manage until I get the business going again and Millie gets her wages from the Millers.’

‘I wasn’t laughing at you, Liza. All I meant was, why didn’t you tell me before?’ Freddie slipped his hand into his inside breast pocket and drew out a pouch bulging with coins. ‘I’m not a wealthy man, poppet, but I’m not poor. How much do you need?’

‘I – I can’t take your money.’

He tipped the contents of the pouch onto the table and counted out five pounds in crowns, florins, shillings and sixpences. ‘There, that should do for the time being. If you need more, you only have to ask.’

Eliza eyed the money, biting her lip. ‘I won’t be able to repay you for a very long time.’

‘If you talk like that you’ll make me angry.’ Freddie laid his hands on her shoulders, holding her gently, but firmly. ‘Look at me, Liza.’

She raised her eyes reluctantly. ‘I’m sorry. I only meant …’

‘I know what you meant.’ His lips curved into a rueful smile. ‘Are you forgetting that I’m old enough to be a quite senior member of your family, my dear? As such I’m entitled to help you without any question of putting you in my debt.’

‘Oh, Freddie.’ Eliza bit her lip, bitterly regretting the words that he had overheard when she was battling verbally with Daisy. ‘I was cross and I didn’t mean it to sound like it did.’

‘There, there, think nothing of it.’ Freddie turned away abruptly, apparently intent on the task of stowing the remaining coins in the pouch. ‘If I can make things easier for you, then I will.’

Eliza wiped her eyes on the back of her hand; she had grown accustomed to hiding her innermost feelings for fear of showing weakness in the harsh commercial world. Freddie’s kindness and generosity was almost overwhelming. She gulped and sniffed. ‘Th-thank you.’

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. ‘Dry your eyes, poppet, or Ada will be hitting me over the head with a saucepan for upsetting you.’

Eliza laughed in spite of herself. ‘You are such a fool, Freddie.’

‘I am, and I know it.’

For a brief moment, their fingers touched and a tingling sensation like pins and needles shot up her arm, sending thrills down her spine. She turned her head away, hoping that he had not seen the hot colour rise to her cheeks. ‘You promised to bring Dolly some medicine.’

‘I did, and I have.’ Freddie put his hand in his coat pocket and produced a brown medicine bottle. ‘When she asks for laudanum, give her a teaspoonful of this. There is laudanum in it, but only in a small dose, which I’ll reduce further every time I make a fresh mixture. It will take time, Liza, but it should gradually reduce her dependency on the drug.’

‘Will she be cured of the brain fever?’

‘I’m afraid not, poppet.’

Eliza took the bottle, fingering it and feeling the glass still warm from being held in his hand. ‘Thank you for this, and for the money. I will repay it, in time.’

Before Freddie could answer, Ada came in from the scullery, her normally pale cheeks flushed from a combination of cold air and exertion. ‘Are you two deaf or something? Dolly’s been calling out for ages. I heard her clear out in the yard, and I’m sure the whole street could hear her too.’

‘I’ll go to her,’ Eliza said, with a guilty start; she had been so involved with Freddie, and the
complicated feelings that he aroused in her, that she had heard nothing apart from the beating of her own heart.

‘Don’t bother, I’m going.’ Ada was already halfway up the stairs, grumbling as she went.

‘I really didn’t hear her. Poor Dolly, she’ll think I deserted her.’

‘She’ll have forgotten all about it before she gets to the bottom of the stairs. And I’ve got a surprise in store for her.’

‘You have? What is it?’

‘How long is it since Dolly left this house?’

Eliza shook her head. ‘I don’t know, a year, maybe two.’

‘I thought as much. She needs to get out and about. As I’m setting up in practice, I’ve bought a dog cart, and an old nag to pull it, so that I can go out and about town with speed and safety. You and Dolly can be the first to ride in it.’

‘A dog cart?’ Eliza ran to the window, peering out. ‘Where is it? Are you teasing me, Freddie?’

‘I paid a lad to hold the horse while I came to see you. Let’s hope he hasn’t taken it for a spin, though I doubt if old Nugget could make it further than Limehouse without collapsing between the shafts.’

An hour later, Freddie drew Nugget to a halt outside his residence in Dark House Street.

‘Are you sure this will be all right with Daisy?’
Eliza asked, as he helped her down from the cart.

‘She’s gone to the furniture warehouse to spend my money. That will keep her occupied for the best part of the day. Now do you want to see young Tommy or not?’

‘Of course I do.’

‘Here, this isn’t the palace,’ Dolly said, peering out from beneath a pile of rugs that Freddie had thoughtfully provided. ‘I thought we was going to have dinner with the queen and young Edward, the cheeky little sod. You may think I don’t remember nothing, but I know he was at our house last night. Told him to shut the door, I did.’

‘So you did, Dolly.’ Freddie lifted her in his arms and carried her to the front door, which Sukey held open with a disapproving look on her peaky face.

‘Mistress won’t like it, sir.’

‘Mistress won’t know unless you tell her, and I suggest that you keep quiet, Sukey. Bringers of bad news usually get a clout round the ear for their pains.’

Sukey scuttled off in the direction of the kitchen and Freddie carried Dolly into the front parlour, setting her down on the only chair in the room. ‘There, Dolly, you sit by the fire and I’ll tell her majesty that you’re here.’

‘I can’t see too well without me specs. But it seems a bit bare for a palace. Where’s the gold
and silver and the footmen? It wasn’t like this when I last come to dinner.’

‘I’ll send the maid in with a glass of Madeira and a slice of cake,’ Freddie said, tucking a rug around Dolly’s knees. ‘Rest there, Dolly, and we’ll be back in a minute.’

‘It wasn’t like this in my day.’ Dolly leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes. ‘But a glass of Madeira wine would be nice and I got a real fancy for a slice of seed cake.’

As they left the room, Eliza caught Freddie by the sleeve. ‘Oughtn’t we to tell her the truth? I don’t think all this pretence about the palace is good for her.’

‘Humour her, poppet. Just for the time being, let her live in her dream world. There are worse places to be.’

‘I suppose so.’

‘Put your trust in an old crocusser, my love.’

Responding to the irrepressible twinkle in his eyes, Eliza laughed out loud.

‘It’s so good to hear you laugh again,’ Freddie said, caressing her cheek with the tip of his forefinger. ‘You’ve shouldered a burden that would have been too heavy for most men, let alone a young girl.’

The magic moment dissipated with his last words. The pleasure that Eliza had felt and the tenderness of his touch were all as nothing if Freddie still saw her as a mere child. She bit back
harsh words; she wanted to shout out loud that she was a grown woman with a woman’s emotions and needs, but being in the house that Freddie shared with Daisy made it impossible for her to speak out. Her knees were shaking and Eliza felt as though the dark waters of the Thames were closing over her head. She was drowning. ‘Where’s Tommy?’ She saw a lifeline and made a grab for it. ‘You promised that I could see him.’

‘Of course.’ Freddie’s tone was suddenly neutral. ‘I’ll take you to him.’

He led the way to a room at the back of the house that had been set up as a nursery with a truckle bed in one corner, a table and two chairs and a large, gaudily painted rocking horse that looked as though it had been stolen from a merry-go-round at a fair. A fire blazed in the hearth, the coals glowing orange and black, with flames roaring up the chimney like a tiger caged behind the bars of a nursery fireguard. Tommy was sitting on the bare floorboards, playing with a set of coloured wooden bricks. He looked up with an oddly adult expression on his small face as Freddie entered the room, closely followed by Eliza.

‘Tommy, my boy. Look who’s come to see you.’

‘Hello, Tommy. Do you remember me? I’m your Auntie Liza.’ Eliza went down on her knees
in front of him, and she picked up a couple of bricks. ‘What were you building?’

‘It fell down,’ Tommy said, looking past Eliza to Freddie. ‘Where’s my mama?’

‘She’ll be home soon, old chap. Your Auntie Liza will keep you company while I go and see to the horse.’ Freddie left the room, closing the door behind him.

She sat back on her haunches watching Tommy as he began to pile the bricks one on top of the other. He seemed so self-contained but Eliza sensed his feeling of isolation. She remembered only too well her own childhood, and the hours spent alone at night in the unfriendly confines of the sail loft while Bart was out working on the river. Her heart went out to the boy; he resembled Bart so closely that it almost hurt to look at him. She wanted above everything to be able to get to know Tommy and to love him, but she did not know how to begin. It pained her to realise that she had no idea how to talk to him, or break into the private little world that he seemed to have built for himself. She tried to think of something to say that would amuse him, but her inability to do so only underlined her lack of experience in dealing with children. Eliza took a deep breath, and tried again. ‘So, Tommy, what was it before it fell down?’

‘A boat.’

‘Do you like boats?’

‘We come to London on a boat. A big boat.’

‘So you did. If your mama will let you, I could take you to the docks to see some big boats.’

For a moment a glimmer of interest lit his eyes, and then it faded. ‘I got to stay indoors. Mama said I must.’

‘Well, I’m sure we could fix something. And I know that your mama would want you to come and see my store, where I sell things to do with boats. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?’

Tommy pushed a pile of bricks towards her. ‘Build a boat now.’

For all her efforts, Eliza soon found she was hopeless at building with wooden blocks, and Tommy was eyeing her attempts with masculine contempt. She tried to make a joke of her feeble efforts, but he refused to respond and she was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he simply didn’t like her. By the time Freddie returned from the stables, Eliza was almost at her wits’ end and she cast him a desperate but silent plea for help.

‘Not going too well?’ Freddie helped her to her feet, adding in a low voice, ‘Give the boy time.’

‘She don’t know how to build a boat,’ Tommy said, leaping up and tucking his small hand into Freddie’s. ‘She’s a girl and girls are no good at anything.’

Freddie winked at Eliza over the top of Tommy’s head. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t say that, old chap.’

‘It’s true that I’m not much good with building blocks,’ Eliza said, smiling ruefully. ‘But perhaps I’ll get better with practice.’

Tommy tugged Freddie’s hand. ‘I’m hungry.’

With a mighty swing, Freddie hefted him onto his shoulders. ‘And I’ve persuaded Sukey to lay out a picnic luncheon in the parlour. Although,’ he added, turning to Eliza, ‘she’s not the best cook in the world so I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high. Mind your head on the lintel, Tommy.’

Eliza followed them out of the nursery and down the hall to the parlour, where Dolly was dozing in front of the fire, an empty wine glass still clutched in her hand. She opened her eyes as they entered the room, and, as Freddie set Tommy down on the floor, she sat bolt upright, peering short-sightedly at him with her silver hair sticking out from her head in a crown of corkscrew curls.