His smile slowly seeped away and after a moment he said, ‘Yes?’ And I replied, ‘Yes.’
‘Well, well! So life moves on. I hope you’ll be very happy.’
‘Thank you.’
Getting away from this touchy topic, I said quickly, ‘Have you any idea when the case will come up?’
‘Oh’—he pursed his lips—‘about three weeks’ time I should say.’
‘How … how long will it last?’
‘Who knows? We’ve picked up eight of them altogether, including your three and the woman. There’ll be the drug charges first; I should imagine abduction and attempted murder—that’ll be your case—will be on the last day or so. You’ll be the main witness in that, naturally, you and the man on the cliff top. And me of course. So we’ll meet again.’ He buttoned the middle button of his light coat, then said, ‘Well, I’ll say goodbye.’
‘Goodbye, John.’ Then I added, ‘In a way, I should say I’m sorry we ever met because of what has transpired.’
‘I can endorse that wholeheartedly, Mrs Leviston.’ He stressed my name. ‘Oh yes, wholeheartedly.’ Then, pointing to the roses, he said, ‘Give those to one of the nurses; they may recognise their significance.’
When the door closed on him I seemed to slump in the chair and I asked myself a question: If Tommy hadn’t been on the scene, would I?
Yes, yes, I would.
Five
On the day I left hospital I felt a little like royalty. I had said goodbye to the night staff earlier on and they had paid me the compliment of saying I was the only patient on that floor who had never rung the night bell; and the day staff had said they were sorry to see me go. The doctor who happened to be doing his rounds when I was leaving jokingly cried at me, ‘I’m going to see you off the premises and make sure you don’t break anything more of that gigantic frame of yours.’ And so, supported at one side with a walking stick and by Tommy’s arm on the other and flanked by the sister and doctor, I departed from the hospital and made for home.
And there was Janet waiting outside the lift, and there were tears in her eyes as she exclaimed, ‘I never thought to see you walk out of there again. Welcome home, Mrs Leviston, ma’am.’
Her voice was almost drowned by the sound of Sandy’s barking coming from the kitchen and she said, ‘He sensed you were coming, he’s gone mad since Mrs Brown brought him up, but I won’t let him loose till you’re settled, else he’ll have you over.’
The flat looked strange, very large and sort of empty. The yellow drawing room was still beautiful but aloof somehow. There was something missing. I said, ‘Where’s Harold, Janet? I thought … ’
‘Well, ma’am, that’s another thing: I left him at home; I just thought he would run wild an’ all, an’ you would want to get settled in. He’s been like a cat on hot bricks this last couple of days, in fact, for weeks now. You’re goin’ to have a job gettin’ him back into form. Anyway, I told them I’d give him a ring as soon as you wanted him here, and Hilda would bring him. She’s back, you know, ma’am. She’s been stayin’ home for a time, but she’s goin’ to room with May as soon as May gets rid of the girls. They’re goin’ back to Maggie’s. Oh, what a mix-up there. I’ve got things to tell you you wouldn’t believe. Maggie’s settled in with him again like, but she said she wanted space to move around before gettin’ down to housekeepin’ again. And so the lasses are still at May’s. Oh!’ She looked at Tommy now, saying, ‘I can never believe she’s one of mine … Maggie. I’ve bred some queer ’uns, but she takes the cake.’ She turned away, saying, ‘Everything’s ready in the dining room when you are. Oh, it’s lovely to have you back, ma’am … lovely.’
Tommy sat himself down beside me on the couch and, putting his arm about me, said, ‘I endorse that. You’ve been a very missed woman, if you follow my meaning … ma’am … How do you feel, darling?’
‘Do you know, Tommy, I couldn’t tell you, I really couldn’t. I suppose I feel tired, but I had expected to feel elated just to be back here.’ I looked around this beautiful room, then said, ‘But strangely I feel flat.’
‘That means you want a holiday. Tomorrow, if you feel up to it, or the next day, we’re going down to the boat. If that doesn’t cheer you up nothing will.’
‘Tommy.’
‘Yes, my dear?’
‘I know what’s worrying me, it’s the case. I’m … I’m terrified of courts.’
‘It’ll be all right. Everything’s been arranged, and you won’t have to appear until the last day.’
‘How do you know?’
‘Oh, I haven’t been idle. I’ve had a talk with the barrister, and he said the Indian’s bodily harm business will come up first, then the attempted murder charge against those three fellows; all you’ve got to do is to identify them. I don’t think the woman will be charged with them except as an accessory or some such. Don’t worry, all you’ll have to do is just walk in and then walk out again. It’ll be over in no time.’
I remained silent whilst thinking, I hope so. Oh, dear God, I hope so …
Two hours later I was sitting on the couch with Sandy curled up at my side when Harold came bouncing into the room. I say he bounced, but that was as far as halfway up the room, for there he suddenly stopped, stared towards me, then did a little run and came and stood by my knee and looked at me.
‘Hello,’ I said. ‘Haven’t you anything to say to me?’
He didn’t answer immediately; then he asked, ‘You better?’
‘Yes; yes, I’m quite better.’
‘You’ll not go away again?’
‘No.’
‘Ever?’
‘Not ever.’
At this he knelt up on the couch, put his arms around my neck, then whispered something, and I said, ‘What did you say?’ And now I heard his voice, very small, say, ‘I was frightened.’
‘What were you frightened of?’
‘You wouldn’t come back, an’ I’d be stuck at Gag’s.’
I pushed him from me. ‘Oh, that’s all you were frightened about, because you would be stuck at Gag’s?’
‘No, no.’ He made an impatient movement with his head, and when I laughed and pulled him towards me he said, ‘Oh, you! You’re funny.’ He then added, ‘An’ he missed you an’ all.’ He put his hand on Sandy’s head. ‘He ’owled and ’owled, had fits of it.’
‘He never ’owled and ’owled, he howled and howled.’
He slanted his gaze at me and his response was, ‘Nuts.’
‘What did you say?’
He grinned, then demanded, ‘Where’s Mr Tommy?’
‘He’s gone out for a while.’
‘To the boat?’
‘No; not to the boat, to his flat; he wanted something. What do you know about the boat?’
‘Oh’—he preened himself—‘I’ve been on it. It’s smashin’, lovely. Oh boy! Uncle Max and Uncle Billy were bloody dumbfounded.’
We looked at each other. His head was bowed for a second before it jerked up and he said, ‘Well, that’s nothin’. They were.’
‘Harold!’
‘Oh … well, they all say it. Oh, I’m sorry, I am, Mrs Nardy, I’m sorry.’
‘All right. All right. But tell me, how did your uncles and you see the boat? And where?’
‘Mr Tommy, he … he took us one day in the car. Oh, that car! Uncle Billy nearly cried over it. He loves cars. His is four wheels an’ a biscuit tin. He made Uncle Max and Mr Tommy laugh when he said he’d exchange any pair of boobs for Mr Tommy’s headlights.’
‘Harold!’
‘What?’
‘You mustn’t repeat things like that.’
‘Like what?’ He was definitely puzzled and amazed. ‘I never swored.’
‘Swore.’
‘Well, I never did.’
‘No; but you repeated something rude.’
He looked to the side as if his words were imprinted there and he was sorting them out. Then his head jerked towards me and he said, qu
ietly, ‘Boobs?’
‘Yes.’ I made a deep obeisance with my head.
‘Well, huh!’ There was now a grin on his face. ‘That’s nothin’. They’re in the papers an’ magazines; women ’ave ’em. And—’ I drew in a deep breath as I turned my gaze from him, and he went on, ‘Uncle Max says some of ’em haven’t even got their bootlaces on.’
My gaze returned to him sharply.
‘Bootlaces! What do you mean bootlaces?’
‘Well.’ He demonstrated now with a finger pointing across each side of his chest. ‘Those bits they wear. He calls them bootlaces. An’ down on their bell … ’
‘All right, all right, we won’t go into that any more. But tell me’—my speech was rapid now—‘what was the boat like? I mean, what did you think of the boat, besides it being smashing, lovely? What are the rooms like, the cabins?’
‘Oh.’ He turned from me now, linked his arms about his knees, brought his feet up onto the couch and rocked himself as he attempted to describe what he had seen: ‘Well, it’s green … and well, it’s big like a house inside, and it’s got rooms. Oh’—he turned quickly towards me—‘you’d have to see it. As Uncle Max says, even on the outside it made all the other boats round about look like a heap of old odds and sods.’
We said nothing: our thoughts were exchanged by our eyes which stared into each other. When I spoke I said, ‘Your Aunt Hilda’s in the kitchen. Go and ask her if she wouldn’t mind coming and having a word with me?’
He slipped off the couch, stood looking at me for a moment, then said, ‘Well, it’s … ’ but didn’t finish; instead he slumped away out of the room.
Uncle Max, Uncle Bill, all those uncles, it looked as if I had to start from the beginning again. One thing I should be pleased about, he had taken to Tommy. But Tommy was no fool: the boat was an asset on his side in the cause of future relationships …
Hilda came quietly into the room, and I said, ‘Hello, Hilda.’
‘Hello, Mrs Leviston.’
‘Do sit down.’
‘How are you feelin’?’
‘Still a bit shaky, I’m afraid, Hilda.’
‘You look much better than when I last saw you.’
‘Yes; yes, I am. But I’m afraid I’m worrying about the court case.’
I hadn’t been very diplomatic there, had I? But it seemed that I need not have worried because she said, ‘Well, that’s natural; it will be quite a big affair.’
I narrowed my eyes at her. She seemed different; she was dressed very nicely. And after a short silence she said, ‘I’m sorry for upsettin’ you that day I called at the hospital. I should never ’ave done it. I upset you and you were so concerned for me. But anyway, I’ve got over it.’
‘Oh. Oh, I’m so glad, Hilda.’
‘’Tisn’t nice to be chucked aside … thrown off, you feel like dirt, but as our May said, the only thing to do is to show him that he’s made a mistake, and that’s what I’m gonna do.’
‘Good for you, Hilda. Good for you.’
‘I’ve … I’ve left the factory.’
‘You have?’
‘Yes. I’m workin’ in the same hotel as May, chambermaid. But that’s only a start. May says I can rise an’ I will. Yes, I will. An’ you meet different kinds of people. As she said, you pick up their lingo … how they talk. And anyway, as she says, I can pay for lessons an’ be learned to speak properly.’
‘Oh, don’t do that.’
‘No?’
‘No; don’t alter yourself, Hilda. You’ll speak properly all right, mixing with other people. Don’t lose your identity, I mean don’t change your character, because you’re such a warm person.’
The head drooped now and I saw the old Hilda, and her voice was low as she said, ‘I went through a bad time. I think I would have done meself in if it hadn’t been for May. May’s good; she’ll get on. She’s got a fellow now. He’s in a very good position, he’s an assistant chef in one of the big ’otels. He’s goin’ to have a place of ’is own, a restaurant. Oh, May’ll get on. An’ she says I will an’ all.’ She was looking at me again. ‘You know, Mrs Leviston, there’s supposed to be no class distinction, everybody’s the same, that’s what they say, but as May says, it’s a lot of codswallop. And the lads say it an’ all. Max says you can’t get into the Conservative Party unless you have a twang. John Drake had a twang, or James Bainbridge as he is. That’s what got me in the first place, the way he spoke. Well, it’s over. But I’ll let ’em see in the end. That’s all I want to do, let ’em see.’
‘You’ll come out on top, Hilda,’ I said softly; and she looked at me and, her own voice now low and her eyes blinking, she said, ‘I still love him though, Mrs Leviston. I haven’t seen him since, but I was goin’ to go to the court on the day, but May says that would be a mad thing to do. What do you think, Mrs Leviston?’
‘I think with May, Hilda. Give yourself a year, perhaps longer. By that time you will have … well, sort of acquired a veneer and if you were then to meet him again it would be on his own ground. You know what I mean.’
‘Funny; that’s what May said: aim to be somebody; that’ll make him sorry he turned his nose up.’
‘She’s right, Hilda. Yes, she’s right.’
She stood up now, saying, ‘You’ll be glad to ’ave him back.’ She jerked her head kitchenwards.
‘Harold? Oh yes, yes.’
‘You won’t ’ave to expect too much of him at first. The lads ’ave had a field day with him, went out of their way they did, not meanin’ it badly, you know. Max is a caution, but he’s very fond of him, in fact, he thinks it’s a shame he’s goin’ to be spoilt, I mean, altered.’
‘Well, you can tell Max he won’t be spoilt. And also tell him the only thing I’ll aim to alter is his language, most of it having been learned from him.’
She laughed now. ‘I’ll tell him, Mrs Leviston, I’ll tell him. Well, goodbye, and thank you … well, for listenin’ to me.’
I held out my hand, and when she took it I pressed hers tightly, saying, ‘Now I mean this, Hilda, I’m not just being polite, but I want you to pop in and see me every now and again when you have time, and we can have a talk.’
‘You do?’
‘Yes, I do. I’ll want to know how you’re progressing.’
She turned from me now and went quickly from the room, and I lay back and willed that she would come out on top and one day in the future meet the Mohican again when by the sound and sight of her he would have to eat his words.
Then I asked myself, if Tommy hadn’t been in the way, what would I have done about her and her feelings for the Mohican, and her being Janet’s daughter and Harold’s aunt? For answer, I thanked God I had Tommy.
It was almost a week later when I saw the boat. Tommy first took us to meet the Captain, who shared a house with his sister and brother-in-law overlooking the canal.
Captain Edward Lee, who asked to be addressed as Ned, was a stubby man in his late fifties. He was of Welsh extraction and had apparently sailed the seas since he was a boy. His brother-in-law had served as first officer under him in the merchant navy.
Tommy was retaining Captain Lee’s services on a full-time basis, for two reasons, he said: the house overlooked the canal and in the winter months he could keep an eye on the boat; the second reason was it would be one less on the dole and would help a man such as Ned Lee to keep his self-respect which was something that many men were losing. He was thoughtful, was Tommy. I had found that out in more ways than one.
At my first glimpse of Spring Fever I exclaimed, ‘Oh, my goodness!’ She looked so long and high. And when the Captain jumped aboard and pushed a gangplank down onto the canal bank, Harold dived up it like a squirrel up a tree; but I looked at Tommy and said, ‘Oh, no.’ Whereupon and without any further words, he stooped and picked me up, and at the top of the gangplank he put me into the arms of the Captain and for the first time I was hoisted aboard.
Well, I looked from one to the other of th
e three faces looking at me; then I looked about me. This, I saw, was the wheelhouse. It was shining. The wood was gleaming; there were leather-cushioned seats at one side, and a high seat fronting the wheel and a panel of instruments. I said nothing. Then Tommy, walking quickly from me, went down a short flight of steps, turned and held up his arms, and with their aid I slowly descended the stairway.
‘The saloon.’ He spread his hand wide.
I couldn’t believe it; it looked so beautiful. It had the same impression on me as had my drawing room when I first saw it, the day when Nardy took me there to cry and to tell him the truth about my life.
‘Isn’t it smashin’?’ Harold was jumping up and down.
Still I said nothing.
Now I was being led through a door and Tommy was saying, ‘This is the dining quarter.’
And it was a dining quarter, it was a dining room.
Through another door, ‘Here’s the galley,’ he said. ‘What do you think of it?’
What did I think of it? I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was much better and more modern than the kitchen back at the flat and I thought that was good. As he described it to me, it had everything, and what I noticed, too, was that there were no portholes so far but windows, as one would get on the first-class deck of a cruise ship.
When I stood in the main bedroom I spoke for the first time. Looking from Tommy to the Captain, then down to Harold, I said, ‘I can’t believe it. It seems impossible to get so much into … well, this space.’
‘There’s a bath,’ Harold had pushed open a door; and indeed yes, there was a bath with a shower and toilet.
‘Come and see my cabin.’ He darted out, and we followed him along what I termed a short passage and so into another cabin, smaller but also beautifully fitted. And Harold, pointing, said, ‘That’s my bed. And there’s a space underneath it for Sandy’s basket.’
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