The Constant Heart

by Dilly Court

  'Show us into the parlour or I'll report you to the manager and have you sacked for impudence.'

  'Follow me then, gents.' The porter ambled off down a narrow corridor. He thrust a door open and stood back, grinning.

  'And don't expect a tip,' Harry said, pushing past him. He loosed his hold on Rosina so that she stumbled and would have fallen if a man had not stepped out of the shadows to catch her.

  The room was dimly lit by flickering gaslight, and she could not see his face clearly, but she would know the scent of him anywhere. 'Will?' she whispered. 'Is it you?'

  'It's me, Walter.' He set her on her feet. 'Are you all right, Rosie?'

  Harry pushed him out of the way. 'Of course she's all right, man. Miss May is my fiancée and you can keep your grubby hands off her.'

  'It's you who must keep your hands off my daughter.' Edward's voice echoed round the room.

  'You libertine!' Bertha leapt up from an armchair by the empty grate and she advanced on Harry, bristling like an angry mother hen. 'You can't treat my baby girl like a common harlot. Thank the Lord that Caddie come and told us you'd changed your plans, or heaven knows what might have happened.'

  'I say, Gostellow. Who are these common people?' Roland dropped the semi-conscious Sukey onto a horsehair sofa. 'This is not at all what I was expecting.'

  Bertha turned on him. 'And what have you done to that poor innocent girl? Caddie, take a look at her and see that she ain't harmed.'

  Dazed and unable to believe her eyes or her ears, Rosina leaned against Walter. 'I don't understand. How did you all come to be in this place? How did you know that we would be here?'

  Caddie knelt by Sukey's prostrate figure. 'She's swipey, that's all. I'd say there's no harm done, not yet anyhow.'

  'I never touched the girl,' Roland protested. 'It ain't my fault that she can't hold her drink.'

  Walter glared at him. 'You got her drunk, and it's quite obvious what your intentions were.'

  Roland backed towards the doorway, holding up his hands. 'I didn't expect this. Sorry, Harry old boy, but I didn't bargain for angry relatives wanting to make mincemeat of me.'

  'I should knock you down, you rotter,' Walter said, fisting his hands and advancing on Roland.

  'Leave him, Walter.' Rosina laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. 'He's not worth it.'

  'Wait a moment,' Harry blustered. 'This is ridiculous. I am here with my bride-to-be. We missed the last train home and I booked two rooms for the night. Who is to say that the two ladies were not to share a bed? You can't prove me in the wrong.'

  'If you think I believe that story, then you're more stupid than you look, young man.' Edward thrust his face close to Harry's. 'You were supposed to be taking care of my little girl, mister. You were supposed to love and cherish her, but you were planning to seduce her. I don't call that the action of a gentleman.'

  'Come now, sir. You're making too much of this,' Harry said with a nervous smile. 'Let's discuss this like men. After all, I may have been a bit impatient, but I was only going to take what was going to be mine in a few weeks anyway.'

  'You cad! You complete and utter bastard.' Edward took a swipe at him, catching Harry on the nose with his fist.

  'Pa!' Rosina cried. 'Don't, please.'

  Walter stepped in between them, but Harry seemed unlikely to retaliate. He covered his nose with his hands, in an attempt to staunch the freely flowing blood.

  'See what you've got yourself into, old boy,' Roland said, opening the door. 'I don't want anything to do with this sort of thing. You're on your own, Gostellow.'

  'You stay where you are, Rivers,' Harry mumbled through the blood-soaked handkerchief he held to his nose. 'You're in this with me. It was your idea in the first place.'

  'That's a damned lie.' Roland folded his arms across his chest, leaning against the doorpost. 'But I wouldn't expect anything else from a hay merchant's son.'

  'Bastard.' Harry's bloodshot eyes glared at him over the crumpled piece of cloth.

  'Stop it, both of you,' Rosina cried, wringing her hands. 'You're both to blame.'

  'If you wasn't so grown up,' Bertha said, wrapping her arms around Rosina, 'I'd put you across my knee and give you a good hiding for scaring us out of our wits.'

  'It won't happen again, Bebe.'

  'I should say it won't.' Harry mopped his swollen nose, wincing with pain. 'When we're married, Rosina . . .'

  'Married?' Edward roared. 'I wouldn't allow you to marry my girl if you were the last man on earth.'

  Rosina caught him by the hand. 'Papa, please. Nothing happened.'

  'And you have Walter to thank for that, poppet. I'm telling you to your face, young Gostellow, I don't think much of you and I don't think you're good enough for my little girl.'

  'Rosina?' Harry turned to her, his expression grim. 'What have you to say in all this? Are you going to side with your father against me? You will, after all, soon be my wife.'

  A vision of her future life almost blinded her: in a split second, she knew that whatever the cost, she could not go through with marriage to a man whom she did not truly love. She shook her head. 'No, Harry. I thought that I could marry you, and I was fond of you, once. But, even for Papa, I can't go through with it. I would rather die than live in your ghastly mansion with your hateful parents.

  I'm sorry, Pa. I know what the Ellie May means to you, but I just can't marry him.'

  'So that's the way it was.' Harry dabbed at his nose with the blood-stained handkerchief, his voice sounding thick and nasal. 'Well, I don't want an unwilling bride. I did love you, Rosie. More than you can imagine, but I don't want you if you're hankering after another man.' He glared at Walter. 'How she can fancy you is beyond me, you – you coalman.'

  'She doesn't love me,' Walter retaliated. 'But neither does she love you. And I, for one, am glad that she has seen sense at last.'

  'Hear, hear!' Caddie said, jumping to her feet. 'You tell him, Walter.'

  'Are you sure, Rosie?' Bertha hooked her arm around Rosina's shoulders. 'Think hard before you throw away your one chance in life.'

  'I – I'm sorry, but I can't do it.' Rosina tugged at the ring on her engagement finger. 'I can't marry you, Harry. You behaved like a cad tonight, but I know that you're not a bad man at heart. I just hope that you can find a girl who is more suited to you than I am.' She threw it at his feet but the ring rolled towards the doorway and Roland bent down to scoop it up in his hand.

  'Perhaps I'd better look after this,' he said, tucking the ring in his waistcoat pocket. 'You might want it back at a later date, Miss May.'

  Harry had not taken his eyes off Rosina. 'I did love you,' he said angrily. 'But I want a woman, not a silly, hysterical girl who runs to her father every time something goes wrong for her.'

  'It's you who were at fault, Gostellow,' Walter said, grabbing Harry by the lapels. 'You were about to dishonour your own fiancée. You may have money but you are no gentleman.'

  Harry pushed him away with a derisive snort. 'So, the scribe has feelings, has he? You're very bold now, threatening an injured man.' He clutched the blood-stained hanky to his nose. 'Going to call me out are you, pen pusher? Quills at dawn, is it?'

  'Leave him alone,' Edward roared. 'Walter's been a good friend to my girl this day, and you were about to ruin her reputation. Mud sticks, mister. And Rosie is too good for you.'

  'You'll be sorry for this night's work, old man.' Harry backed towards the doorway. 'Consider yourself unemployed for a start.'

  'I've had enough of this,' Roland said, yawning. 'I'm going to my bed. You can sort this mess out, Gostellow.'

  'Harry, please.' Rosina ran to him and caught him by the sleeve. 'I know you're angry with me, but you won't renege on your bargain with Papa, will you?'

  He shook off her hand and his eyes were cold. 'That has nothing to do with you.'

  'It has everything to do with me. You made a business deal with my father. Surely you won't go back on your word?'

  'You pl
ighted your troth to me, madam. You've broken your word and our engagement. I owe you nothing.'

  'We might not be suited as marriage partners, but you can't use that against my pa.'

  'You naïve little fool.' Harry's features twisted with anger. 'Did you really suppose that I wanted to do business with a sick old man?'

  Edward lunged at him but was held back by Walter. 'Don't, Captain. He's just trying to goad you.'

  'How dare you insult my pa?' Rosina said, tossing her head. 'He's a better man than you will ever be.'

  'He's had his day and he's ailing. With the barge and the house on the wharf I could have made our fortune, you silly little mare.'

  'And you would have married me to get your hands on the property that I will inherit when I'm twenty-one? Is that what you're saying, Harry?'

  He shrugged his shoulders. 'Would you have accepted me if I'd been as poor as old Walter there?'

  'I thought you loved me, Harry.'

  'You've spurned and humiliated me. My mama was right: you are not a fit bride for a Gostellow. I'm recalling the loan. If you can't repay the money within a fortnight, the Ellie May together with the property on Black Eagle Wharf belongs to Gostellow and Son.'

  Chapter Fifteen

  Rosina spent an uncomfortable night sharing a bed with Bertha and Caddie. They both seemed to sleep well, if their combined snores and even breathing were anything to go by, but Rosina slept little. The hotel room was small and dingy; the bed was lumpy and smelled of damp and stale tobacco, as if the last occupant had been chain-smoking before he had fallen asleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw Harry's face contorted with rage as he announced that he was recalling the loan. He had stormed out then, leaving them in shocked silence. Papa had been taken with a fit of coughing, which had laid him so low that Walter had had to help him up to the room that they were to share for the night. It had all seemed such a dismal end to what had promised to be an enjoyable evening out. Sukey had been so drunk that it was easier to leave her where she was. They had begged a pillow and some blankets from the hall porter, who had complied with much grumbling, and only after Walter had handed him a generous tip, which she knew that he could ill afford.

  At the first hint of daybreak, Rosina was only too pleased to get up from the bed and slip on her creased gown. She tiptoed out of the room and made her way down to the parlour to make certain that Sukey was all right. Bertha had said she would be unlikely to remember much of what had happened last night, and Rosina could only hope that was true. The thought of explaining the reason for their overnight stay in Sydenham to an anxious and irate Mrs Barnum was worrying enough, without having to admit that Sukey had been extremely drunk and on the verge of allowing a man to seduce her. Rosina opened the door and peered into the gloomy parlour. Sukey's tousled head lay on the pillow and she was snoring softly. The air in the room was thick with dust and the odour of stale wine; Rosina wrinkled her nose in distaste. There was nothing she could do until everyone had awakened, and she felt a desperate need to breathe fresh air. She decided to take a walk to the station to check the times of the trains bound for London.

  The hall porter had dozed off in his chair by the main entrance, and she crept past him. The door was unlocked and she went outside, taking deep breaths of the early morning air scented with damp earth and newly mown hay from the fields nearby. Birds trilled from the leafy boughs of the trees surrounding the hotel garden, and in the distance she could hear the clip-clopping of a horse's hooves and the rumble of cartwheels.

  'Rosie! You're up early.'

  She spun round to see Walter approaching her from the direction of the station. She had paid little attention to him last night, but it was a relief to see him looking his normal well-groomed self, free from the cloying mantle of coal dust that had so altered his appearance when they had last met. 'I couldn't sleep.' She held out her hand in a gesture of reconciliation, and he took it in a warm grasp.

  'I spoke out of turn before.'

  'I'm sorry too. I didn't mean all those things I said.'

  'You had every right to be suspicious, but I would never cheat you or your father.'

  'I knew that deep down, but I was so confused. And it seemed that you were deserting me, just like . . .'

  'Will would have rather had his right hand cut off than leave you, but he had no choice, and I was desperate for work.'

  'I know that now, Walter. But what I don't understand is how you knew where to find me.'

  'Caddie told me of your proposed outing with Gostellow. She had seen through him and suspected that he was up to no good.'

  'So that's why she stayed behind to talk to you. I had no idea.'

  'I wasn't going to leave you unprotected and so I jumped ship. I went to the public baths to clean up before going to your house, but you had already left with Gostellow. It took me some time to convince your father that I was not the villain of the piece, but Caddie confirmed my story. We left immediately for Sydenham.'

  'I trusted Harry.' Rosina sighed. 'I'll give him a piece of my mind when I see him this morning.'

  'He's gone, Rosie. He left on the first train to London.'

  'Oh, dear! I expect he will go straight to their solicitor and instruct him to call in the loan. What are we going to do, Walter? We will be homeless.'

  'I won't allow that to happen.' He wrapped his arms around her and held her.

  She laid her cheek against his shoulder, comforted by the warmth of his embrace. She felt so safe with Walter, and so at home in his arms. 'Thank you,' she murmured.

  'For what?'

  'Just for being you, Walter. I know I can rely on you, my dear friend.'

  A cry from an upstairs window made them spring apart and look upwards. Caddie was waving frantically. 'Come quick. Your pa's been took ill, Rosie. Really ill.'

  Rosina hesitated, casting a worried glance at Walter. 'You shared his room last night; didn't you notice anything was wrong?'

  'I slept in a chair and let the captain use the bed. He was wheezing a bit, but it's only what you'd expect considering he's been working in the warehouse where they store the hay.' He held his hand out to her. 'Come on, we won't find out anything by standing here.'

  In the upstairs bedroom, Bertha was sitting by the bedside, mopping Edward's brow with a damp flannel. She looked up, frowning. 'It's his lung complaint come back. He's really poorly this time.'

  Rosina knelt down at the bedside. 'Papa, can you hear me?'

  'He's out of his head with fever, ducks,' Bertha said. 'I doubt he'll even recognise you.'

  'Pa, it's me, Rosie.'

  His eyelids fluttered but he did not open them. His breathing was laboured and his chest rattled ominously.

  'We must send for a doctor,' Rosina said, raising his hand to her cheek. 'I can't bear to see him like this.'

  'We can't afford a doctor. In fact, I dunno if we've got enough money even to get us back to London.' Bertha handed the flannel to Caddie. 'Dampen this again in the washbowl, ducks. He's burning up like a furnace, poor man. We must get him home as soon as possible.'

  Rosina cast an anxious glance at Walter. 'Have we any money left?'

  He shook his head. 'We weren't expecting to stay the night. I'm not even sure if I can settle the bill here.'

  'This is a terrible mess. I would beg Harry to help us if he hadn't already left.'