One Snowy Night

by Rita Bradshaw

As she and Bridget alighted from the tram in Castle Square where Flo, who’d agreed to accompany them to Daniel’s house, was waiting, she was still feeling wretched. She knew Flo slightly from her early days in Newcastle, when she and Ellie had gone out with Bridget’s group of friends a few times before she’d decided such evenings weren’t for her. Flo’s greeting was on the cool side. More by what Bridget hadn’t said than what she had, Ruby had gathered that Bridget’s pals thought her something of an upstart because she hadn’t thrown her lot in with them as Ellie had, and now she said quickly, ‘Flo, I can’t thank you enough for coming with us today. I know you’re doing it for Ellie and not me, but I’m so, so grateful.’

  She was trying to hide the fact that the area was much worse than she’d prepared herself for as Flo lived in the vicinity. She had known it was close to the docks with the attendant industry and all that meant, which resulted in grime and dirt and deterioration, but the overall poverty was shocking. As the centre of Newcastle had moved away from the waterfront in past decades, so had whole districts been left to decay into grotesque squalor with overcrowded tenements housing families of fifteen or more in one room.

  Sandhill, where Lombard Street was situated, was one of these. The proximity of the slaughterhouses and the equally strong smells from the fish markets and stinking outside privies made the area as different to Bath Lane Terrace as chalk to cheese.

  Ruby smiled at Flo who smiled back, somewhat mollified. ‘Aye,’ Flo said, ‘like I said to Brid, Ellie’s a nice lass but too gullible. I dunno if Brid’s told you, but we all tried to make the lass see what Daniel Bell’s like but she saw him through rose-coloured glasses.’ She couldn’t resist adding, ‘I know you don’t think much of us lot but none of us would get mixed up with someone like him. We just like to have a bit of a giggle, that’s all.’

  ‘I know, Flo. I do. And it’s not that I didn’t want to be friends but going out drinking just isn’t my cup of tea, that’s all.’

  Flo grinned. ‘Not your cup of tea, that’s a good ’un.’ She still thought that Lady Muck – as she and her other pals had christened Ruby – considered herself a step above, but to be fair Ruby’d always been a good friend to Ellie. Look at what she was doing now. And Bridget had said Ruby had been prepared to confront Daniel Bell by herself. That took some guts. No, there was something to be said for the lass but Ruby still got up her nose, truth be told. All these evening classes doing this and that wasn’t normal for a young lass in her opinion, it was unnatural. Mind, Ruby might be about catching herself a rich husband; now that she could understand.

  They began walking towards Lombard Street, the stink from the fish market hanging heavy in the warm air. There seemed to be an inn every few yards and despite the early hour – it was still only seven o’clock – from the noise within quite a few of the customers were already on the way to being drunk. They were walking along the quayside and then as they turned into Lombard Street past a bank situated on the corner, the three girls saw two sailors leaving a house further down the street, laughing and nudging each other as they went.

  ‘That’s where Bell lives,’ Flo said quietly.

  Ruby felt her stomach turn over. Those two men . . . She glanced at Bridget who said, ‘Don’t think about it, and anyway they might just be mates of Daniel.’ But neither of them believed that.

  The three of them had come to a halt. Bridget looked scared to death and even Flo, who was a big hefty girl with arms on her like a navvy from her job at the rope and wire-making works, was biting her lip. Ruby had to swallow hard before she could say, ‘You two stay here. If I get into any bother I’ll say you’re waiting outside and will raise the alarm if I’m not out in ten minutes.’

  Bridget nodded, but Flo said, ‘No, we’ll come to the door with you and wait inside if we can while you talk to Ellie. Any funny business and I’ll threaten the blighters with this.’ She brought a cut-throat razor out of the pocket of her skirt, and as Ruby and Bridget’s eyes widened, she said, ‘It’s me da’s. He don’t know I’ve got it, but I thought a bit of protection wouldn’t do us no harm.’

  Ruby’s heart was thumping so hard it hurt. The street was like all the ones by the riverside, dirty and filthy, and there was a dead rat lying in the gutter along with other debris. A few yards away a group of children were playing on the greasy pavement. Their clothes were ragged and dirty and their feet were bare, and one of the little girls was sitting with a snotty-nosed baby on her lap, jogging it up and down when it cried. She couldn’t have been more than three or four years old herself, her small frame thin and wasted and her fair hair lank and matted, but she still smiled and talked to the baby and even as Ruby watched dropped a kiss on its tiny forehead.

  This was poverty such as Ruby had never seen. For a moment she thought of her childhood home and her mother. They hadn’t had two pennies to rub together when she was growing up, but her mam had always seen to it that their stomachs were full, their clothes were clean and their shoes were mended the minute they developed holes in the soles; and she’d fought a determined and successful war against the body lice and nits some of the bairns brought to school too.

  A pang of sudden and acute homesickness assailed her and she found herself longing for a lost time, a time when she was a carefree child and her mam was the centre of her secure and happy world and everything was in its right place. Fear was gripping her, fear of what she would find when she knocked on the door of the house in front of her and also fear of Daniel himself, and she hated it, hated being afraid. The awareness of how she felt brought her chin rising and straightened her shoulders as her fighting spirit sprang up. Daniel Bell was scum and she wouldn’t let him intimidate her, not while she had breath in her body. As for Ellie, she would do everything within her means to get her friend away from here.

  She moved forward, Bridget and Flo falling into step behind her, and when she reached the flaking, battered front door of the house she grasped the brass knocker and banged hard twice. The door was opened almost immediately by a small fat man whose smile died on seeing the three girls.

  ‘Aye?’ He eyed them up and down. ‘Whad’re you want?’

  Unconsciously, Ruby brought all she’d learned at the elocution classes to bear as she said crisply, ‘I am here to see Ellie Wood, Mr . . .?’

  Howard Riley blinked. Women didn’t call at this house, especially not ones who spoke and dressed like this one. His gaze flickered from Ruby to Bridget and then Flo behind her, and it was to Flo he said, ‘I know you, don’t I? I’ve seen you around?’

  ‘Aye, you might have done. I know you an’ all – you’re Howard, Daniel’s pal. Well, like she says –’ she flicked her head at Ruby – ‘we’ve come to see Ellie.’

  Flo was as rough and ready as they come, and this had the effect of reassuring Howard. He knew how to deal with lassies like her. His small piggy eyes narrowing into black slits, he said mockingly, ‘Oh, aye, want to see Ellie, do you? An’ who’s she when she’s at home and what makes you think she’s here?’

  ‘We know she is here so don’t take that tack.’ Ruby’s tone wiped the smile from his face. ‘Unless you want a great deal of trouble I suggest you call her immediately.’

  Howard hesitated. He couldn’t weigh this one up and that concerned him. She was a classy piece and perhaps it wouldn’t do to get on the wrong side of her. Gathering himself, he said, ‘An’ who might you be?’

  ‘That’s none of your business.’ She had recognized she had an advantage with this crony of Daniel in that he was unsure of her standing in the community and she wasn’t about to give her name in case Daniel had spoken of her. Trying to imagine how Clarissa, or perhaps Lady Russell, would address such an individual, she kept her shoulders back and her head up, her chin not out but drawn slightly into her neck. Her voice cool and clear-sounding, she said, ‘Now do as I say and fetch Ellie.’

  Howard knew Daniel wouldn’t like a piece like this one coming into the house asking for Ellie, but what could he do? D
ecision made, he stepped back from the door. ‘Come in a minute and I’ll see if she wants to talk to you.’ Once they had filed past him into the brown-painted hall, he nodded to the front room to the left of them. ‘Wait in there.’

  The smell of stale tobacco and alcohol was strong as they walked into the room, which held three sofas clustered round a long low table holding a couple of ashtrays and several glasses. There was no other furniture and the heavy thick curtains at the window were closed, the only illumination coming from two gas lights on the wall, which gave the place a dim, claustrophobic feeling.

  Daniel’s pal had shut the door after them but Ruby opened it and stood in the aperture, and she heard him talking to someone in one of the rooms upstairs. Bridget and Flo were standing in the middle of the room; none of them wanted to sit down, and after whispering, ‘Stay here,’ Ruby retraced her steps into the hall and quietly climbed the uncarpeted stairs. The house was three-storeyed and a century ago had probably been the home of a rich merchant, but now it was crumbling and in a state of disrepair, and Ruby didn’t doubt that the others in the street held umpteen families in each property.

  A door was slightly ajar on the first landing and Ruby could hear Howard quite clearly as he growled, ‘I tell you she asked for you. Now why would a lady come here, eh? What you bin up to? Dan won’t like it, you know that, don’t you?’

  As she pushed the door open wide, Ruby’s eyes registered several things at once. The room, unlike the rest of the house thus far, had a thick red carpet covering the floor and held a double bed with rumpled sheets. Either side of the bed stood two pedestals with an oil lamp on each, and the light from them showed Ellie cowering back against the profusion of satin pillows with Howard bending over her. Without pausing to think, Ruby shouted, ‘Get away from her, leave her alone,’ even as her eyes widened at Ellie’s transparent negligee under which she was naked.

  At the sight of Ruby, Ellie gathered up the top sheet, wrapping it round her, and Howard turned, glaring at her as he yelled, ‘Hey, you, who said you could come up here?’

  Ignoring him, Ruby cried, ‘Ellie, you have to come with me right now,’ and as Howard sprang and seized her arm she yanked it free, pushing him hard as she shouted, ‘Don’t you dare lay a finger on me.’

  The commotion had brought another scantily clad young girl into the doorway, and as she said, ‘What on earth’s going on?’ Ruby turned just in time to see a partially dressed man pulling on his shirt over his trousers as he hightailed it down the stairs.

  ‘Get the hell out, Daisy.’ Howard manhandled the girl onto the landing, and as he did so, Ruby quickly shut the bedroom door behind him and turned the key in the lock.

  Ellie still hadn’t said a word, but now, as Ruby repeated, ‘You have to come with me,’ she pulled the satin sheet tighter round her. Thinking Ellie didn’t understand, Ruby approached the bed. Her voice was soft as she murmured, ‘Ellie, it’s me, Ruby. Don’t be frightened. Look, Bridget and Flo are downstairs. We’ve come to take you home.’

  Howard was banging on the door and shouting obscenities, and Ruby could hear Bridget and Flo’s voices too, but trying to keep calm in the bedlam, she put out her hand to Ellie, only to see her shrink back into the pillows.

  ‘Ruby, you have to go, quick, before he comes back,’ Ellie muttered.

  ‘Who? Daniel? I’m not scared of him, Ellie.’

  ‘You should be.’

  ‘Ellie, he’s forced you into this, he’s scum, rotten to the core. I’ll go to the police if I have to.’

  ‘No.’ Ellie’s face was white, her eyes wide and terrified. ‘It’d do no good. Daniel’s got them in his pocket, paying them backhanders to look the other way.’

  ‘Not all of them, there’ll be some who are decent men.’

  ‘You don’t know what he’s like. You don’t cross him.’

  ‘Then we’ll leave Newcastle, all right? Go somewhere else. We left Sunderland, didn’t we?’ Ruby was getting frantic but trying not to let it show in her voice.

  ‘You don’t get it, do you? I can’t. He’d find me and kill me.’

  ‘No, he won’t. I promise you he won’t. We’ll disappear, Ellie. I’ve got money, we can start somewhere new.’

  Just for a moment Ruby thought she saw a ray of hope in Ellie’s eyes, but then her face went blank and she shook her head. ‘I’m – I’m not the lass you once knew.’

  ‘Yes, you are, you are,’ said Ruby fiercely. ‘I don’t care what you’ve done, what he’s made you do. Underneath you are still Ellie Wood.’

  Again Ellie shook her head and now her voice was weary when she muttered, ‘You’ve no idea, Ruby, no idea. You live in such a different world.’

  ‘Listen to me.’ Ruby sat on the edge of the bed and took Ellie’s hands. For some reason it registered that they were soft and white, unlike when her friend had worked in the laundry. ‘I know you’re frightened of him and I’m not saying without cause – I can imagine what he’s like – but if you want to leave here with me I’ll make sure you are safe. I’ll move heaven and earth, Ellie. I swear it.’

  ‘It wouldn’t be enough, and anyway . . .’

  ‘What?’

  Howard had stopped banging on the door and Ruby could hear voices downstairs.

  ‘No decent man would want me now. And – and Daniel does look after me.’

  Ruby couldn’t believe her ears. She shook the limp hands in hers as she murmured, ‘This isn’t looking after you, lass. Letting men do that to you. Don’t you see?’ And when Ellie just stared at her, she said fiercely, ‘He’s nothing but a nasty little pimp. They both are, him and this Howard. Scum of the earth.’

  Again Ellie gave her no answer but now she shut her eyes, shaking her head.

  Ellie, Ellie. Ruby wanted to shake her until she saw sense but gather her up in her arms at the same time. The room reeked of cheap perfume and another mustier odour that was distinctly unpleasant. Swallowing hard, Ruby said, ‘Get dressed and we’ll leave here for good, lass.’

  As though she hadn’t heard Ruby, and still with her eyes shut, Ellie whispered, ‘It started with him asking me to do a pal of his a favour. Daniel said this man had lost his wife and was knotted up inside and that if I was kind to him it would help him get back to normal. I said no. Once I came here I knew Daisy had men in her room but I thought . . . Oh, I don’t know what I thought. Anyway, Daniel got angry, he said if I loved him I would do it for him, it would prove how much I thought of him. He said we could start thinking about getting married. So –’ Ellie opened her eyes – ‘so I did it. The – the next day I think he must have put something in my drink because we’d been out, Daniel and me, and Daisy and Howard, and I came over a bit funny and that’s all I remember till I woke up in bed with – with two men I didn’t know. Daniel said I’d agreed to it, that me and Daisy had said we wanted some fun, but I wouldn’t have. I know I wouldn’t have.’

  ‘Of course you wouldn’t, I know that.’

  ‘He got angry again when I argued with him and . . .’ Her voice trailed away. She took a deep breath and whispered, ‘He’s all right if I do what he says, but he would kill me if I tried to leave, you must believe me, Ruby. And you, he’d kill you too. You don’t know some of the things he’s done. He’d find me wherever I went and—’

  ‘Ellie, he’s told you this to scare you but he’s not omnipotent, he’s not God.’ The Devil, more like. ‘If we go far enough—’

  Now it was Ellie who interrupted Ruby, her voice gentle and almost pitying when she said quietly, ‘It’s no good, lass. It’s too late. You have to accept that. And – and it’s not too bad when you get used to it. Some of them just want a bit of comfort.’

  Ruby stared at her aghast, but before she could say anything more they heard footsteps running up the stairs and then such a loud thumping on the bedroom door that they both physically jumped. Ruby stood up, but Ellie shot out of bed on the other side and pressed herself against the wall, shaking from head to foot.

 
; ‘Open this damn door. You hear me, Ellie. You open it right now or I’ll flay you alive.’

  ‘It’s him.’ Ellie’s face was chalk white and her eyes were wide with terror, like those of a trapped animal. ‘You should never have come, he’ll blame me.’

  The thumping came again. He must be using both his fists, Ruby thought, as the door rattled and groaned on its hinges.

  ‘I’ll break it down, you hear me?’

  There followed a spate of such vile obscenities that Ruby’s face screwed up against them. When he paused to take breath, she swallowed deeply and willed her voice to be steady and strong. ‘Mr Bell? This is Ruby Morgan, Ellie’s friend.’

  There was silence for a split second and then his voice came deep, like a growl. ‘Aye, I know who you are, all right.’

  ‘Then you will understand why I came to visit Ellie.’ There was no point in beating about the bush. ‘I came to beg her to come back home with me but she didn’t know I was coming. This is all down to me, Mr Bell.’

  ‘I don’t doubt that for a second, Miss Morgan.’ His voice was scathingly mocking now, with a dark edge of intimidation. ‘And I suggest you get the hell out of my house and take them two trollops downstairs with you.’

  As he finished speaking Ruby heard Flo call, ‘We’re here, lass, don’t fret, and I’ve told him we’re going nowhere without you.’

  ‘Ellie, please.’ She had to try once more, because one thing was for sure, she would never be able to come back here, not after this. ‘Please come away with me now.’

  Ellie bowed her head, drawing her bottom lip into her mouth. It was a habit of hers in moments of deep distress and one Ruby recognized from old. After beatings from her father or some other trauma it was as if Ellie was trying to make herself as small as possible, to shut the world out. ‘I can’t,’ she said after a moment.

  There was a finality in the two words Ruby couldn’t fail to be aware of. ‘Ellie, I’ll go now but you know where I am and any time, any time at all you can come to me. Everything I’ve said holds true. We’ll disappear, do anything, all right? I mean it.’ Ellie didn’t raise her head or look at her, and as Daniel banged on the door again, Ruby said, ‘I love you, lass. You know that, don’t you? You’ve always been like a sister to me, a proper sister, not like Olive. I’ll do anything for you.’