One Dragon's Dream

by Catrin Collier

  Tom eyed the narrow entrance and took Richard from Bert who immediately pulled off his cap to show respect. Lifting Richard over his shoulder Tom descended into the kitchen.

  ‘I’ve turned down our bed, Anna.’ Morgan peered at her from the top rung of the ladder that led up to the sleeping shelf.

  ‘Richard’s in no state to go up there, Anna,’ Tom warned. ‘You’d best make him a bed down here for the time being.’

  ‘How is he?’ Maggie walked in, followed by half a dozen women from the court.

  ‘As you see. How’s Mam?’ Anna asked urgently.

  ‘Out of it and best that way from the state of your Richard. I’ve settled her in my Tim’s easy chair. May Twp’s looking after her.’

  May Twp’s husband Dai had gained his nickname after a pit prop had fallen on his head. He hadn’t been right since.

  ‘Bed, Anna,’ Tom prompted.

  Flustered, Anna realized Tom was wilting under Richard’s weight. ‘Morgan, throw down the clothes from Mam’s and my bed.’ Anna pulled the rag rug her mother had made from the boys’ outgrown trousers to the side of the hearth. She grabbed the bedding Morgan tossed down, covered the rug with a blanket, and spread a sheet on top.

  Tom set Richard on the makeshift bed, removed his cap, and rubbed his aching shoulder muscles.

  ‘Your shirt’s covered in blood!’ Anna exclaimed.

  ‘It’ll wash.’ Tom spoke with the assurance of a man who’d never washed a shirt in his life.

  ‘Blood’s terrible to get out of coarse linen,’ Anna warned.

  ‘Mam’s got out worse.’

  ‘I’ve filled the water buckets and the kettle’s steaming, Anna.’ Owen pushed his way through the throng of neighbours.

  ‘Good boy.’ She covered Richard with a sheet and blanket. ‘Morgan come down; fetch me a bowl of hot water and a clean flannel, soap, and towel.’

  ‘Give the boy some room, ladies,’ Tom pleaded as the neighbours settled on every available surface.

  ‘We’re here to help,’ Maggie retorted.

  ‘You’d help us more by looking after Mam,’ Anna countered.

  ‘You’d help Bert, me, and the Parrys by clearing out so we have enough air to breathe.’ Tom wasn’t renowned for his tact.

  Morgan scurried between the legs of the adults and brought Anna everything she’d asked for.

  Wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand Anna examined her brother. Every inch of skin that wasn’t broken was bloody, black, and swollen. His lips were torn, split, and bleeding. His eyelids glued shut by blackened clots, his black curls wet with blood. The brown twill jacket, trousers, and linen shirt that had been their father’s was torn and stained beyond repair. He wasn’t recognisable as her adored and handsome brother who’d walked out of the door, happy and whistling less than two hours before.

  She wrung the flannel out in warm water and rubbed soap on it.

  ‘Don’t!’

  Alarmed, Anna dropped the soap into the bowl.

  Bare-headed Peter Edwards pushed aside the neighbours, who’d retreated no further than the door, and strode into the room with his doctor’s bag, his brother Edward close on his heels. Edward removed his hat and nodded to the women.

  Peter laid a hand on Anna’s shoulder. ‘Don’t disturb those blood clots. If you touch them you could cause haemorrhaging.’

  ‘Sorry …’ Anna swallowed hard.

  ‘You’ve done well to make your brother comfortable. Richard is your brother?’ Peter checked.

  Anna’s voice was unsteady but she managed, ‘Yes, sir.’

  ‘You’re?’

  ‘Anna, sir.’

  Peter glanced over his shoulder. The room wasn’t much larger than the pantry of his rented house, yet twenty or more people were crammed into it and more still were caught up in a crush in the doorway. ‘This patient needs quiet. Everyone except his family and the men who brought him here, out!’

  No one dared argue with a doctor.

  ‘One at a time and, quietly,’ Edward warned when two women jostled and squabbled in the doorway.

  Peter turned to Tom and Bert. ‘You brought this man here?’

  ‘Yes, Dr Edwards. I’m Tom, this is my brother Bert. We help our father at the top farm.’

  ‘You saw this man being beaten?’

  Tom repeated the story he’d told Anna.

  ‘Was Richard conscious when you found him?’ Peter asked.

  ‘He was out cold. I know him well, sir. He’s not a fighter, not like some round here. That’s not to say he won’t punch back if someone comes after him,’ Tom elaborated.

  ‘No man would have lain there and taken the kicking the Paskey boys and their cronies were giving him if he’d been in a fit state to do anything about it,’ Bert added.

  ‘Did you recognise any of the men who attacked Richard beside the Paskeys?’ Edward watched Peter kneel beside Richard and begin his examination.

  ‘They were all from the Rolling Mill, sir. Deputy Perkins was with them. Not that he did anything besides order the men to keep hammering Richard after they wanted to leave off.’

  ‘I know the Paskeys and what they’re capable of. Like their father and uncles they’re …’ Edward moderated his language in front of Anna, ‘… nasty pieces of work. But why would Deputy Perkins order men to beat Richard Parry? I doubt he knows the boy. I understand why men would obey Mr Perkins given his power to hire and fire but it doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘Richard was with Alice, Deputy Perkins’s daughter, Mr Edwards,’ Bert divulged.

  Anna began to shake uncontrollably.

  ‘Take a deep breath and sit back against the wall.’ Peter was too concerned about Richard to help her.

  Edward shook his head. ‘Stupid boy, chasing skirt at his age. You’d think the girl would have warned him about her father. Deputy Perkins puts on more airs than the Crawshays.’

  ‘He keeps a close eye on his daughters.’ Tom sounded bitter.

  Edward recalled there’d been gossip about Tom and one of the Perkins girls. Gossip that had ended when she’d married a solicitor thirty years her senior.

  ‘With his three older daughters married to businessmen I doubt Mr Perkins would be happy to see either of the younger ones walk down the aisle with a collier.’ Peter returned his stethoscope to his bag.

  ‘You know a lot about the Perkins family for someone who’s spent the last eight years in London,’ Edward commented.

  ‘Sarah helped the second daughter, Margaret, organise the young wives’ bazaar. I met the father there.’ Peter took a brown glass bottle, upended it on a wad of cotton wool, and cleaned the worst of the cuts on Richard’s face. ‘Richard’s a brave but foolish boy to set his sight on a Perkins.’

  ‘Mr Perkins won’t hurt Richard any more, will he, Mr Edwards?’ Anna looked to Edward for reassurance. Since they’d lived in Merthyr, her mother’s brother-in-law had always been there to help them.

  ‘I’ll talk to Deputy Perkins, Anna, but I can’t promise anything. He must be very angry with Richard to get his men to do this. My brother’s right. Richard set his sights too high when it came to courting a Perkins and he’s suffering for it.’

  ‘Richard will be all right though, won’t he, Dr Edwards?’

  Peter wanted to comfort the girl but his experience in East End hospitals had taught him the worst mistake a doctor could make was to give false hope. It put his reputation and personal safety at risk. Recovery from a bleak diagnosis was invariably greeted by tears of relief and jubilation. An unexpected death the relatives hadn’t been prepared for could result in loss of face and a bloody nose for whoever delivered the bad news.

  ‘The next few hours will be critical. Your brother has four broken ribs, severe bruising around his eyes, face, and torso and open wounds on his head. Painful as those injuries are they’ll mend, given time, care and rest. As for the injuries that can’t be seen, they’re impossible to diagnose. There’s no obvious skull fracture, but that�
��s not to say there isn’t one. He’s deeply unconscious, bordering on coma. A great deal depends on the state he’ll be in when he wakes. He’s going to need careful nursing for the next few hours. I’ll stay as long as I can but I’ll have to leave if someone else needs me.’

  ‘Thank you, Dr Edwards. You’re most welcome to stay but I have to tell you …’ Anna hated bringing up the subject of payment with her brother in dire need of doctoring but felt she had no choice. ‘About your fee …’

  ‘Your family pay the penny a week?’ Peter asked.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ For the first time Anna noticed the doctor’s shirt buttons were undone, he wasn’t wearing a tie, and his waistcoat and jacket had been flung on.

  He saw her looking at him. ‘I was changing for church when my brother told me someone had been hurt. I didn’t wait to dress properly.’

  Embarrassed Anna blurted, ‘Our penny a week goes to Dr Jones, Dr Edwards.’

  ‘No matter.’ Peter glanced around. There was only one wooden chair, rickety and swollen with damp. He sat on a bench, the only other seat in the room, and leaned against the wall until he realised the stonework was wet.

  Anna remembered her manners. ‘Would you like a cup of tea, Dr Edwards, Mr Edwards? Tom, Bert?’

  Recognising Anna’s need to do something, Edward answered. ‘Thank you, Anna; we could all do with one.’

  ‘Not for me and Bert if you don’t mind, Anna.’ Tom went to the door. ‘We left the dogs when we went to see to your brother. The old ones will be fine but the pups can be skittish. They may have run off. If they have, they’ll take some tracking down.’

  ‘I can’t thank you enough for rescuing Richard and bringing him home.’

  ‘I wish we could have got to him before he was hurt, Anna.’ Tom twisted his cap in his hands. ‘If you walk up our way, our Mam will have a cup of tea and a slice of bara brith ready for you, the boys, and your Mam anytime.’

  Too overcome to speak, Anna nodded her thanks.

  ‘We came the minute I found a barmaid to cover for me,’ Betty gushed when Edward opened the Parrys’ door. ‘Oh, my poor love.’ She rushed to Anna who was sitting on the floor next to Richard. She knelt beside her and hugged her. ‘How are you holding up, pet?’

  Anna turned her tear stained face to Betty. ‘I’m all right, Auntie Betty. But Richard … and Mam …’

  ‘Where’s Mary?’ Glyn asked Peter.

  ‘Maggie Two Suits is looking after her. You heard what happened?’ Edward checked.

  ‘The version that’s being bandied around the Boot. Deputy Perkins set his men on Richard and ordered the boy beaten to death. Is Mary hurt as well?’

  Edward took Glyn outside so he could relate what had happened out of Anna’s earshot.

  Betty removed her bonnet and shawl before joining Glyn and Edward in the court. ‘There’s a spare bed in the maids’ attic at the Inn. I could take Anna back there. The other girls would look after her and keep her busy to take her mind off what’s happened.’

  ‘You won’t get her away from Richard, her mother, or her younger brothers. With Richard and Mary ill she believes she’s the only one who can care for them,’ Edward pointed out.

  Peter appeared in the doorway. ‘Do me a favour, Betty. Go next door and check on Mary. I don’t want to leave Richard longer than I have to.’

  ‘You’re worried about Mary as well as Richard?’ Betty saw Anna standing behind him. Alarm registered on the young girl’s face. Betty wished she could retract her words.

  ‘I’m not as worried about Mary as I am about Richard. But I’m concerned about the neighbours’ ability to care for her. They mean well but Mary needs proper nursing and you’ve had experience after looking after your mother.’

  Betty was flattered by the confidence Peter placed in her. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of her.’

  ‘I can spare five minutes to check on her again now. Any change in Richard’s condition, knock the wall, Anna, and I’ll be right back.’ Peter steered Betty to the head of the steps that led down to the Jefferies’ house.

  Mary was propped up in the only easy chair in Maggie’s house, her feet on a stool, an old grey army blanket wrapped around her.

  ‘Dr Edwards, Betty, can I get you a cup of tea?’ Maggie pushed aside the pile of boys’ socks she’d been darning.

  ‘No, thank you, Maggie, I’ve just eaten,’ Betty refused.

  ‘I couldn’t drink another teaspoonful of tea after all the pots Anna has brewed in the last couple of hours. There’s no change?’ Peter checked the pulse at Mary’s wrist.

  ‘None, Dr Edwards. I haven’t left her side except when I had to visit the ty bach, and then May stayed with her.’ Maggie indicated a bench next to the hearth.

  ‘She hasn’t stirred, Dr Edwards,’ May confirmed.

  ‘Both of you must be exhausted,’ Betty sympathised.

  ‘It’s not been easy keeping the boys out so Mary can get some peace,’ Maggie conceded. ‘I haven’t had time to make tea for them.’

  ‘If you send two of your boys up to the Boot, I’ll give them a note for the cook. She can pack enough cheese sandwiches and bread pudding for your and May’s families,’ Betty offered.

  ‘Your boys can eat in my place, Maggie,’ May suggested. ‘Then they’ll have no excuse to bother you until bedtime.’

  ‘Good idea, May,’ Betty agreed. ‘I’ll stay here, so you can both take a break. When the boys bring the food, eat with them, Maggie. Take as long as you like, I’ve arranged cover for me in the Boot. While Mary’s quiet I’ll work out the ordering and menus for the Boot for next week.’ Betty opened her bag and took out a pencil and notebook.

  ‘I’ll return to the Parrys.’ Peter went to the door. ‘Knock the wall if you need me.’

  ‘I will.’ Betty pulled a kitchen chair to the table and started to write.

  Night fell over the court, darkening the Parrys’ kitchen to coal-face gloom. Apart from a candle that danced in a draught on a stool next to Richard, the only light emanated from the hearth. It was barely enough to make out the shape of the door, windows, and shelf where the two boys were sleeping.

  ‘Will Richard recover?’ Edward whispered to Peter as they sat side by side, stiffly upright on the bench. Whether it was the result of inertia or damp, Edward was shivering.

  ‘I’ll be able to make a clearer diagnosis when he regains consciousness. One thing’s certain; he won’t survive another beating as severe.’ Peter reached for his pocket watch. He held it close to the candle. The hands pointed to midnight.

  Anna was lying on the rug next to her brother, her hand closed around his blackened, bloodied, and bruised fingers. She’d fallen asleep hours ago. As had the boys she’d sent up the ladder to their shared bed. Even Glyn had succumbed and was slumped over the kitchen table.

  He was sitting slumped over the Parrys’ table, her face buried in his arms. ‘Given the involvement of the Paskeys I’m surprised Richard’s alive. The police sergeant was telling me the other day that he suspects them of having a hand in the murder of the collier who was killed walking over the mountain to Aberfan a couple of months ago.’ Edward reached for his pipe.

  ‘We should send for the sergeant now,’ Peter advised.

  ‘You’ve been in London too long. If we involved the police, Deputy Perkins would produce a dozen witnesses to contradict anything Tom, Bert, or their father said. The deputy wouldn’t allow Alice to testify and Richard wouldn’t live long enough to reach a courtroom.’

  ‘So much for law and order in Merthyr.’ Peter conceded. ‘I can’t wait to leave.’

  ‘You don’t know what you’re going to.’

  ‘According to Glyn, an empty plain waiting for John Hughes’s works and town to be built.’

  ‘That doesn’t mean Mr Hughes will be able to create Utopia. There are good and bad everywhere, including Russia.’

  ‘There are, but if my experiences in East London are any indication, foul living conditions, filthy air, and abje
ct poverty breeds more bad than good. After meeting John Hughes I believe he’s a fair man who intends to build a town that’s worth living in and pay every one of his workers a decent wage.’ Peter fell silent when he heard the ring of metal boot studs cross the yard.

  Edward lifted his finger to his lips, went to the door and opened it a crack. ‘We’re jumping at our own shadows. It’s Iestyn Swine going to the ty bach.’

  ‘Iestyn Swine who married Jenny who used to be Jones?’

  ‘I’d forgotten you courted her before you went to London.’

  ‘I heard she married Iestyn but I haven’t seen her since I returned. How is she?’

  ‘Just about surviving like everyone else in this court. She has eleven children.’

  ‘Eleven!’

  ‘Three sets of twins. They run in Iestyn’s family. He lost his leg last year when he fell under a tram in the rail yard but scrapes a living collecting pigswill for farmers. He’s also developed a side line in gelding livestock and selling the potions Jenny brews to doctor animals.’

  ‘Glyn’s awake.’ Peter smiled at the confused expression on Glyn’s face.

  ‘I haven’t recovered from the journey yet,’ Glyn sat up. ‘I can’t wait to get to Russia so I can sleep in the same bed for more than one night. I need fresh air.’

  ‘You won’t find that this low in the valley the way the furnaces belch out.’ Edward warned.

  ‘Look in on Betty and Mary if you’re heading for the ty bach,’ Peter asked when Glyn left his chair.

  ‘Will do.’ Glyn slipped out.

  ‘Do you think Perkins will send his thugs after Richard again?’

  Edward made certain Anna was really asleep before answering Peter. ‘I’d say certainly and soon. But you’re the one who’s met the man.’

  ‘Met isn’t the same as know. My patients tell me Perkins rules his section of the ironworks like a medieval baron. Everyone who works under him lives in fear. Sarah says he controls every minute of his wife and daughters’ lives. He married the three eldest off to businessmen decades older than them.’