The next morning, as he entered the kitchen to eat his breakfast with the rest of the staff, the air was buzzing with the news of his pardon.
‘Is it true, lad? That the governor’s giving you your freedom?’
Charlie blushed self-consciously. ‘Er . . . yes, yes, it is, actually.’
‘Then good on you!’ The rosy-cheeked cook slapped him heartily on the back. She’d always had a soft spot for Charlie. ‘So when are you planning on goin’ an’ what are you goin’ to do?’
Charlie shrugged as he took a seat at the table and lifted an apple from the dish. ‘I thought I might try my hand at gold prospecting.’
The cook laughed. ‘Oh, not you an’ all! Half the town has gone harin’ off to Ophir from what I’ve heard of it. I doubt there’ll be enough gold there for everyone. But then I suppose you never know unless you try, so if that’s what you decide then I say good luck to you, lad.’
As he was making his way to the governor’s office after breakfast, Charlie passed Francesca in the hallway. Today she was wearing a pale-pink linen gown sprigged with tiny rosebuds and she looked so pretty that Charlie’s heart skipped a beat at the sight of her, although she merely acknowledged him with a slight incline of her head. He had clearly hurt her feelings, and his heart was heavy as he entered the office.
The governor glanced up from his desk and smiled. ‘Ah, Charlie, I didn’t expect to see you today.’
‘I still have a few things to finish before I leave, so that you’re all up to date.’ Charlie nodded towards a pile of paperwork on the end of the desk and the governor gave him a grateful smile.
‘I appreciate that. But have you given any thought as to what you’re going to do?’
‘I have, as it happens.’ Charlie went on to tell him about his idea and Phineas listened carefully.
‘Well, all I can say is you have the same chance as anyone else of making a strike,’ he said musingly. ‘So if that’s what you want, then you should do it. Now it’s in your mind you may well live to regret it if you don’t try, and life is too short for regrets.’ He held his hand out and Charlie shook it, and in that moment his mind was made up.
He was going to go gold prospecting to seek his fortune!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Susie had no idea how long she had been running, nor even where she was running to, but eventually a stitch in her side made her pause to catch her breath and lean against a fence. A thick smog had descended, coating the streets in an eerie yellow glow, and there was a damp chill in the air that seemed to creep into her very bones. The fog restricted visibility to a few yards in front of her, and as she tried to catch her breath, she peered nervously into the gloom. Running away had seemed such a good idea at the time, but now she wasn’t so sure. Even so, she knew it was too late for regrets now. She wouldn’t be able to find her way home, even if she wanted to. Nanny had never taken her further than the park and back so she didn’t know the area at all well, so now she was just going to have to make the best of things.
Eventually she walked on a little further down the street where she came to some shops, but she could see shapes huddled down in boxes inside the shop doorways so nervously she hurried past them and kept on walking. Sometime later, she passed some wrought-iron railings that were clearly surrounding a park, and when she came to the gates she slipped inside them. It was even more eerie in there, though, as there were no streetlamps to guide her way and for the first time tears pricked at her eyes.
After what seemed like an eternity, what appeared to be a large bandstand loomed ahead of her and she climbed the steps and huddled down in a corner of it. Her teeth were chattering with cold and her hands and feet were numb, but she was so exhausted that very soon she fell into an uneasy doze and knew no more.
Back at the house in the room next to the nursery, Agatha stretched and yawned in her comfortable feather bed. Downstairs she could hear the maid going from room to room as she lit the fires and she knew the kitchen would be busy as the cook prepared breakfast. Deciding to go down for a cup of tea before she roused Susie she rose, shivering as her feet connected with the cold floorboards, and after washing and dressing hastily, she pinned up her hair and crept to the door that led into the nursery. There was no sound, so she gently inched the door open and stared across at the mound in the bed. Confident that Susie was still fast asleep, she made her way down to the kitchen.
‘Morning, Agatha,’ the cook greeted her, as she fetched a string of sausages from the cold shelf in the pantry; the master was partial to a bit of sausage with his breakfast. ‘Was it a cup of tea you were after?’ When Agatha nodded, she pointed towards the large brown teapot on the table. ‘Help yersen then. It’s just made so it’ll be nice and hot. Good job an’ all. It’s enough to freeze the hairs off a brass monkey out there.’
In actual fact, the cook didn’t care much for Agatha, and neither did the rest of the staff, but they had learned to be civil to her. In any house, the nanny came high in the hierarchy and it paid to keep on the right side of her.
Agatha poured a cup of tea and sat down.
‘So what have you got planned for today?’ the cook asked.
Agatha sniffed. ‘Much the same as always. Being a Sunday, I shall take Susanne to church this morning, then it’s my afternoon off so I shall probably go out for a walk if the weather warms up a little.’
‘I wouldn’t count on that.’ The cook lifted the large frying pan and as the conversation seemed to be at an end, Agatha drank her tea and went back upstairs to wake Susie.
In the nursery she threw some coal on to the dying embers of the fire and drew aside the curtains, revealing the murky grey clouds beyond the window.
‘Come on, let’s be having you, girl. Your breakfast will be here in a minute and we have to get you ready for church,’ she barked.
When her order was met with no response, she scowled and moved to the side of the bed, where she impatiently threw back the blankets – only to gasp with dismay. What she had thought was Susie lying beneath the covers was actually a pillow the girl had placed there in case Agatha should glance into the room during the night.
But of the girl, there was no sign.
Agatha’s heart began to pound as she stared around the room, as if expecting Susie to somehow miraculously appear.
‘Oh bugger!’ she swore, as she wondered how she was going to tell the master and mistress. What would they say? But first she would discreetly check all around the house to make sure the child wasn’t hiding somewhere.
To start with, she checked the rooms on the landing, before quietly hurrying down the stairs to make sure that Susie wasn’t in any of the downstairs rooms. Her search proved fruitless, so she hurried back to the nursery. Her heart sank as she opened the wardrobe door to find that the girl’s hat, coat and boots were gone. There was nothing for it now but to go and tell her employers. So, steeling herself, she set off down the stairs again.
The maid raised an eyebrow when she saw Agatha marching along the hallway but she had no time to comment before Agatha snapped, ‘Where are the master and mistress?’
‘I’ve just served them breakfast in the dining room.’
Without a word of thanks, Agatha stomped off and tapped on the dining room door, before entering without waiting to be invited in. The mistress was seated at the table while the master was helping himself to some devilled kidneys and sausages laid out on silver serving dishes on the sideboard. They both blinked with surprise when she barged in, but before they could utter a word Agatha burst out, ‘It’s Miss Suzanne. She’s missing . . .’
‘What the hell do you mean she’s missing?’ Matthew’s forehead creased in a frown. ‘If this is some sort of joke, woman, I have to tell you I am not finding it in the least funny!’
‘It’s no joke, I assure you, sir.’ Agatha’s knees were knocking with fear. ‘I just went in to wake her to find her bed empty and her coat and boots are gone. She must have left the house sometime durin
g the night while we were all asleep.’
Alicia’s hand flew to her mouth as she stared out of the window. It looked terribly cold outside. Why would Suzanne venture out there without telling anyone?
‘Have you made quite sure that she isn’t hiding somewhere in the house?’ Matthew’s voice was a growl and Agatha’s fear increased.
‘I . . . I checked all the rooms as best I could, sir.’
‘But why would she run away? Was she all right when she went to bed?’
‘Oh yes, sir. Quite all right,’ Agatha told him hastily as he dropped his plate on to the sideboard. ‘And you didn’t hear her get up?’
When Agatha shook her head, he stormed towards the door. ‘Right, I want everyone in the house to search it from the attics to the cellars,’ he said. ‘And then if we don’t find her we must go to the police. She’s just a child. Anything could happen to her out there all on her own.’
Within minutes everyone was calling Susie’s name and methodically searching every room they came to, but all in vain. Finally, Matthew summoned the parlour maid and told her, ‘Run to the police station as fast as you know how and tell them I need to see someone. We must report a missing child. And keep your eyes peeled for a sight of her on the way.’
‘Yes, sir.’ The young maid bobbed her knee, and after snatching her coat from the hook on the back of the kitchen door, she was off, running like a hare. In the meantime, all they could do was wait and pray that the child would soon be found safe and well.
When Susie first woke, she stretched out on the cold floor painfully. Every bone in her body ached and her stomach was growling with hunger as she knuckled the sleep from her eyes and stared about fearfully. She had no idea where she was, so, rising slowly, she clattered down the steps of the bandstand and set off. She could hear the noise of traffic in the city and it drew her like a magnet. At least there would be people there who might be able to help her find her way back to Nuneaton and Opal.
Gradually the streets she walked down became busier, but she might have been invisible for no one gave her so much as a second glance. The roads were busy here too and her heart began to thud as the many carriages rattled past her. It seemed that she had been walking forever. At one point she passed smart shops, their bright windows displaying all manner of goods, but eventually she found herself in the poorer streets again and in time she came to a bridge that spanned the River Thames. To one side of it was a small footpath leading down to the water’s edge and she slipped and slithered her way down it. There she found some poor, tumbledown huts, and she eyed them warily, just as the door to one of them opened and a plump woman in a large wrap-around apron appeared. The woman eyed her cautiously for a moment, noting Susie’s fine clothes and the expensive doll she was carrying, before asking, ‘So what brings you down here, dearie? Lost, are you?’
Susie was reminded of the old cottage she had stayed in so briefly with Charlie, Jack and Opal before being taken to the workhouse, and she gulped before replying in a small voice, ‘I, er . . . Yes, I am lost . . . Well, in a way. I’ve run away, you see.’
‘Have you now?’ The woman narrowed her eyes and stroked her double chin. ‘Run away from whom?’
Before Susie could stop herself, the whole sorry story came pouring out as tears ran down her cheeks unchecked.
‘So you see . . .’ she sobbed. ‘I have to find my way home to Opal . . . she’ll be worried about me.’
‘Of course she will. But look, it’s cold out here. Come inside and we’ll see what we can do for you.’
Susie cautiously followed the woman inside and was shocked to see three cradles in a row along one wall. Inside each lay a tiny baby, all unnaturally pale and quiet. Against another wall was a wooden table and two mismatched chairs and an iron bed stood behind the door. Another door led into what appeared to be a small kitchen, and a fire burned in a small grate, over which a large kettle was suspended.
‘I dare say you’re hungry an’ thirsty?’ the woman said and Susie nodded, her eyes huge in her pale face. ‘Right, so sit yerself down an’ I’ll rustle something up for you.’ The woman crossed to the table and sawed a large chunk of bread from a loaf then pushed it towards Susie with a pot that contained some dripping. She then poured her a lukewarm cup of tea, and although it was unsweetened and there was no milk in it, nothing had ever tasted better to Susie as she drained the mug thirstily. The bread and dripping followed in a remarkably short time and, with something inside her, Susie began to feel slightly better.
‘So, will you help me to get home to our Opal then?’ the little girl asked innocently when she had finished.
Before she could answer, one of the babies started to cry feebly and, rising, the woman poured a small amount of milk into a glass feeding bottle before adding some drops from a tiny chemist’s bottle. She then placed a teat on it and held it to the baby’s mouth. It drained it thirstily and within seconds the infant was silent again.
The woman turned her attention back to Susie and eyed her thoughtfully. The clothes the girl was wearing and the doll would fetch a fine price at the pawnbroker’s if she wasn’t very much mistaken and with a girl around to help her, she could take it easy.
‘Yes, I’ll help you,’ she said eventually. ‘But I should warn you it could take time to track your sister down. Meantime, you can stay ’ere wi’ me, if you like? I’d expect you to help with the babies in return, o’ course.’
‘Oh, I would,’ Susie promised as she crossed to stare down into one of the cribs. ‘But are they all your babies?’
‘Good lord, no.’ The woman chuckled, as she packed tobacco into the bowl of a pipe and lit it, and when Susie looked confused, she explained, ‘I ’elps out young women who’ve got theirselves in a bit o’ bother, like. You know . . . they find they’re havin’ a baby afore they’re wed? Anyway, they brings the babes to me an’ I finds ’em a new family.’
‘That’s kind of you,’ Susie said innocently.
The woman smirked. ‘Yes, it is, ain’t it? Oh, an’ I’m Mrs Dyer by the way. You’ll ’ave to sleep on the mat in the kitchen, mind, an’ I’ll teach you how to make the bottles up for the babies. You puts a quarter milk an’ four drops from this little bottle ’ere.’
Susie eyed the bottle curiously. ‘What does that do?’
‘Oh, er . . . it just ’elps ’em to sleep. I’ve got another girl bringin’ another one tomorrow.’
‘But there aren’t any more cots,’ Susie pointed out.
Mrs Dyer grinned. ‘Don’t you go worryin’ about that, me dear. Two of these will be gone by tomorrer . . . To nice new homes o’ course,’ she added hastily. ‘But now I’m goin’ to trust you to watch ’em while I run up to Paddy’s market. If you’re goin’ to be stayin’ ’ere fer awhile, you’ll need some different clothes. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb in them yer wearin’ now.’
‘But what about finding Opal?’ Susie’s lip wobbled. ‘I can’t stay for too long.’
‘Don’t get worryin’ about that. I’ll write to her for you.’
It never occurred to her that the woman didn’t even know where Susie was from and she smiled at her trustingly; it felt like a long time since anyone had been this kind to her.
Once the woman had gone, Susie looked at the babies more closely and her eyes wrinkled as she leaned over the cots. They all smelled appallingly of urine and she guessed that their bindings must need changing, but as she had no idea how to do it, she decided to leave well alone and crossed to the grimy window. The Thames was lapping gently against the shore only yards away from the door to the hut, and as she stood there a boat sailed by. Even so, it was far from a pretty sight. The water was a sludgy brown colour and the water reeds that edged it were clogged with debris washed in by the river. It smelled nasty too, and Susie found herself hoping she wouldn’t have to stay there for too long.
Eventually, Mrs Dyer came back with what appeared to be a bundle of rags under her arm, which she handed
to Susie. ‘I had to guess yer size,’ she told her. ‘But they should fit near as damn it. Go an’ slip ’em on in the kitchen. I’ll keep them yer wearin’ an’ that doll nice fer you till you go home to your sister.’
Her eyes shone greedily as she watched Susie unfasten the dainty little button boots and the warm coat, and soon after Susie appeared, looking very different. The dress she was wearing reached to mid-calf and the material was so faded that it was hard to distinguish what colour it might once have been. The neat little boots had been replaced by wooden clogs that chaffed her toes, and the smart coat by a shabby shawl. But she didn’t complain; if Mrs Dyer really was going to help her find her way back home, she would have done anything for her.
That night, she settled down on the bare earth floor in front of the fire with a thin blanket to cover her and, as she drifted off to sleep, she heard the hut door open. Seconds later she heard two large splashes, but it had been a long day and soon she was snoring softly.
The next morning two of the cribs were empty and Susie smiled. ‘Their new families came for the babies then?’
Mrs Dyer gave a grin. ‘Yes, last night just after you’d gone to sleep. But look lively now, I’ve another one due any minute.’
The words had barely left her lips when there was a tap on the door, and when she opened it Susie saw a young woman with a tiny baby in her arms. She was plainly but decently dressed, and Susie wondered if she was perhaps a nanny or a governess?
‘Come in, miss.’ Mrs Dyer ushered the young woman to a chair, but the instant she sat down she began to cry as she stared down at the baby.
‘A-are you quite sure she will go to a good home?’ the young woman asked tremulously and Mrs Dyer reached across to tap her arm sympathetically.
The Winter Promise Page 21