A Mother's Promise

by Dilly Court

  Granny was the first to recover. She came towards them wiping her hands on her apron. ‘What the devil is this, Hetty? What have you been and gone and done now?’ Her expression hardened when George came into the room with Stanley in his arms. ‘I hope you don’t expect us to take them street kids in. Haven’t we got enough mouths to feed already?’

  ‘It’s just temporary,’ Hetty explained hastily. ‘I found them in the shop doorway. I couldn’t leave them to perish from cold and hunger, now could I?’

  Nora raised herself from her chair by the fire. ‘We can spare them a bite to eat, dearie, but Mattie is right, we can’t take in every waif that lands on our doorstep.’

  Sammy and Eddie had been building a tower of wooden bricks but they abandoned it, scrambling to their feet and advancing warily on Wilfred as if they expected him to growl and bite. Natalia knocked the bricks flying with a gleeful gurgle and that seemed to break the tension. Everyone started talking at once. Jane dropped the wooden spoon into the cake mixture and swooped on Natalia, picking her up and scolding her. Nora bustled over to the table and began cutting slices off a loaf and buttering them. Granny took Wilfred by the ear and peered down at his matted hair. ‘This one is running with head lice and fleas. Take them all out into the scullery, Hetty, until we’ve filled the bathtub with hot water. I ain’t having parasites brought into the house. Next thing you know we’ll all be itching and scratching.’

  ‘Don’t let them near Talia,’ Jane said, backing away from Dorrie and Wilfred as if they were carrying the plague. ‘It’s typical of you, Hetty. You don’t think things through.’

  The sound of raised voices had awakened Stanley. He began to whimper and George set him down on the floor. Stanley ran to his sister and clung to her, hiding his face in her skirt.

  ‘Now steady on, everyone,’ George said, hooking his arm around Hetty’s shoulders. ‘Hetty only did what she thought best. There’s nothing wrong with these nippers that some carbolic soap and hot water won’t cure.’

  Hetty shot him a grateful smile. ‘Thank you, George.’

  ‘I’m just being fair, which is more than you’ve been with me.’

  Hetty was uncomfortably aware that Granny and Jane were listening to every word and that they were not in the mood to be generous. ‘I thought you were on my side, George.’

  ‘I am, more than you know, but there’s one matter on which we don’t see eye to eye and you know what that is.’

  ‘Hetty, I’ll scream if you don’t tell us what’s going on,’ Jane cried, stamping her foot.

  George gave Hetty a gentle nudge. ‘Go on, girl. You’ve got to tell them sometime, but quite frankly I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when you tell them what you’ve been and gone and done.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  ‘What’s all this, Hetty?’ Granny released Wilfred, who had begun to snivel, and she wiped her hands on her apron. ‘I knew something was up.’

  Nora made her way to the table and picked up a pitcher of milk. She beckoned to Dorrie. ‘Bring your little brothers over here, dearie,’ she said, pouring a small amount into the cups.

  Dorrie glanced up at Hetty and she gave her an encouraging smile. ‘Go on. Don’t be frightened; you’re with friends.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Nora said with a nod of approval as the children rushed to the table. She set a plate of bread and butter in front of them. ‘Eat up. There’s plenty more where that came from.’

  Jane stood arms akimbo, glaring at Hetty. ‘You take a lot on yourself, Hetty. But then you always did. And what’s this George says? What have you done?’

  ‘Yes,’ Granny added. ‘You’d best come out with it, miss.’

  ‘I was going to tell you when the moment was right,’ Hetty said, casting a reproachful glance at George.

  He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I think it’s time you told your family about the mad old woman who lives in Berkeley Square, and your grand plans for the future. Or don’t they include them either?’

  ‘That is just not fair,’ Hetty replied hotly. ‘It’s not my fault that Miss Heathcote doesn’t like men. As far as I’m concerned you are still my partner and always will be. I still need you to keep an eye on the shop in Artillery Lane.’

  ‘I’m sorry, but you’ve got the wrong bloke. I’m either a full business partner or I’m not. You can’t have it all ways, Hetty. You’d best give this matter a good deal of thought before you go ahead.’ George was not smiling now. He made a move towards the door. ‘I’ve got to go now, but we’ll talk about this again.’

  Hetty made to follow him but Jane reached out and caught her by the wrist. ‘What’s all this? What’s been going on, and where have you been today? You’ve got some explaining to do, Hetty Huggins.’

  Hetty licked her dry lips and launched into a detailed account of her dealings with Miss Heathcote. Her voice trailed off at the sight of their hostile expressions. Jane was the first to speak. ‘So where do we fit in with all this?’

  ‘I – I thought you could run the shop in Artillery Lane. You’d like to be manageress, wouldn’t you, Jane?’

  ‘And if I wouldn’t? What would you say to that?’

  ‘I just thought . . .’

  ‘No, you never. You never gave any of us a thought. You got carried away listening to this crazy old woman who shuts herself up in her big mansion surrounded by servants. What does she know about business? Has she ever run a stall in Spitalfields market? No, of course she ain’t. She’s having you on, Hetty. You’ve been took in by her big talk.’

  ‘No, it’s not like that,’ Hetty protested. She turned to her grandmother. ‘Granny, you’re a businesswoman. What do you think?’

  Granny frowned, shaking her head. ‘I think we all gave up a lot to help you get started, Hetty. I don’t have time to make bonnets nowadays because I’m helping out on your coffee stall – so what do I do now you don’t need me? Have you given up on me as well as on George?’

  Nora sat down on her chair by the fire, fanning her face with her apron. ‘I think you’re being a bit hard on the girl, Mattie. This could be her big chance in life.’

  Granny rounded on her. ‘And it could be her downfall. “Stick to what you know” has always been my motto. Hetty don’t know a thing about dealing with people above her station in life. They’ll eat her for their dinner.’

  ‘Yes,’ Jane added bitterly. ‘And she’s landed us with three more mouths to feed. I don’t call that clever.’

  ‘I know this has come as a shock,’ Hetty said, making an effort to keep calm. ‘I would have broken it more gently if it hadn’t been for George and his big trap.’

  Granny chortled with laughter. ‘That’s fine talk coming from someone who wants to be a lady.’

  That hurt and Hetty’s eyes filled with tears. She could be a lady if she tried. She would be a lady when she married Charles. They were not being fair to her. All she was trying to do was to make a better life for everyone. She held her head high. ‘I can be ladylike if I want to be, but that’s not the point. I’m doing this for all of us. With Miss Heathcote’s backing I can start a chain of coffee shops and make real money. Then you, Jane, won’t need to wear yourself out with cooking and working on the stall. Granny will be able to sit by the fire and take things easy. The boys can go back to their old school, and we will be able to have a home of our own again, with no fear of Clench or anyone else for that matter.’

  ‘And if it fails?’ Granny said, narrowing her eyes. ‘What then, Hetty?’

  ‘We’ll still have the shop in Artillery Lane, and the coffee stall. But I won’t fail. I’m determined to make a success of my life.’

  ‘I hope you won’t move out too soon,’ Nora wheezed. ‘I like having you all here. I love having the nippers around and the old house filled with noise and the smell of baking. I should miss you all if you got rich and moved away.’

  Hetty opened her mouth to tell Nora that she was a wonderful friend and they would never desert her, but at that moment Tom
breezed into the kitchen. ‘Hello,’ he said cheerily. His expression changed to one of puzzlement. ‘Why the glum faces? What’s up?’

  Jane rushed over to him and flung her arms around his neck. ‘Oh, Tom. You’ve come just in time. Hetty’s gone and done something really stupid. Perhaps you can talk sense into her.’

  Dorrie and her brothers had been sitting silently at the table, stuffing their mouths with bread and butter and gulping down cupfuls of milk, but at this point Dorrie slid off her stool and bobbed a curtsey to Nora. ‘Ta for the vittles, missis. But I think it’s time we was on our way.’

  Hetty had almost forgotten about them and a wave of guilt swept over her. ‘But where will you go, Dorrie? Have you any family who would look after you?’

  ‘We’re orphans, but I can take care of Wilf and Stan. We ain’t going to the workhouse and that’s that.’

  ‘It’s started snowing again,’ Tom said, taking off his cap and muffler and tossing them onto a chair. ‘It ain’t fit for man nor beast out there.’

  Nora rose to her feet. ‘That settles it. Dorrie, you and the boys are staying here for the time being. Tom, be so good as to bring the tin tub from the scullery, and you big boys, Sammy and Eddie, can fetch water from the pump.’

  Dorrie seized Wilfred and Stanley by the hand and she backed towards the doorway. ‘We’ve never had a bath. It ain’t healthy, missis. We’ll catch our deaths of cold.’

  Granny moved swiftly to bar the door. ‘No you don’t. If Nora says you’ve got to be clean, then clean you will be. There’s no place for fleas and lice in this house.’ She looked over their heads to meet Hetty’s anxious gaze. ‘We’ll talk about your plans again later, when the children are in bed.’

  There followed a very wet session of bathing three incredibly dirty children who did not want to get into a tub of hot water, let alone have their hair washed with carbolic soap, rinsed with vinegar and then combed through to rid them of lice. Sammy and Eddie seemed to think it was a huge joke to see the newcomers suffering the torment of an energetic scrubbing and delousing, but a sharp word from Granny silenced them and they were sent to pick up their bricks and put them back in the box. Unseen by her mother, Natalia attempted to climb into the tub with Wilfred and Stanley and fell in head first. Hetty rescued her before she could receive a smack from Jane, who had paled with fright at the sight of her child submerged beneath the scummy water, but Natalia recovered quickly and would have dived off Hetty’s lap into the water had she not been firmly wrapped in a towel. Hetty stripped off Natalia’s wet clothes, and when she was dry she pulled a nightgown over her fluffy curls. In spite of everything Hetty couldn’t help chuckling at her small niece’s irrepressible good humour and determination to get her own way.

  ‘You spoil her,’ Jane said crossly. ‘She did a stupid thing and she should be punished.’

  Tom had been sitting quietly in the chimney corner, smoking his pipe and keeping well away from the water as it splashed from the tub, but he spoke up now, frowning at Jane. ‘Have a heart, ducks.’

  ‘Didn’t you ever do a stupid thing, Jane?’ Hetty demanded angrily.

  ‘That’s not the point,’ Jane said, rubbing soap into Wilfred’s scalp until he protested. ‘Sit still, boy. I’m not done with you yet. Your hair is still running with lice.’

  ‘Poor little sod,’ Tom said with feeling.

  Jane turned her head to glower at him. ‘You could give us a hand instead of making stupid comments.’

  Clenching the stem of his pipe between his teeth, Tom grinned and threw up his hands. ‘Not me, girl. That’s women’s work.’

  ‘Men!’ Granny muttered, wringing water from her wet apron. ‘Maybe that Miss Heathcote ain’t so far wrong.’

  Nora tipped water from a steaming kettle into the tub, taking care not to scald either of the boys. ‘Go on, Mattie. You don’t mean that, I’m sure.’

  ‘I suppose they have their uses,’ Granny acknowledged grudgingly. ‘Let’s get this over and done with. My back is aching something chronic.’

  When Wilfred and Stanley were finally deemed clean enough to towel dry, they were lifted from the bath, and Dorrie was next to undergo the discomfort of being scrubbed from head to toe. She bore it bravely, but Hetty’s heart went out to the child when she saw her bottom lip quivering as Granny dragged the fine-tooth comb through her straggly hair. Hetty dressed the boys in nightshirts that had been outgrown by Sammy and Eddie, and Dorrie sat primly on the edge of a chair by the fire, wrapped in a towel, while Jane cut one of Hetty’s nightgowns down to size. The finished garment swamped Dorrie’s small body, and without the thick layer of grime she looked very young and vulnerable. Her tow-coloured hair formed a halo around her pinched features, giving her the appearance of a world-weary angel. Hetty was almost unbearably touched by this child who had somehow managed to survive on the streets whilst caring for her two small brothers. She gave her a hug. ‘How old are you, Dorrie?’

  ‘Eleven or twelve, I don’t know exactly, but Wilf is six and Stan is four. I remember when he was born, because that’s when our mum died and our dad took to the drink.’

  ‘Dear me,’ Nora said, sniffing. ‘And how long have you been living like this, dearie?’

  ‘I dunno, missis.’ Dorrie frowned thoughtfully. ‘A long time.’

  ‘Never mind that now. It doesn’t matter.’ Hetty took Dorrie by the shoulders and led her to the table where the boys and Natalia were polishing off bowls of warm bread and milk. ‘Have your supper and then it’s time for bed.’

  ‘We’ll go first thing in the morning,’ Dorrie said with an anxious glance at Granny. ‘We don’t want to be no trouble.’

  Hetty glanced at Granny over the top of Dorrie’s head, raising her eyebrows in a mute question. She had the satisfaction of seeing her grandmother look slightly ashamed. ‘Well, er, we’ll talk about that tomorrow,’ Granny murmured. ‘Eat your food before it gets cold.’

  ‘Where will they sleep?’ Jane demanded. ‘I’m not having them in with me. It’s bad enough having Sammy and Eddy snoring away in my room.’

  Nora put her head on one side as if giving the matter due consideration. ‘Well, there’s only old Mr Dobson in at the moment. I’m not expecting any of my regulars in until Sunday evening. The nippers can share the big front room for tonight. We’ll sort something better out tomorrow.’

  ‘The top floor is huge. I don’t mind sharing and I can keep them in order.’ Hetty winked at Sammy who had opened his mouth to protest, and he grinned in response.

  ‘You can have Natalia up there too,’ Jane said. ‘I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since she was born. You’re welcome to them all, Hetty. Although I should have thought you’d be too grand now to share with the nippers.’

  Hetty shook her head. ‘Never, Jane. My family will always come first. I only want to make a success in business so that I can share it with all of you.’

  When the children were settled in their beds and all was quiet, Hetty sat at the kitchen table with Nora, Granny, Jane and Tom. They waited expectantly for her to say something. Sensing the importance of the occasion, she rose to her feet. ‘I know this has come as a bit of a shock to you all,’ she said humbly. ‘I just want to make a better life for us, but if you are dead against my going into business with Miss Heathcote, then I’ll go and see her in the morning and tell her I won’t be going ahead. It’s up to you. You’re my family and I love you all and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you.’

  ‘And what about George?’ Jane demanded. ‘You seem to have put his nose out of joint all right.’

  ‘George is a sensible bloke. He’ll come round.’

  ‘I think Hetty should have her chance,’ Tom said stoutly. ‘It’s really none of my business, other than the fact that I’ve always considered meself one of the family, and me and Jane are stepping out together.’

  Jane stared at him wide-eyed. ‘We are? You never said.’

  ‘I didn’t think I had to, ducks. I thought we had an understand
ing.’

  Jane’s pretty face flooded with colour. ‘Oh, Tom!’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake!’ Granny exclaimed, slamming her hand down on the table. ‘Keep the sweet talk for later.’

  Tom slipped his arm around Jane’s shoulders. ‘Don’t worry, Granny. We will.’

  ‘That’s the spirit,’ Nora said, chuckling. ‘But you haven’t given Hetty an answer. She’s put it to you all nice and fair. I think she deserves a bit of consideration.’

  Jane cuddled up to Tom and a beatific smile lit her face. ‘I think Hetty should do what she thinks is right.’

  ‘That’s my girl,’ Tom said, giving her a hug.

  Hetty turned her head to give Granny a questioning look. ‘Granny?’

  ‘Suit yourself. You always do.’

  ‘But I need you all on my side.’

  ‘And where do you think I would be, you silly girl? Haven’t I always stood up for you children?’

  This made Hetty smile. ‘Not always. I can remember a time . . .’

  Granny rose majestically to her feet. ‘Nonsense. I’ve always done my duty by you all. You do what you want, Hetty. I’ll not stand in your way, but now I’m tired and I’m going to my bed.’ She picked up a candle. ‘I’ll say goodnight then.’

  As she left the room, Tom stood up and helped Jane to her feet. ‘I’d best be going too. It’s work for me in the morning.’

  ‘I’ll see you out, dear,’ Jane said, smiling dreamily into his face. In response, Tom kissed her on the tip of her nose, and they left the room arm in arm.