The Mistletoe Seller

by Dilly Court

  The girl did not look convinced. ‘You might be the Angel Gabriel for all I know, but your aunt isn’t here.’

  ‘She must be,’ Angel insisted. ‘Mr Galloway brought her here the day before yesterday. He said she was to stay with Mrs Adams.’

  ‘Mrs Adams has gone to the country for the rest of the summer. She don’t like the heat of London.’

  ‘That can’t be true. Mr Galloway said—’

  ‘Get off the doorstep, girl, or I’ll call a constable. I told you, Mrs Adams and her guest have gone to the country.’

  ‘Did Miss Heavitree go too?’

  ‘If you mean that frightful creature who came with her – she was sent separate with the baggage and that stupid halfwit girl. They’ll be sacked for certain and left to find their own way back to London.’

  Angel fought back tears of disappointment and frustration. ‘Where have they gone? Please tell me. I must find my aunt.’

  ‘I wouldn’t be allowed to say, even if I knew. Now go away and leave us in peace.’

  ‘Is there anyone in your household who might know my aunt’s whereabouts?’

  ‘There’s only me and the cleaning women here. The house is being shut up until the autumn, so come back then.’

  ‘Just a minute.’ Angel took the scrap of paper from her basket. Mr Wicks had written directions on the back of a receipt with his name printed in bold black letters and the number of his stall in Covent Garden. ‘Will you take this and give it to my aunt or Miss Heavitree when they return to London? It’s very important.’

  The girl snatched it from Angel’s hand. ‘Anything, if you’ll just go away and leave me in peace. Now will you leave or do I call a copper?’

  Angel sank down on the front step as the door closed. Her last hope had gone and she was alone in the great city, except for Dolly. How long she sat there she did not know, but eventually she rose to her feet and started retracing her steps, and after taking one apparently wrong turning after another, she found herself in Regent’s Circus, and was about to ask a gentleman the way to Covent Garden when the lady with him spotted the sprigs of lavender. With a cry of delight she plucked one from the basket.

  ‘Lavender, my favourite flower. It smells so sweet.’

  The gentleman smiled down at her. ‘Just like you, my darling.’ He took a handful of small change from his pocket and dropped it into Angel’s basket. ‘I’ll take all the lavender.’

  Angel gathered the sprigs into a bunch and handed them to him, hardly able to believe her luck. He presented them to his lady and she blushed and thanked him so prettily that Angel thought he was going to kiss her there and then, but he tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and they walked away, arm in arm. Angel gathered up the coins – sevenpence ha’penny in all – slipped the money into her reticule and picked up a nosegay.

  ‘Flowers, lovely flowers. Buy a buttonhole for your lady, sir?’

  By late afternoon Angel had sold every single flower in her basket and was the richer by elevenpence ha’penny. Compared to a meagre threepence the day before, it seemed like a small fortune. She made her way back to Covent Garden with a smile on her face for the first time since she had been wrested from her home. She found Dolly chatting to one of the other flower girls. They stopped talking when Angel approached them.

  ‘Did you find your aunt?’ Dolly asked.

  Angel’s smile faded. ‘No, they’d gone away and the maid didn’t know where.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Dolly gave her a hug. ‘I suppose that means I’m stuck with you for a bit longer.’ She eyed the empty basket. ‘How much did you make today?’

  ‘Elevenpence ha’penny,’ Angel said proudly.

  ‘Crikey, you done well.’ Dolly turned to her friend. ‘How much did you take, Ivy?’

  ‘Sixpence, and I thought that was good. Maybe the nipper has something we ain’t got.’

  ‘Big blue eyes and a la-di-dah manner of speaking,’ Dolly said, chuckling. ‘Never mind, Angel. You can pay me back by buying me a ham roll and a cup of tea for supper.’

  Angel smiled and nodded, but inwardly she was crying for her aunt and her old life, which was fading into nothing but a happy memory. The realisation that this was how she was going to scratch a living from now on hit her like a thunderbolt, and there seemed to be no escape.

  Gradually, day by day, Angel became accustomed to life in Covent Garden market. She learned the tricks of the trade from the other girls and soon became as adept at turning broken blooms into buttonholes and nosegays as the very best of them. But it was far from an easy way to earn a living and she was out on the streets in all weathers. Summer turned into autumn, when the chill turned the leaves on the London plane trees to shades of copper, bronze and gold, and icy winds rattled the windows of Mother Jolly’s dosshouse. Angel’s fingers and toes were numbed with cold as she stood on street corners. She managed to save a few pennies to purchase a rather moth-eaten woollen shawl from a dolly shop in Shorts Gardens, but the soles of her boots were worn into holes and leaked when it rained. It would take months to earn enough to buy a second-hand pair, and winter was on its way. Angel knew that she was not suffering alone – it was the same for all the flower girls – but that was little comfort. As the nights grew frosty and the evenings drew in, Dolly developed a cough that dampened even her normally buoyant spirits.

  Summer flowers had long since vanished from the stalls, and hothouse blooms were hard to come by and costly. The girls were forced to find alternatives to hawk round the streets. Some of them chose watercress, oranges or even matches, and, in desperation, others took to the streets at night selling themselves.

  Angel visited Maddox Street several times in the months following that first visit, but the house was always shuttered and empty. On the last occasion she slid a note under the door, giving her address as Mother Jolly’s, in the hope that one day her aunt would return to London. She had heard nothing since and times were hard. Gardenias and carnations made wonderful buttonholes, but they cost more than she could afford and she had taken to selling watercress. Even then, there were plenty of much younger children engaged in the trade, and their pinched faces, stick-thin limbs and bare feet, blue with cold, touched the kind hearts of many a housewife, whereas Angel found herself largely ignored.

  She no longer had Jack Wicks to help her out with bunches of lavender as he had closed his stall until the spring, but on his last day he had given Angel his address in Hackney. With Dolly too sick to work, Angel scraped the money together to pay Mother Jolly, but selling watercress at four bunches for a penny brought in barely enough to keep them from starvation. Dolly insisted that she was getting stronger every day, but she was weak and simply walking to the washroom exhausted her. Angel knew that she must do something drastic or neither of them would survive the winter. She had an open invitation to visit the Wicks family, and she was in dire need of help. Perhaps Jack could find her work in his market garden. Winter was closing in and Angel was growing more desperate with each passing day.

  It was a long walk to Pratts Lane and it took Angel all morning to reach the red-brick cottage surrounded by market gardens. Her breath curled around her head and her cheeks tingled from the cold, but the air on the edge of the city was remarkably fresh and free from the worst of the smoke and stench from overflowing drains. She stopped to gaze out at the vast expanse of marshes that stretched as far as she could see, with the canal at Hackney Cut threaded through them like a silver ribbon. She knocked on the door and waited, hardly daring to breathe. Mr Wicks might have forgotten her or, even worse, he might regret having asked her to visit his home. The temptation to retrace her steps and hurry back to Seven Dials was almost irresistible, and she was about to turn on her heel when the door opened.

  ‘Good Lord. If it isn’t Angel Winter. You’d better come in out of the cold.’ Jack Wicks ushered her into the narrow hallway, and the warmth of the cottage and the smell of baking bread was almost too much for Angel. She leaned against the wall, struggling
with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach and Jack’s voice seemed to fade into the distance.

  The next thing she knew she was seated in a chair by the range and someone was chafing her cold hands.

  ‘Are you feeling better, dear?’

  Angel’s vision cleared as she met the woman’s concerned gaze. ‘I’m sorry. I felt a bit faint.’

  ‘Jack says you must have walked all the way from Seven Dials. Is that right, Angel?’

  ‘Yes, ma’am. I shouldn’t have come.’

  Jack’s face loomed into view. ‘I invited you here on many an occasion back in the summer, so let’s not hear any more of that talk.’ He handed Angel a steaming mug of tea. ‘Here, love, take a sip of this. I dare say you haven’t had a bite to eat since breakfast. Is that right?’

  Angel did not want to admit that she had eaten nothing at all and very little had passed her lips the previous day, but she managed a nod as she sipped the hot, sweet tea.

  ‘I thought so.’ Jack exchanged meaningful glances with his wife. ‘Well, we can soon remedy that. Sally bakes the best bread you’ll ever have the luck to taste.’

  Sally Wicks straightened up, wiping her floury hands on her apron. ‘We were about to eat, my dear, so I hope you’ll join us. But sit awhile first. You look done in.’ She turned away to stir the contents of a large black saucepan.

  ‘Thank you, but I don’t want to impose,’ Angel said anxiously. ‘I came to ask your advice, Mr Wicks. Things have been a bit tight lately.’

  Jack pulled up a chair and sat down beside her. ‘I can understand that very well. Winter is always hard for those who depend on the market for their living. That’s where we’re fortunate in having our own market garden. I dunno how we’d survive the cold months if we didn’t have a store of vegetables and the sale of the dried lavender to rely on.’

  ‘I wouldn’t have bothered you, but Dolly is sick, and selling watercress doesn’t pay well. I wondered if you could give me some work. I’ll do anything.’

  ‘There, there, don’t fret, love. We’ll talk about it after you’ve got some good vittles inside you,’ Sally said, waving the wooden spoon in the air and sending drips of hot soup onto the floor, which were immediately lapped up by a small terrier who had been asleep in the corner and suddenly awakened.

  Angel handed the mug to Jack. ‘Thank you for the tea. I feel better already.’ She leaned over to stroke the dog, and it leaped onto her lap, licking her face and wagging his stumpy tail.

  ‘Well, then,’ Jack said, laughing. ‘Stumpy doesn’t always take to strangers, but he obviously likes you, Angel. You must have a way with dogs.’

  ‘I’ve never had a pet,’ Angel said, laughing at the animal’s enthusiastic greeting. She stroked Stumpy’s head and he settled down on her lap. Warmth was beginning to seep into her bones and the sweet tea was also having its effect. ‘I’d like to have a dog like him. He’d keep me warm at night.’

  ‘And he’s a first-class ratter.’ Jack rose to his feet. ‘We get plagued by vermin, particularly in the winter. Stumpy deals with them for us.’

  Stumpy looked up, wagging his tail and panting.

  ‘He looks as if he’s laughing.’ Angel gave the terrier a hug. ‘You are a funny little fellow.’

  Jack moved his chair to the table. ‘Come and sit down, Angel. Sally’s vegetable broth will set you up for the rest of the day.’ He turned to his wife. ‘Where’s Danny? Are we waiting for him?’

  Sally shook her head. ‘No, love, he’s gone looking for holly and mistletoe. I doubt if he’ll be back before dark.’

  Angel made a move to rise and Stumpy clambered unwillingly to the floor. Behaving like a sulky child, he made his feelings very clear as he threw himself down on the scrap of blanket that served as his bed. Angel took her place at the table and Sally passed her a bowl of soup.

  ‘Help yourself to bread, my dear. It’s still warm from the oven.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Angel took a slice and buttered it sparingly. The fragrant aroma of the broth made her stomach rumble with anticipation, but, mindful of the manners drilled into her in the old days, she waited for her hosts to take their seats before she tasted the soup.

  ‘You could make a little money before Christmas if you sold mistletoe, Angel,’ Jack said thoughtfully. ‘Holly is always popular.’

  Angel gulped down a mouthful of hot soup. ‘I’d try anything, Mr Wicks, but where would I get a supply? I haven’t seen any in the market.’

  ‘Mistletoe grows on all manner of trees. It’s particularly prolific in orchards and easy to pick from fruit trees. Danny will have gone a long way to find enough to fill his cart. Those who are in the know guard their sources as if they was gold dust. It’s a short season so they have to make the most of it.’

  ‘Maybe Danny could help her there, Jack.’ Sally took a slice of bread and broke it into small pieces. ‘A young girl selling mistletoe might be very appealing.’

  ‘We’ll ask him when he comes home.’ Jack turned to Angel with a beaming smile. ‘You’ll stay to meet our son, won’t you?’

  ‘I’d like to, but it gets dark very early, so I should start out soon. Thank you, all the same. Maybe I’ll just stick to watercress. After all, mistletoe isn’t wanted after Christmas.’

  ‘There’s plenty more soup in the pot,’ Sally said, smiling. ‘Help yourself to more bread, too.’

  ‘Thank you. This is so good, Mrs Wicks. I haven’t tasted food like this since I left home.’ Angel’s voice broke on a sob and she looked away. The memory of Aunt Cordelia and Lumpy Lil still brought her to tears. She tried to put all thought of her former life behind her, but it was not always possible.

  ‘Jack told me something of your past, dear. You’re a brave girl.’

  Angel stared down at her plate. Their kindness was overwhelming, and if she allowed herself to cry she was afraid she might not be able to stop.

  Sally patted her on the shoulder. ‘It looks like snow, maybe you ought to stay here for the night. We can put you up with no trouble, and you do look quite done in.’

  ‘That makes good sense, Sally,’ Jack said, frowning. ‘I saw the signs earlier this morning. Let’s hope Danny gets home before it starts.’ He turned to Angel. ‘You won’t make it back to Seven Dials before the weather breaks. Stay here tonight and I’ll see you safely home in the morning.’

  Angel was about to refuse but Sally forestalled her. ‘Yes, you must. You can sleep in the parlour. I’ll light a fire in there as soon as I’ve cleared the table, and it will be nice and warm.’

  ‘What about Dolly?’ Angel said anxiously. ‘Who will take care of her if I’m not there to make sure she has something to eat and drink?’

  ‘I’m sure she’ll survive for one night without you, dear.’ Sally rose from her seat. ‘You wouldn’t be any use to her if you got lost in a snowstorm, would you?’

  ‘I suppose not.’

  ‘Good girl.’ Jack also stood up. ‘If you’ve finished your meal you can come outside and help put the tender plants under cover. I’ve built a lean-to shed so that the lavender can be protected from the worst of the winter weather. It’s our main source of income, so I can’t afford to lose a single plant.’

  Angel could see that it was useless to argue, and the thought of being part of a family again, even for one night, was too tempting to refuse. She would have slept on the floor if necessary and the only thing that worried her was Dolly, but she had been a little better that morning, so perhaps she could manage on her own for a few more hours. Maybe one of the other girls would share their food with Dolly. Judy could be kind, if she was not in one of her sulks, and Maisie always seemed to have enough money to spend on feathers for her bonnet and ribbons for her hair. Dolly said that Maisie was not a good girl and would come to a sticky end, but Angel had not questioned her further. Although she had a vague idea how Maisie made her money, she preferred to remain in ignorance.

  Outside the sky was the colour of slate and although it was early afternoon,
darkness was creeping up on the marshes so that it was hard to tell the difference between land and the corpulent bank of cloud. Angel worked hard, helping Jack heft the large clay pots into the shelter of the lean-to, and they finished just as the first feathery flakes began to fall. At that moment the grating sound of a handcart’s wheels on the gravel path preceded Danny Wicks’ arrival. He stomped round the side of the house, stopping in surprise when he spotted Angel.

  ‘Who’s this, Pa?’

  ‘Where are your manners, son?’ Jack placed a protective arm around Angel’s shoulders. ‘This young lady is Angel Winter, one of the flower girls from Covent Garden. Angel, this rough fellow is my son, Daniel.’

  ‘How do you do?’ Angel said politely.

  Danny glared at her. ‘She don’t sound like one of them girls, Pa.’

  ‘Never mind that. Put the cart away and come inside. Your ma has been fretting about you since noon.’

  ‘I’m fifteen, not five,’ Danny muttered as he pushed the laden cart under the sloping roof of the lean-to. ‘I’m doing a man’s job, aren’t I?’

  Jack shrugged and opened the back door. ‘Go inside and get warm, Angel. I want a few words with my son.’

  Angel was only too glad to return to the kitchen and was greeted by the aroma of hot cocoa. Sally handed her a mug. ‘Here, love. You’ll need this. You look frozen.’

  ‘Thank you.’ Angel wrapped her numbed fingers around the tin mug. ‘Your son has come home, Mrs Wicks. He’s got a big load of holly and mistletoe.’

  ‘Danny’s a good boy. He wanted to go to sea, but Jack managed to convince him that working the garden was a better life. I’m not too sure myself.’

  Angel said nothing. She tucked herself away in a corner of the room, pulling up a three-legged stool to sit beside Stumpy. The dog nuzzled her hand and butted her with his head until she relented and made a fuss of him, but he lost interest when Danny walked into the house and he ran to him, jumping up and down and barking excitedly.