The Glowing Hours

by Marina Oliver

  'You can give me this house and its entire contents, it wouldn't be generous enough!' she snapped, trying to jump to her feet.

  'You won't get away,' he drawled, holding her down with ease.

  'You damned useless men think all you have to do is wave money under a girl's nose and she'll fall on her back for you!' Gwyneth raged. 'No, I tell you, and if you don't let me go I'll scream the place down!'

  'Temper, temper, now. Mrs Sankey will be in her own part of the house, and those walls are thick. I told her we'd let ourselves out, and she knows better than to interfere. It's not the first time she's turned a discreet eye.'

  'And you think you'll make me one of your paid whores! You have a damned cheek! You may be stronger than I am, and you may be able to rape me, but if you do, I promise the whole of Birmingham will know about it the minute I get back!'

  'And your father?' he asked quietly. 'Such an outrageous fuss would bring him hot-foot from his Welsh valley, surely? If only to rescue you from the jaws of hell.'

  For a moment Gwyneth was still. Then as Timothy relaxed his grip, thinking he'd won, she stamped the sharp heel of her shoe down on his instep, and as he gasped with pain wrenched her hands free and boxed him soundly on both ears. She was up, and whisked through the door while he was still too startled to move. To her relief she saw the key and pulled it out of the keyhole, slamming the door and managing to lock Timothy in just as he began to tug at it from the other side.

  'I could leave you here,' she panted. 'As you said, Mrs Sankey wouldn't hear you.'

  'Gwyneth, you little devil! Let me out!'

  'Only if you promise not to even touch me again.'

  'Puritan! How was I to know you weren't like all the other dancers?'

  'Which other dancers? How many have you tried, Timothy? How can you be so sure they're all as immoral as you are?'

  'Here, that's below the belt!'

  'One law for the rich young man, eh?'

  'Stop fooling, Gwyneth, and let me out. I've no intention of trying to touch you now! I'd rather bed with a tiger!'

  'I don't trust you. Perhaps I should go and give Mrs Sankey the key? Tell her what you wanted?'

  'You little devil! Open the door, do you hear!'

  'I hear. And thank you for the driving lesson, by the way. I think I'll be able to get back home by myself!'

  ***

  Chapter 13

  Mrs Baxter dragged herself up the rickety stairs. It was all too much for her. Thank God, since Amy had disappeared, Eth had been more helpful, and had said she'd bring something home for supper. Her children were good to her. At least the ones left at home. Bengy had a part time job delivering coal, and even little Fanny, just past her twelfth birthday, had insisted she went back to bed.

  'I'll go and clean at Mrs Tolley's,' she'd said firmly. 'Yer'd only fall in 'oss-road an' get run over, way yer lookin'.'

  'But yer should be in school,' Mrs Baxter protested weakly.

  'Yer can write me a note fer tomorrow. That way, no truant officer'll be after us.'

  'The little 'uns?'

  'Mrs Jenks from next door'll look after Ronny, an keep an eye on t'others in court, an' give 'em a crust if they start yellin' before I'm 'ome.'

  She knew she shouldn't, it was wrong to expect the kids to look after her, but she felt so ill she didn't really care. All she wanted was to fall into bed and sleep away her aches and pains and the misery which hadn't left her since Amy's disappearance so many weeks ago. It had been bad enough when Nell went, but Nell was old enough to look after herself. So long as nothing dreadful had happened to her, Nell could manage alone. Amy was still a child. She might be dead, but somehow her mother knew she wasn't. She seemed to feel the child calling to her. But she couldn't hear clearly. Amy was trying to tell her something, calling for help, but she didn't know what she could do, how she could help her baby. All sorts of terrible things could have happened to her, and she'd never know.

  She mustn't think about it. Visions of the dreadful fates which might have overtaken the child just caused her to shake uncontrollably. Yet she couldn't push the thoughts away, they came, relentless.

  When Fanny came home late that afternoon her mother was lying half in, half out of bed, the thin blanket on the floor. Her skin was blue with cold, for there was no fire in the house and there had been a fierce wind blowing that day.

  'Ma! Oh, Ma, wake up!'

  Fanny tried to wake her mother, but it was useless. Mrs Baxter breathed noisily, and moaned, but she did not open her eyes.

  Sobbing in fright, and unable to lift her mother back into the high bed, Fanny eased her down onto the thin mattress where the two babies slept. She had some obscure notion that people ought to lie flat, or they might drown in their own vomit. Ma had been sick, she noticed, when she calmed down enough to look around the room. She'd better clean that up. Pa would be angry. But it would be hours before Eth or Pa came home. And Ma needed help. Eventually Fanny, greatly daring, made up her mind. She would go to the clinic and fetch one of the nurses. At least she could ask them what to do. And she knew that if folk really couldn't afford to pay, they sometimes gave away medicines. They'd given Ma some for Ronny, and he'd got better.

  *

  'Poor Timothy!' Kitty howled with laughter as she led him through into her small sitting room. 'We made Gwyneth tell us what had happened last night when she staggered in. It was a miracle she managed to get the motor here in one piece, she was so angry.'

  'Little devil! I climbed out of the window in the end. Too shaming to let the Sankeys know I'd been bested by a mere slip of a gal! At least she'd left the key in the door and had the decency not to tell them.'

  'But how did you get here? Surely you had to ask someone to drive you?'

  'Not likely! I got back in and opened the door, then I skulked in my own room until morning. The Sankeys keep out of the way, when I have guests – '

  'When you take a girl home, you mean,' Kitty interposed, grinning.

  Timothy ignored her. 'They couldn't hear the car from their side of the house, and by the time they came round this morning they'd have thought we'd left. I walked to the station and had to take the bally train.'

  Kitty chortled. 'What a comedown! But Timothy, it's hilarious! Fancy Gwyneth having the guts to lock you up like that.'

  'She led me on. How was I to know she wasn't like all the other dancers?'

  'Like me too?' she asked sweetly.

  He laughed. 'No, of course not. You're different, Kitty, you're not the same class as those girls. They're looking for wealthy husbands, most of them, and if they can't manage that they usually accept a wealthy lover.'

  'I don't believe Gwyneth wants either,' Kitty said musingly. 'She might accept a husband, if she fell in love, but never a lover.' She struck a pose. 'She is wedded to her art! Of course, if the lover were someone in the theatre, someone who would be useful for her career, pure dear Gwyneth might consider it worth her virtue. I truly believe she would kill for her dancing – when she was in a temper. Not normally.'

  'Well, I'm finished with her! It was a scaly trick, and I am not amused. Where is she?'

  'She's gone to talk to Mr Bliss. She said she had some ideas about new routines, but I think she knew you'd be coming and wanted to avoid you.'

  'Of course she knew I'd be fetching my own car! And I'm not surprised she wanted to avoid me!'

  'Poor Timothy, you really don't understand the working classes, do you? Poor but honest! What you need is a girl from your own background, someone who would understand you.'

  *

  'We've got bookings for the band in London for several weeks, Nell,' Andrew said. 'I have to go on Monday.'

  'Oh, that's good for you. What will Mr Endersby say about your leaving?'

  'Richard understands. He has another group in view. When we've done this tour we may come back for a while – his new ballroom in the Stafford hotel is due to open in a month or so.'

  'What about the act we were planning?
'

  'That's at an early stage. On Sunday we can discuss it. Gwyneth has lots of ideas, even though she still doesn't know what she wants, and you can work on those while I'm away. The real snag is that I won't be able to take you to any more theatres after tonight.'

  'But I'll be dancing again soon, perhaps the week after next. My ankle is almost strong enough. I think I could dance on it now, but Paul won't agree – he says I might do permanent damage if I dance too soon.'

  'He's right, it isn't worth risking. So this is to be our last outing together for the time being.'

  'I have appreciated seeing all these marvellous acts,' Nell said quietly. 'They've given me lots of ideas.'

  'Me too,' Andrew murmured. 'The curtain's rising for the second half. But afterwards we'll celebrate, shall we?'

  Nell wasn't sure she wanted to be alone with Andrew after the show. He was adopting a possessive air which disturbed her. Even though it was now perfectly possible for her to walk unaided, he insisted on supporting her with his arm round her waist, and seemed to take every opportunity to touch her.

  It wasn't just that he was being solicitous. When she caught his gaze on her she was aware of the intensity of feeling in his eyes. Several times she had been expecting him to kiss her, but at the last moment he had drawn away. Nell didn't want his kisses. She shuddered at the recollection of Tom's attempted embraces. She forced her attention back to the singer on the stage. This was pointless speculation. She didn't want anyone's kisses. She wasn't going to get trapped into marriage.

  When the show was over, however, and Andrew drove to the Grand Hotel where he had booked a table for a late supper, she did not protest. It would have been churlish. And it did not commit her. She looked around in awe. Apart from Endersby's and the hotel where she had lunched with Paul she had never seen such magnificence. The enormous chandeliers cast a brilliance over everything, and all the well-dressed people looked as though they dined in such spendour every day. Briefly it crossed her mind to wonder what her mother would say if she knew. She thrust the thought aside. It was too painful to recall the squalor in which the rest of the family lived, the brutality and filth which surrounded them. Since her injury had prevented her for weeks from trying to meet Amy at Perrott's Folly, even her favourite sister would have forgotten her.

  'Nell, my dear, to us!' Andrew said as he raised his champagne glass towards her.

  She looked at him doubtfully. 'The new act?' she queried.

  'More than that. Nell, you must have realised how I feel about you. I think I knew that first day. I love you, Nell.'

  Quickly she shook her head. 'No! You mustn't! It's not suitable! Besides, I don't want to marry, I want to dance!'

  He looked at her quizzically, and his lips twitched.

  'I won't be difficult, I promise. I just wanted you to know. Now let's be comfortable and talk about other things, enjoy our last evening together.'

  *

  Kitty was pacing up and down her sitting room when Nell came in. 'Where on earth have you been? The show must have finished hours ago!'

  'I'm sorry, I didn't know you needed me. Andrew took me out to supper. He's going away on Monday, on tour.'

  'It's not me that wants you, it's Paul! He's been waiting here for hours.'

  Nell saw Paul for the first time. He'd been sitting in a chair partly concealed by the open door, but now he stepped forward and took her hands in his.

  'Nell, come and sit down. I discovered today that your mother is very ill. I want to take you to see her.'

  'Ma? Ill? Paul, I must go to her now, there's no one to see to her!' Nell exclaimed, trying to free her hands from his grasp.

  'It's far too late, she'll be asleep. Nell, she's being cared for, your sister Eth and little Fanny are being very good, and one of the nurses from the clinic goes in every day.'

  'What's the matter with her?'

  'Sit down. You can see her tomorrow, it's all arranged. We don't know, she has a high fever, and has been unconscious for much of the time, but she is a little better now. She's badly undernourished, of course, but I think this is more a fever of the brain than the body, she's so desperately worried about Amy.'

  'Amy? Why? What's the matter with her?' Nell was trembling with anxiety, and Paul had the greatest difficulty not to take her in his arms to soothe her.

  'She disappeared several weeks ago. No one knows where she is or what became of her.'

  'Amy gone? Oh no! Then that's why she didn't come to meet me!'

  Nell stared at him in horror, and tears gathered in her eyes. Paul gestured to Kitty, who shrugged and left the room. Then Paul did gather Nell into his arms and as she struggled to suppress her sobs he held her close.

  'Tell me,' he said gently when she had regained some control.

  'I met her one day, in the Hagley Road. It was about the time we came to live here with Kitty. We said we'd try to meet each Sunday morning by Perrott's Folly. But she didn't come, and then I hurt my ankle and I couldn't go. Did she – did she think I'd forgotten her?'

  'I don't know. I've only seen your mother once, when the nurse asked me to go in this evening. I realised from the names it must be your family. I talked for a while with Eth, but that's all I know.'

  'Pa? Did you see him? Was he there?'

  'No. He was drowning his sorrows. It seems he's drinking more than he used to, though Eth didn't know where he got the money.'

  'I must go back and take care of her.'

  'No. She doesn't want that. She was quite rational when I saw her, and I told her you were well, and what you were doing. She's insistent that now you have escaped – those were her words – you must not go back. She's content to know you are safe, and to see you sometimes.'

  'She's just saying that. Paul, I must go now!'

  'No, you must sleep now. I understand your father has threatened violence if he sees you. I've brought a sleeping draught you must take tonight, and I will come with you in the morning.'

  She protested, but in vain, and Nell realised that it would be quicker to take his medicine and know she could see her mother in the morning than argue all night. She fell asleep while bitterly condemning herself for having left home, and by so doing driven Amy into terrible, unknown dangers.

  *

  Nell hurried into the court. Despite her worry about her mother and Amy, the breath caught in her throat at the nauseous reek which assailed her nostrils. She'd forgotten how foul it was in these small, enclosed spaces where the sunshine rarely penetrated. The mingled smells of all sorts of rubbish, smoke, dirty washing, rancid fat and rarely cleaned privies, made her gag, and she marvelled that so short a time before she'd lived here and scarcely noticed.

  Paul was beside her, and as she reached the door to her home he took her hand in a comforting grip. Fanny had been watching for them and dragged open the door.

  'Nell! Oh, Nell!' she cried, and threw herself into Nell's arms.

  'It's all right, Fanny. Give over, I'm back now. Where's Ma?' Nell asked, moving into the kitchen and looking round her at the familiar chaos. The younger children sat, unnaturally quiet, in a huddle on the floor, and Nell went to hug and kiss them all in turn.

  'In our bed. Eth's with 'er. The nurse said she wasn't to be with Pa or the little 'uns, an' she made the boys move in with Pa. Eth an' me sleep on the floor, so's we can 'elp 'er in the night,' Fanny explained in a rush.

  'Let's go upstairs. You first, Nell.'

  She smiled at Paul tremulously, and hugging Fanny to her climbed up the stairs. Ma was propped up on pillows, pillows which hadn't been there before, and there were clean sheets and a good thick blanket. But Nell hardly saw them as she ran to bend and kiss her mother.

  'You look so thin!' she exclaimed. 'Oh Ma!'

  'Nell, luv!' Mrs Baxter was too weak to cry, but tears oozed from between her closed eyelids as Nell cautiously hugged her.

  'I didn't mean to worry you when I went away,' Nell said quietly.

  'I know, ducks. If I'd known 'e'd '
ave beat it out of me, so it were best yer didn't tell me. Amy said yer was all right.'

  'Amy?' Nell asked hesitantly.

  Mrs Baxter turned her face away and gestured feebly to Eth. 'You tell 'er.'

  'It were after yer giv 'er that money,' Eth said. It was the first time she'd spoken, and she didn't offer to kiss Nell, but stood at the other side of the bed as if distancing herself from her sister.

  'Go on.'

  'Well, 'er came 'ome, all excited, an' told Ma 'er'd seen yer, all posh like a bleedin' toff. Pa 'eard and 'e frit 'er, an' 'er ran off. That's it.'

  'Did you go to the police?'

  'Pa didn't let Ma go.'

  Nell buried her face in her hands for a moment. It was too much. What had become of her little sister?

  'I should have told her where I was living! Then she might have come to me!'

  'You know very well your father would have made her tell him,' Paul said quietly. 'How are you today, Mrs Baxter? You look a little better.'

  'It's your medicine, doctor. An' seein' Nell.'

  'I'm staying here to look after you now, Ma,' Nell declared, but both Mrs Baxter and Paul shook their heads. Her mother spoke first.

  ' 'E'd kill yer,' she said simply. ' 'E blames yer fer the lads goin', losin' the wages they brung 'ome, an' Amy. Yer mustn't stay 'ere.'

  'She's right, Nell, it would make matters worse. Send money or food, or clothes. Your mother can say she was given them by the Mission. And I've spoken to your father and threatened him with police action if he beats any of the family again. I don't think he'll take it out on them.'

  'I don't want yer back, luv. Now yer've found summat better, keep it. Fer my sake.'

  It was some time before they could persuade Nell that it would make things worse with Pa if she tried to come back, but at last she shrugged. 'I'll come and see you when I can, when Pa's safely out of the way.'

  'And I'll make arrangements to bring anything you like, letters or food or money,' Paul said. 'Now we'd better go.'

  *

  A week later Nell once more visited her mother, and found that she was much better. Reassured over that, though still desperately concerned about Amy's fate, Nell promised to come as often as she could.