Angels at War

by Freda Lightfoot

  Fear catapulted through her as doors were slammed shut, keys turned in the lock and street lights shone through narrow windows striped with iron bars. Livia could hardly believe what was happening to her. This was the Black Maria, for goodness sake, and she was being taken to jail.

  Livia felt as if she’d slipped into a nightmare. Jack had warned her that this might happen. He’d been against her getting involved from the start, calling it one of her ‘projects’, as if it were a silly phase she was going through.

  ‘Who do you think you are?’ he’d laughed, mocking her. ‘Some sort of Wat Tyler leading the peasant’s revolt, or Keir Hardy with the new Labour Party?’

  ‘As a matter of fact Keir Hardy is a moderate, and a great supporter of votes for women. Following his resignation as leader he has campaigned tirelessly alongside Sylvia Pankhurst, with whom he is said to have a close relationship, and even spoken in the house against force-feeding.’

  Jack scowled. ‘Expert on politics too now, are we?’

  ‘No, of course not.’ Jack did not like it when she appeared to correct him, or disagree with his opinion, so she’d tried to laugh it off and make a joke of it. ‘In any case, Boudica would perhaps be a more appropriate comparison, don’t you think? Can’t you just see me in a chariot with my shield and helmet? Women can fight for what’s right too, you know. Except that I’m not in charge, I’m just a follower, a humble believer.’

  ‘You’re a fool,’ he’d said, dismissing her.

  Now, as she stood in the dock before the magistrate, having spent a most uncomfortable night packed in a police station cell with a dozen other women, she wondered if he might be right. Livia listened in a daze to the charges brought against them. Everyone seemed surprisingly cheerful, although some of the younger girls were quietly weeping.

  ‘For disturbing the peace and obstructing the police in the course of their duty: fined ten shillings or seven days’ imprisonment,’ intoned the magistrate as one after the other the women were brought before him. The sentence seemed harsh as, save for the more militant members, most women had been anxious to get out of the way of the police rather than hinder them.

  No witnesses or statements were called for, no defence or legal representation available. A few women volunteered to pay the fine, but most readily accepted a prison sentence.

  When Livia was asked if she admitted her own guilt to assaulting a police officer, she could not, in all conscience, deny it. Where was the point in getting Connie into trouble? It was simply bad luck that she’d been arrested instead. In any case, she rather admired the girl for her courage.

  The magistrate remonstrated with her at length. ‘You are obviously a well bred woman of means and stature in the community, and should be ashamed of such reprehensible behaviour. Were you not, I would have no hesitation in throwing you in the prison cells for seven days along with your comrades. I trust this will be a lesson to you, and you will steer clear of such demonstrations in the future.’

  The women were marched away to begin their sentence while Livia felt shamefully relieved to be released with a warning. Those who had paid the fine were likewise set free, which helped salve her conscience a little, but she did not relish returning home to Kendal to tell her tale. Connie and the other girls would be sure to accuse her of getting off lightly because she was one of the toffs.

  In fact, they welcomed her back as a heroine, giving her a rousing cheer as she entered the staff dining room the night of her return. Connie was the first to make space for her at their table.

  ‘I hope you gave that magistrate chap a piece of your mind.’

  Livia ruefully shook her head. ‘I’m afraid I considered silence the best option.’

  ‘You could have spoken up, though, told him what really happened.’

  ‘I chose not to.’

  Connie gave her a measuring look. ‘You saved my bacon. You didn’t have to take the rap for me.’

  Livia shrugged. ‘I never looked at it that way. “All for one and one for all.” Isn’t that what the three musketeers famously said?’

  ‘I wouldn’t know, not being well educated like you, but I appreciate what you did. Spending even one night in clink took guts. I reckon you’re one of us now. “All for one and one for all” sounds good to me.’ Connie grinned at her, Dolly giggled, and Stella served Livia first with a dish of stew.

  ‘But there’s just one problem.’

  ‘What’s that?’ Livia asked, frowning her concern.

  ‘If you’re a working girl now, like us, and a suffragette, you need to keep up your strength. Next time the polis might not offer you any supper, or you might feel obliged to refuse it. So you have to eat up every scrap of that stew. No more excuses,’ which sent them all into fits of laughter.

  Livia was happy to oblige for she saw that at last she’d been accepted.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Livia was back working in the shop as if nothing had happened, serving behind the underwear counter alongside Mrs Dee, her face impassive, giving no indication of her recent trauma. It was for all the world as if nothing untoward had ever taken place.

  Mrs Dee cast her young assistant troubled glances from time to time, noting a fan of fine lines forming at the corners of the gentian eyes, and the way the usually generous mouth pursed into grim discontent. But when asked if anything was worrying her, Livia gave short shrift.

  ‘Nothing at all. Why would there be? Will we be ordering any more of these silk bed jackets, do you think?’

  ‘My dear girl, it is not every day one finds oneself locked in a police cell. It would be no weakness on your part if you were to feel, shall we say, somewhat fragile as a result.’

  ‘I don’t feel in the least fragile. I’m perfectly well. I wasn’t hurt or abused in any way. The police were really quite polite, considering the circumstances, and I have no quarrel with my treatment whatsoever.’

  The older woman gave her a doubtful look. ‘Then you are perfectly happy?’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘Jack too?’

  At which point Livia burst into tears.

  ‘Ah, so that is the problem.’

  Mrs Dee sat Livia down on an unpacked box of corsets and slipping a tiny bottle from the depths of a pocket in her scarlet petticoat, she unscrewed it and offered it to Livia.

  Scenting the alcohol content, Livia curled up her nose and turned her face away, frantically dabbing at her eyes and ashamed of her emotional outburst.

  ‘A nip of gin will set you up proper. Warm the cockles of your heart and steady your nerves,’ Mrs Dee urged her. ‘Go on, no one’s looking, and I won’t tell.’

  Livia took a small sip and did indeed feel a warmth spread through her entire body, not having realised she was shivering until that moment.

  ‘It’s reaction, that’s what it is,’ said the kindly older woman. ‘Must have been a bit of a shock to find yourself locked up with criminals and murderers and the like.’

  Livia almost laughed at the gruesome picture she painted. ‘It wasn’t like that at all. Everyone was chatty and very nice. Please don’t exaggerate, Mrs Dee. I agree it was far from pleasant, but it was all in a good cause. I felt proud to be a part of it.’

  ‘But your young man doesn’t appreciate that fact.’

  Livia shook her head. ‘Sadly, no, he doesn’t.’

  She’d gone straight to Jack on her return, and it had shocked her to the core to see how very vehement he was in his protests, adamant that she never attend a suffragette meeting ever again. She’d tried to explain how important the cause was to her, and to remind him how she’d stood by him when he was battling against her own father in the rent riots, but he had dismissed this as irrelevant, saying the situation was entirely different.

  ‘Why is it different? Are you saying rents are more important than the rights of women? Or is it because you believe a woman should support her man but not the other way round?’

  ‘Don’t twist everything I say,’ he’d yelled at h
er.

  ‘I’m trying to understand your objections to my becoming involved in what is undeniably a good cause. I can think of no bigger issue right now than allowing women rights over their own lives, and a legal say in any decisions that affect them.’

  ‘I can think of several. Caring about us – you and me – for a start, and not scaring the living daylights out of me by getting yourself locked up.’

  ‘Why would he be so utterly selfish?’ Livia asked the older woman now. ‘He thinks only of himself when there are so many more important matters to concern ourselves with.’

  ‘I’m sure he’s only concerned about you. I have always found men to be rather sensitive creatures,’ Mrs Dee confided. ‘They feel the need to control in order to bolster their own low esteem.’

  ‘He doesn’t control me,’ Livia protested. ‘We aren’t even married.’

  Mrs Dee stroked the girl’s hair and said in a quiet voice. ‘Perhaps that’s the root of his problem. He’s not sure where he stands with you. Maybe you need to ask yourself how you truly feel about him?’

  Livia looked up, astounded by the older woman’s astuteness, but her pride kept her from saying anything further. Tucking her handkerchief up her sleeve, Livia gave her mentor a falsely bright smile. ‘I appreciate your kindness, Mrs Dee, but I believe we have a customer, and if we don’t look sharp, Miss Caraway will be issuing us with one of her fines.’

  With the subject of fines in mind, and perhaps with a need to feel better about herself, Livia informed Miss Caraway that she would prefer it if no further fines were issued.

  ‘No further fines issued?’ the woman repeated, as if Livia had told her that the sun would not rise on the morrow.

  ‘None at all, for whatever reason.’

  ‘Then how are we to control these impudent misses who think they can please themselves when they turn up late for work, and give cheek as soon as look at you?’

  Livia met the other woman’s fury grim-faced, looking very much as if she would welcome an argument. Now that she’d got the taste for battling oppression, she couldn’t seem to stop. ‘We must win them over by example and kind words. Isn’t that much better than bullying?’

  Miss Caraway’s cheeks turned pale with rage. ‘I hope you do not put me into the category of a bully?’

  ‘I hope so, too,’ Livia coolly responded. ‘Which is why I think it important to rid the store of this iniquitous practice. I believe it undermines discipline, rather than maintains it. If the girls are happy in their work, they will turn up on time and do the job properly. If they are constantly simmering with resentment and worrying how they will find the money to send home to their starving families, they won’t.’

  ‘Well, I must say this is all very irregular. Has Mr Grayson agreed to this somewhat radical move?’ The older woman was clearly longing to challenge Livia’s right to issue the order, but couldn’t quite pluck up the courage.

  ‘He has,’ Livia briskly replied, stretching the truth somewhat since they’d touched upon the subject only briefly. ‘I do hope that is quite clear?’ And it seemed that it was as Miss Caraway appeared struck dumb by the sheer temerity of it. Livia walked away leaving the supervisor with her mouth hanging open in shock.

  ‘I believe you’ve ruffled Miss Caraway’s feathers somewhat,’ Grayson mildly remarked the next day. ‘Would it not have been more appropriate to discuss the matter with me first?’

  ‘Why? Would you have agreed?’ Livia challenged him, a certain light of battle still in her eye.

  Quite unaffected by her militant mood, Grayson merely grinned. ‘I have no strong feelings either way but would at least have been better prepared to face that good lady’s ire. I think it most unsporting of you. I must say, though, that your window display seems to be working. Trade has picked up splendidly and I’ve heard many compliments about it.’

  He’d caught her with her arms full of scarlet satin night attire which she’d been about to put in the window, and her cheeks grew almost as rosy as she found herself backed into a corner. She’d successfully managed to avoid him for some time, now Livia felt most definitely trapped, not simply by his physical closeness, but also by a certain expression in his gaze which was holding her paralysed like a rabbit in the light of a poacher’s lamp.

  ‘Oh, thank you,’ Livia breathed, quite overcome by his kind words just when she’d been all ready to do battle. And the thought of Grayson having to defend himself against Miss Caraway almost set her giggling.

  A lacy peignoir slithered to the floor and they both bent to pick it up, almost colliding as they did so. Grayson smiled as he handed the garment to her, so close she could see an image of her startled self reflected in those brilliant eyes.

  ‘I do think we should make our discussions a regular occurrence, don’t you agree? We were getting on so well,’ he murmured, as they both straightened up. ‘We could meet either here at the store, or at my house by the lake if you prefer.’

  What was he suggesting? Feeling completely flustered, and terrified lest the entire heap slide from her trembling grasp, Livia could think of no sensible response. The last thing she wanted was to spend any time at all in this man’s oh-so-beguiling company.

  Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice her confusion and went on talking. ‘You seem to have a natural flair for retailing, for seeing what needs to be done, and you might also like to become better acquainted with the state of this year’s figures. Profits are rising most satisfactorily.’

  ‘Oh, but Father was against my having anything to do with the financial side of the business.’

  ‘I’m not your father, Livia.’ His tone was soft, which for some reason made her blush all the more.

  ‘I meant only that I hadn’t got around to thinking about such things as accounts.’

  ‘Then it’s time that you did, and time you started to take more responsibility in certain other areas too. We could perhaps discuss possibilities at our next meeting. Would this Sunday do? The sooner the better, don’t you think?’

  ‘I … I’m not sure.’ She was stammering like some idiot schoolgirl.

  ‘My appointment as manager is only temporary, if you recall, until such time as you feel ready to take over completely. And from the speed with which you’re absorbing everything, I’d say that will be sooner rather than later.’

  He grinned at her but Livia remained silent, her mind focused on one sentence only. My appointment as manager is only temporary. There was a time when she would have welcomed this statement with delight, now the prospect of his leaving filled her with a strange regret.

  He was smiling down at her, not noticing her confusion. ‘I trust you are fully recovered from your little brush with the law? I never realised what a radical you are. Most impressive, so long as your more militant friends don’t choose this store as an object of their militancy and start smashing our windows.’

  Livia blinked. ‘Of course not, I would never do such a thing, and neither would they. In any case, we committed no militant action in Manchester either, save to ask for the vote. Women surely have the right of free speech?’

  Grayson held up his hands as if to placate her. ‘I agree. I’m on your side, remember. I believe women should indeed be given the franchise, equal rights in everything.’ And grinning from ear to ear he continued his leisurely stroll around his small empire, leaving Livia quietly fuming.

  He really was the most infuriating man. Unyielding in some respects, then complimentary once he’d given in to her pleas. He still refused to use local suppliers or sell foodstuffs, yet was willing to invest good money in providing better quarters for the staff and was approving of women’s rights. He was a complete enigma with an unhappy knack of taking the wind out of her sails just when she was ready to fight.

  Livia had thought long and hard about Mrs Dee’s sound words of advice and reached the decision that she was indeed neglecting Jack. That was no doubt the reason why she was so easily flustered by Grayson, because she wasn’t seeing en
ough of Jack. She was lonely, that’s all. Missing her man, missing her sisters, even missing Angel House, which now belonged to some Manchester business tycoon. It was time she took positive action and got her life in order.

  With new resolve she spent her next free day moving their goods and chattels into the cottage she’d found for them in one of Kendal’s yards. Livia was secretly thrilled with the prospect of having a home of her own, for all it was fairly basic with only two rooms. It was in Kirkland, which meant that the rent was less than it would be closer to the town centre. But once she’d given it a lick of paint, made curtains and set out their personal bits and pieces, it would serve well enough.

  Jack even surprised her by turning up to help. ‘Oh, it’s so good of you to take the afternoon off from work, which means I won’t have to pay someone to carry the heavy stuff.’

  It took little more than an hour to move everything on a borrowed hand cart, and Jack seemed entirely happy and cheerful throughout, full of banter and quite his old self. ‘I’ve been telling my mates about your recent adventure and they seem quite impressed with the idea that I’ve got a jailbird for a fiancée. Makes you a bit more exciting, in fact.’

  Livia laughed as she smoothed out the sheets and plumped up the pillows on the new bed she’d bought for them. ‘I’m glad, because it could well happen again. It seems to be an accepted hazard in this campaign.’

  As she reached for the counterpane, Jack tugged it so that she overbalanced and he quickly pulled her down onto the bed. ‘They said that too,’ he agreed, as he set about unfastening the buttons down the front of her blouse. ‘But I explained this was a temporary aberration on your part. Now that we have a house of our own, you won’t have time for all of that nonsense.’

  ‘You call it nonsense to fight for the rights of women?’ Livia slapped his hands away, appalled by this casual attitude to what seemed to her a most important issue.

  Jack scowled, but then cracked a joke about baking her a cake with a file in it next time, and Livia relaxed, allowing him to trail kisses along her throat, making her giggle as his tongue tickled her ear. She felt things would improve between them now. They just needed to spend more time together, as they once used to.