by Cathy Sharp
‘Then I shall see he receives justice,’ Arthur said. ‘As for you, madam – I hope they hang you, though I daresay you will be confined to prison for the rest of your life.’
CHAPTER 27
‘Good morrow, sir,’ Jenny Ostler said when she answered her kitchen door next morning. ‘If you have a horse to stable, my husband is in the yard …’
‘I have a request to make of you, madam,’ Arthur said and gave her a smile that was meant to put her at ease. ‘I believe you may have a young girl living here and I should like to speak to her.’
‘What be you wanting with Eliza, sir?’ She was an honest woman and made no pretence of not understanding. ‘She’s in the stables with Joe and his father I reckon, for they’re about to leave. I shall be sorry to see them go, for the girl has been a big help to me – and Joe has a way with horses like no other.’
‘I mean no harm to either of them,’ Arthur said. ‘If I may, I shall walk down to the stable now and speak with them.’
Arthur nodded to her, turned and began to walk across the large yard towards the blocks of stables. It was a cobbled yard, strewn with straw and horse dung, and he could see the ostler talking to a customer and discussing a great black horse, which was stamping its feet, clearly uneasy in new surroundings.
‘I’ll be with yer in a moment, sir,’ the ostler said.
Arthur smiled and walked on. There were two blocks of stables and he was not sure exactly where Eliza and Joe would be. He did not want to frighten them, because the last thing he wanted was for Eliza to run away again. Arthur hoped to persuade her that she should live with Ruth – or, if she preferred, with Miss Edith Richards.
Catching sight of a girl with fair hair standing outside one of the stables, he paused. She had grown since he’d last seen her and he was uncertain whether it could be the same girl. No, it must be her! Arthur’s pulses raced. He now truly believed that Eliza was his daughter, his blood, even if there was no written proof. She was Sarah’s child and he wanted to protect her, to make up for all that she had suffered, yet he did not wish to startle or frighten her. As he paused to watch for a moment, she went into the stable through the open door.
‘Joe, you be foolish lad.’ Joe’s father was speaking as Eliza paused outside the stable. ‘We can’t take her with us. She will be hunted, and if they find her with us, we’ll all be taken as murderers. They will hang me, for I am branded a troublemaker, and you’ll go to prison.’
‘I won’t leave her here,’ Joe said stubbornly. ‘Eliza is my friend and I promised her she could come with us.’
‘If she had not killed that man I would have taken her – though we might still have been in trouble. She is a child and folk do blame us for stealin’ children. She would always be a danger to us – and I’ll not risk all our lives for her sake.’
‘Then you must go alone,’ Joe said, and his mouth set stubbornly. ‘I will not come with you to Ireland unless Eliza comes too.’
‘You will do as I bid you,’ his father said and took hold of his shoulder roughly. ‘I am not a violent man, Joe, but if you defy me, I will thrash you!’
‘I don’t care, I’m not coming with you,’ Joe said and glared at him.
‘You must go with your pa,’ Eliza said softly and they both whirled round to look at her for neither had heard her enter. ‘He is right – I should mean trouble for you. I am wanted for murder and when they catch me I shall hang.’
‘No! I will not let them take you.’ Joe looked angrily at his father. ‘We will go away somewhere together, Eliza. In Ireland you would be safe.’ He looked at his father with a mixture of appeal and stubbornness. ‘I can’t leave her here, Pa. Either she comes, or I stay.’
‘Joe lad,’ his father said and shook his head. ‘If it were not for the murder I would risk it – but don’t you see? There will be a hue and cry out for her and if we’re discovered …’
‘We could colour her hair black and rub dirt on her face and no one will know her,’ Joe said and now he was pleading. ‘If you do not help us I shall never forgive you.’
‘No, Joe,’ Eliza said softly and touched his arm. ‘Your pa is right. I should only bring trouble on you. You must go to Ireland with him – and one day perhaps you will come back and find me.’
‘But what will you do?’ Joe asked. ‘How can you live alone? I want to look after you, to take you with me …’
‘Eliza will not be alone. She has friends who care for her …’ Another man’s voice startled them all. Joe sprang in front of Eliza, his fists up like a prizefighter, ready to defend her with his last breath.
‘I won’t let you take her! I won’t let her be hung or left to rot in prison.’
‘Eliza didn’t kill that man,’ Arthur said and smiled at Joe. ‘Some of us might wish she had rid the world of a foul creature who is not fit to live – but she will not go to prison, nor will she be hung. It is he who will face trial and, if there is any justice, face imprisonment though I fear he will escape the rope for lack of proof.’
Joe frowned, his brow wrinkling, then, ‘You’re the man Molly brought yesterday …’
‘We intended to rescue Eliza but the clever girl rescued herself,’ Arthur said. His gaze moved to Eliza’s face, seeing her apprehension and doubt. Obviously, she did not trust him, and who could blame her? He played his only card. ‘Ruth wants to see you, Eliza, and so does Miss Edith – they both love you, and you would be welcome to live with either of them …’
‘Miss Edith is not angry with me?’ Eliza said, her heart beating a little wildly now, but the fear had gone. She looked at him uncertainly. ‘Are you Mr Stoneham, sir?’
‘Yes, Eliza, I am – and I must humbly beg your pardon.’ She looked puzzled and he reached out his hand to her. ‘I knew something was amiss that day I saw you being tended by Ruth in the workhouse infirmary. I should have taken you away then and found you a good home. Had I done so, you would have avoided much suffering. Can you forgive me for leaving you there, Eliza?’
Eliza’s eyes stung with tears, but she blinked them away. ‘Will you take me to Ruth, please?’ she said.
‘Eliza – you must come with us,’ Joe said and caught her arm. ‘Do not trust him; he might take you back to that evil woman.’
‘Miss Simpkins is no longer employed at the workhouse,’ Arthur said. ‘Indeed, she is awaiting trial for her crimes. Her brother is abjectly apologetic for what she did and may escape with a reprimand. I think he has learned a hard lesson. However, Eliza will never be forced to live in such a place again. The choice of where she lives is hers.’
‘I shall go to visit Ruth and then I must see Miss Edith,’ Eliza said and threw herself at Joe and hugged him. ‘I might have died this winter had you not cared for me and helped me, but I do not want to cause trouble for your family. You must go with your father – but one day, if you still want us to be together, return to London and we shall talk then.’
‘If you go with him I will come with you to make sure you are safe,’ Joe said and glared at Arthur and then turned to his father. ‘I shall return, but only if Eliza is safe and happy.’
‘Joe, perhaps now we might risk it,’ his father said but Eliza shook her head.
‘No, you would not help her when I asked,’ Joe said and the look he gave his father was cold. ‘You are my father and I must obey you – but I shall not forgive you.’
Eliza looked at Jez’s face and saw the pain in his eyes. ‘You must learn to forgive,’ she whispered as she took Joe’s hand. ‘If I can forgive, so can you.’
Joe shook his head stubbornly, holding her hand tight as they followed Arthur from the stable. Outside the stable yard there was a gig waiting and a lad not much older than Joe stood holding the reins of the impatient horse, which was pawing at the ground and clearly not happy at being kept standing.
Joe went to the horse’s head and put his mouth close to the horse’s nose, breathing gently and whispering soothing words. It quietened at once and he looked at the la
d scornfully.
‘You should ’ave walked it,’ he said, and then climbed up beside Arthur and Eliza.
Arthur tossed the crestfallen lad a coin, took the reins and the lad stood back releasing the horse. ‘Where did you learn that?’ Arthur asked of Joe as they moved away.
‘My father breaks horses for his living. But I knew it from the moment I saw my first horse and rode on its back. Horses either trust you or they don’t.’
‘You have a wise head on you, Joe.’ Arthur nodded to him. ‘One day, when you are older and can make your own choices, you may come to me for a job in my stables.’
‘I could work for yer now,’ Joe said.
‘You could, and if you had no family, I would take you gladly,’ Arthur told him. ‘But Eliza was right, Joe. You owe duty to your father and I should be a rogue if I took you from him. I am not that rogue, Joe – though it is my loss, for a talent such as yours is not easily met with. I shall hope that one day you will choose to return.’
Eliza saw that Arthur Stoneham’s words had soothed the anger in her friend. She smiled and sat closer to Joe, because she knew that soon he would be forced to leave her and go to Ireland with his father. It was the right thing for him for now, because although they belonged together they were both children and Eliza was wise enough to know that their time was not yet. It would come one day, but she wanted time to become a woman and to learn all she could of life first.
‘Mr Stoneham is right,’ she whispered. ‘One day we shall be together, Joe – and then nothing shall part us.’
‘You promise on your heart?’ Joe placed his arm across his chest and Eliza did the same.
‘I promise,’ she said. ‘One day we shall travel wherever we please, Joe, but we are too young to go alone. People would always try to part us and lock us up in schools or the workhouse. When we are older they will not be able to part us.’
‘As long as you are safe and happy, I shall go to Ireland,’ Joe said, ‘but I shall not forgive him, Eliza …’
Eliza shook her head but said no more. Joe was angry because his father had broken his word. He’d told Joe that she could go with them, but then he’d changed his mind because he feared she might bring trouble on them. Eliza knew that Jez had some right on his side. There was something about her that attracted trouble and she did not wish to cause a breach with Joe’s family. If he came back for her, they would have their time – but that time was not yet.
‘Eliza, my love, my girl – you be grown so!’ Ruth cried as she saw her enter the house. She rushed at her and hugged her to her ample bosom, tears running down her cheeks.
‘Ruth, I’m so glad to see you,’ Eliza said. ‘I wanted to visit you but I did not know where you lived – and you are only a few streets from the market where I shopped for Miss Edith. All this time I have needed you, and I could’ve visited you!’ She felt tears on her cheeks and wiped them away.
‘Oh, sir, how can I thank you for bringing her back to us?’ Ruth said. ‘I have feared for her day and night – at the mercy of that evil woman.’
‘Mistress Simpkins was not the worst of them,’ Eliza said and gave a giggle of sheer relief. She was safe at last, and she had Mr Stoneham to thank for it. ‘But you are right, Ruth; I must thank you, sir, for bringing me here.’
He nodded, looking at her oddly, a faint wistfulness in his eyes as if he wanted to say something to her and could not find the words.
‘Have you eaten?’ Ruth said and looked at Joe curiously. ‘You’re not dead then, lad. We all thought mistress buried you in the cellar, for the men heard noises coming from there.’
‘That was me digging my way out,’ Joe said and grinned at her.
‘Well, I’ve some good stew if either of you is hungry.’
‘I am,’ Joe said and looked at Eliza. ‘We had bread and a cup of milk this mornin’ – and that stew smells good.’
‘Will you stay too, sir?’ Ruth looked past Eliza at her employer who had picked up his hat and gloves.
‘No, thank you, Ruth, not this time. I have other business. Eliza is safe now and I shall return later to speak to you.’ He nodded to Joe. ‘Remember what I said, lad. When you’re older there will always be a job in my stables.’
‘Thank you, sir. I’ll not forget.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ Eliza said and looked at him. ‘I shall see you again?’
‘Oh yes, be sure that I shall not forget you,’ he said, looked at her for a moment and tipped his hat to her before he left.
‘He is such a good master,’ Ruth said after he had gone. ‘Now, you two, come to the kitchen. Cook has been waiting to see you, Eliza – and she’ll be surprised to see you, Joe.’
‘Ruth, will you come with me to Miss Edith’s house after we’ve eaten?’ Eliza asked. ‘Mr Stoneham said she had forgiven me – but I would rather not go alone.’
‘You know you can bide ’ere with us, love?’ Ruth said, a little surprised.
‘Yes, I know, and I shall come often to visit,’ Eliza told her, ‘but I want to learn all the things Miss Edith can teach me for I should like to be an apothecary one day, if she will take me back. She helps so many, Ruth, and I should like to do the same.’
Ruth frowned. ‘She has not been well of late, Eliza. I daresay she needs a little help with her work.’
‘Then may we go after we have eaten?’
‘Of course we shall,’ Ruth said, ‘for I know she has been anxious for your safety.’
Miss Edith had just finished serving a customer when they entered the shop and had her back to them as she tided something into a drawer.
‘I shall not keep you a moment …’ The words died on her lips as she turned and saw Eliza. Immediately, the colour left her cheeks and she swayed, and then the silent tears started to trickle down her face. ‘God be praised! Eliza, my love. Forgive me. I beg you will forgive me for the wicked things I said to you.’
Eliza dodged round the counter and threw her arms about her, hugging her, her face against her thin body, feeling the bones so prominent now. Miss Edith had lost weight and seemed more fragile. Tears were on Eliza’s face as she looked up at the woman she both admired and loved, understanding that in many ways their roles had been reversed. In the years ahead, it would be Eliza who cared for this woman, nursing her through the long illness that had just begun to show its ugly head.
‘You are too thin,’ she scolded. ‘I see that I have not returned a moment too soon. I think you have not been eating properly, Miss Edith.’
‘The food choked me when I thought of you starving on the streets.’
‘I have not starved – or only a few times,’ Eliza said. ‘This is my good friend Joe. He took care of me and I would have gone to Ireland with him but then Mr Stoneham found me and told me I was not a murderer – and so I came back to you. Will you have me back, ma’am? Mr Stoneham says I’m in no trouble, even though I hit the man who grabbed me and made his head bleed.’
‘If he sought to harm you, he deserved it,’ Miss Edith said and smiled through her tears. ‘My dear girl …’
‘He was a bad man and Mr Stoneham says he should hang if there was any justice, but I care only that he should not harm other children.’
‘You are so grown-up,’ Miss Edith said, looking at her in wonder. Eliza had grown in inches but also in her manner of speaking and thinking. When she had run away she had been a child, but now she was a young woman, though still only thirteen years. Yet she had a maturity that made her seem older and it could only be because of the way she had lived; it had made her stronger, wiser and more caring, although she had always been able to give love. ‘Oh yes, Eliza, if you can forgive me, I should be happy to have you live with me.’
‘You will teach me all you know of herbs,’ Eliza said, ‘and I shall look after you …’
Eliza heard the shop door close behind her and when she turned round she saw that Joe had gone without saying goodbye. Her first thought was to run after him, but then she realised that he had
taken the only way he knew how to part, for any other would be too painful. It had been settled between them. He must do his duty, which was to go with his father, and hers was to look after the woman who had been such a good friend to her, because she knew that Miss Edith was ill. She looked frail and was clearly in need of loving tender care – which Eliza would give her.
‘Thank you for bringing her back to me,’ Miss Edith said, looking at Ruth.
‘You must thank Mr Stoneham for that,’ Ruth said. ‘Eliza asked me to come here with her, but it was he who brought her to us – and I shall remember him in my prayers every night for it.’
Miss Edith made a little sign of the cross over her breast. ‘I shall do the same. Ruth, you will take tea with us whenever you have the time to spare? You are always welcome here, for it was you that cared for my dear Eliza like a mother all those years she was shut up in that terrible place.’
Ruth’s face lit up with pleasure. ‘I thank you for the invitation and you are both welcome to call on us. I shall leave you now, Eliza, for I believe that you are safe here.’
Eliza ran to her and hugged her. ‘I love you, Ruth,’ she whispered, ‘but this is where I must live – do you understand?’
‘Yes, I understand,’ Ruth said and kissed the top of her head. ‘Take care of her, my Eliza. She needs you very much just now.’
Eliza stood back as her friend left and then returned to Miss Edith. ‘Why don’t you go and rest with a nice pot of tea? I can serve the customers and anything I don’t know, I’ll come and ask.’
‘No, put the closed sign on the door,’ Edith said. ‘We have so much to talk about, Eliza, and it’s time I had a little holiday …’
Outside, in the street, Ruth paused for a moment and fingered the trinket in her pocket, the diamonds sharp beneath her finger. She had meant to give it to Eliza but this was not the time. This was a happy reunion for the girl and it might cause her unhappiness to think of the woman who had placed that trinket inside her shawl. The identity of her mother was still a mystery to Ruth and there was no way of solving it that she knew. Pray God, Eliza would come to no more harm and there would be plenty of time to give her the halfpenny set in gold and clasped by diamonds.