The River Maid

by Dilly Court

  He leaned over so that his face was close to hers. ‘Give us a kiss, little girl. I’ve a fancy for you and now your dad is out of action there’s no one to stand up for you.’

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ Ben came striding towards them, his hands clenched into fists. ‘Let her go, guvnor.’

  ‘Or what?’ Diggory demanded, grinning. ‘You depend on me for your livelihood, boy. You’re bound over to me for another year and I can make or break you, so go away and leave me to enjoy meself for a change.’

  Essie wrenched her arm free. ‘You’re a disgrace, Diggory Tyce. Leave Ben out of this, but my pa will hear of it, you may depend on that. He won’t be laid up for ever and then you’d best watch out.’

  Diggory backed away, his face contorted with rage. ‘You little slut. You toss your head and you’re all smiles when you want something, but you don’t want to give anything in return. There’s a name for girls like you.’

  Ben took a step towards him but Essie held him back. ‘No, Ben. Don’t get into bother because of me. I can take care of myself.’

  Reluctantly Ben dropped his hands to his sides. ‘I’ll see you safely home, Essie.’

  ‘No, you won’t. There’s still work to do and you work for me.’ Diggory turned on his heel and stomped away in the direction of the wharfinger’s office. ‘You’ll be sorry for this, Essie Chapman.’

  She shook her head. ‘He’s a brute. I wonder I didn’t see it before, but he’s never behaved like that until now.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Essie. I should have flattened him while I had the chance.’ Ben shoved his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched as if he carried the weight of the world on them. ‘But he’s right. I’m bound to him until I finish my apprenticeship. Sometimes I wish I’d gone to sea or joined the army.’

  ‘Let’s walk on. I don’t want to give him the chance to tell you off for shirking.’ Essie tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. ‘If you had done any of those things it would have been my loss, Ben. I really appreciate what you did just now.’

  ‘I just made it worse.’

  ‘No, you didn’t. He might have gone further if you hadn’t intervened, and I’m grateful.’

  He came to a halt at the top of the steps leading down to the foreshore, where mudlarks were picking over the detritus left by the ebb tide. ‘Where have you been all day? Riley asked me where you were and I didn’t know what to say. Your boat is still where you left it, so I knew you weren’t working on the river.’

  ‘I can’t tell you, Ben. I went on an errand for someone, that’s all I can say, but I’m going home now.’ She backed away. ‘But first I’d better go and make peace with Riley.’ She hurried off before he had a chance to question her further. Keeping a secret from her friends was not going to be easy, and she could only hope that Raven would finish his business quickly and leave them in peace.

  Riley looked up as she entered his office, but his grim expression was not encouraging. ‘Nice of you to call in, Miss Chapman. I suppose you know that I’ve been looking for you all day?’

  ‘Yes, and I’m truly sorry, Mr Riley. I had work in a different part of the city.’

  ‘I thought you were a good girl, Essie. There’s only one sort of occupation that springs to mind.’

  ‘I don’t have to explain myself to you.’

  ‘Then you won’t care that I’ve found someone else to do the work that I’d normally put your way. You let me down, Essie Chapman, and your pa will hear about this. I dare say you’ve been keeping company with some young fellow who’s taken your fancy, but be warned it’ll bring you nothing but trouble. You may think you’re pretty, with your big hazel eyes and your long dark curls, but you girls are all the same, trollops at heart, leading men on.’

  ‘You have a very poor opinion of woman, Mr Riley. Maybe you were crossed in love or something, but I’m a respectable girl and I don’t have to stand here and listen to your insults.’

  ‘Get out of my office and don’t come knocking on my door when you’re desperate for employment, because you’re finished. Now clear off before I throw you out.’

  Chapter Four

  Essie did not dare tell her father what had happened in the wharfinger’s office, and she did not mention Diggory Tyce. Pa might have his faults, but he would be furious if he knew that she had been accosted in the street, and even in his weakened condition he might go roaring off, ready for a fight. There were some things that were better kept secret, and this was one of them.

  She did not see Raven until next morning. He came downstairs looking tired but purposeful. ‘I’ll leave by the back door,’ he said firmly when she had given him Lady Alice’s message. ‘Give me a couple of minutes and then you go out as if you were going about your daily business. I’ll have a cab waiting at the far end of Fore Street.’

  ‘What are you two talking about?’ Jacob limped into the kitchen. ‘What’s going on between you?’

  ‘Nothing, Pa,’ Essie said hastily. ‘Mr Raven has found me employment in a big house Up West. The money will keep us going until you’re fit enough to return to work.’

  Jacob glared at Raven, lowering his brow in a scowl. ‘I won’t have you taking advantage of my daughter, sir.’

  ‘I promise you that there’s nothing untoward in my dealings with Miss Chapman.’ Raven dropped a leather pouch onto the kitchen table with a clink of coins. ‘You’ll be well recompensed, Chapman. I always pay my debts.’

  Jacob snatched up the money before Essie had a chance to make a move. ‘Pa, I’ll need some of that,’ she protested.

  ‘You abandoned me in favour of your new friends. I can manage very well on my own.’ Jacob tucked the pouch into his pocket and returned to the front parlour, slamming the door behind him.

  Essie sighed. ‘He’ll spend all of it in the Grapes, treating his friends to rum punch.’

  ‘You don’t have to put up with a life like this,’ Raven said earnestly. ‘I’m sure my cousin would take you on permanently, should you wish to leave Limehouse.’

  ‘This is my home. The river and the people round here are part of me and this is where I belong.’

  ‘It’s a shame to have such a limited outlook at your age. There’s a whole world out there, if you chose to embrace it.’

  Essie placed her teacup in the stone sink. ‘Maybe I ought to commit a crime so that I get transported to Australia like you. Would that broaden my horizon, Mr Raven?’

  ‘I wouldn’t go so far as that,’ he said, laughing. ‘But you’re a pretty young woman and you’re bright. You deserve more than this.’

  Essie had a sudden vision of herself married to Ben, living in rented rooms further down the street with a new baby arriving like clockwork every year. It was the fate of most women in Limehouse – either that or working until they dropped with exhaustion, starvation or succumbing to one of the many diseases that were rife amongst the poor.

  ‘Isn’t it time we were gone?’ she said briskly. ‘The sooner you get your affairs sorted out the sooner you can return to your goldmine and leave us all in peace.’

  Essie sat in the clerk’s office waiting for Raven to emerge. The clock on the wall opposite ticked noisily, accompanied by the scratching of the clerk’s pen as he wrote laboriously, the tip of his tongue clamped between two rows of yellowed teeth. Essie shifted her position on the hard seat of the wooden chair, which was not designed for comfort. Every so often the clerk sniffed and gave her a sideways glance before returning to the ledger in front of him. The sound of a door opening and closing followed by footsteps made them both sit up.

  Raven strode past Essie. ‘Come along. It’s time to go.’

  She leaped to her feet and followed him out of the building into Lincoln’s Inn. ‘What happened?’ she demanded. ‘Where are we going now?’

  He walked on until they were in the relative seclusion of the sunlit gardens, and he came to a halt. Taking a document from his inside pocket he placed it in her hand. ‘Take this to Hill Street and giv
e it to Lady Alice in person.’

  Essie tucked it into her reticule. ‘I will, of course, but can you tell me what this is all about?’

  He shook his head. ‘Remember that I’m an escaped convict and aiding me is a crime, so the less you know, the better, for your own sake.’

  ‘But you were just standing up for your brother. You’re the injured party because you took his punishment. I still don’t understand why you did that.’

  ‘If it were your brother, George, who had got himself in a fix, wouldn’t you do your utmost to help him?’

  ‘Yes, of course, but surely you’ve suffered enough?’

  Raven smiled a charming, crooked smile that made him look infinitely more approachable and gave him an almost boyish appearance. ‘I’m tough – I can take hardship and come out on top. I’ve made a fortune in Australia and I intend to share it with those nearest and dearest to me. By investing wisely I’ll have something to come home to when I’m a free man, but what I really want is to appeal against the sentence in the hope of acquittal.’

  ‘You’re taking a terrible risk.’

  ‘The ship that brought me here is due to sail tomorrow and I’ll be leaving then. My mission is accomplished, almost.’

  ‘Almost?’

  He held up his hand to hail a passing cab. ‘You ask too many questions. Take this to Alice and soon you’ll be rid of me.’ He bundled her into the cab, barely waiting for it to stop. ‘Hill Street, cabby.’

  Lady Alice took the sealed document from Essie. ‘You’ve done well, thank you.’

  ‘Am I finished here now, my lady?’

  ‘I think we’d best wait until my cousin is safely on board ship and on his way back to Australia before we make any rash decisions. The sooner he leaves the better for all of us.’

  Essie hesitated, waiting for further instructions. ‘Shall I continue to work in the sewing room, my lady?’

  Lady Alice broke the seal and studied the contents, frowning. ‘Yes, continue as you did yesterday. I don’t want the servants to suspect anything. You’d best keep to your room and I’ll have Dixon bring your meals to you. I don’t want a whispering game to start in the servants’ hall.’

  ‘Yes, my lady.’ Realising that she had been dismissed, Essie left Lady Alice poring over the document. She closed the door and was making for the back stairs when she bumped into Sadie.

  ‘Oh, you’ve come back,’ Sadie cried joyfully. ‘They was laying bets below stairs that you wouldn’t last another day.’

  ‘I don’t know why,’ Essie said warily. ‘It’s quite an easy, pleasant sort of job.’

  ‘Mrs Dent told Cook that she didn’t think you was the sort who would settle down to such mundane tasks. She said you was probably flighty and good-looking girls was always trouble.’

  ‘I don’t know whether to be annoyed or flattered,’ Essie laughed, but the memory of Diggory Tyce’s attempt to kiss her had haunted her dreams and she had awakened that morning feeling sick and angry.

  ‘You won’t say nothing, will you?’ Sadie asked anxiously. ‘I’ll get me ears boxed for certain if you tell on me.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I won’t say a word. Anyway, Lady Alice said you were to bring me my meals so I won’t be mixing with the servants below stairs.’

  Sadie’s eyes rounded in surprise and her mouth dropped open. ‘Lawks, who would have thought it? She don’t normally interfere with the running of things – Mrs Dent does that. Her majesty below stairs won’t be best pleased.’

  Essie left Sadie standing at the foot of the narrow staircase, muttering to herself. There was enough intrigue going on without involving the servants in Hill Street, and she doubted if Sadie could resist the temptation to pass on a juicy piece of gossip sparked off by a careless word.

  There was a fresh pile of mending in the sewing room and Essie set to work with a will. At least she could enjoy the peace and quiet up here above the trees tops, although she had a feeling that a storm was brewing. There was no particular reason for alarm but Essie had seen the expression of Lady Alice’s face when she read the document, and it was one of puzzlement followed by a tightening of the lips and a furrowed brow.

  When the sun was high in the sky at midday Sadie arrived with a bowl of soup and a chunk of bread. After a brief greeting she disappeared again, returning minutes later with a tea tray. ‘Her ladyship said you was to be treated well.’ She dumped the tray on the table with an expressive sigh. ‘You ought to be a fly on the wall in the kitchen, miss. They don’t know who you are or where you came from, and it’s driving them all mad. Mr Fielding is the worst. He says you’re up to no good and her ladyship should be warned, and then Mrs Dent told him to hold his tongue and he didn’t like that one bit. Then Cook stood up for him and she got a mouthful from Mrs Dent, because she won’t take cheek from no one. It’s better than a trip to the circus down there.’

  Essie tasted the soup. ‘Tell Cook the soup is delicious, but don’t say anything else, Sadie. I’ll get on with my work and you must try to keep out of trouble.’

  Sadie tapped the side of her nose, winking and grinning. ‘I ain’t enjoyed meself so much since the matron at the Foundling Hospital got bit on the bum by her pet dog. It clung on for dear life, and it served her right for beating it with a cane just the same as she whacked us nippers whenever she felt like it. You only had to look at her the wrong way and she’d get that stinger off the wall and come at you with her face all screwed up with rage, and the tips of her ears flaming red.’ Sadie left the room and Essie could hear her giggling all the way to the stairs.

  The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but Essie was restless and the afternoon dragged. Curiosity as to the information she had passed on to Lady Alice was nagging at her like a sore tooth, but she knew she would have to wait until she had a chance to speak to Raven, although there was no guarantee that he would tell her anything. She longed to know more about Freddie and his exile in Italy, and Raven himself was a mystery that she found both intriguing and exasperating.

  Sadie brought her a cup of tea late in the afternoon. She was more subdued this time, having been in trouble with Cook for breaking a plate, the cost of which would be deducted from her wages that quarter, which meant that she had worked for almost nothing. ‘I’d rather have a beating.’ Sadie’s bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears. ‘I was going to buy meself a pair of boots with me wages. I saw a pair in the popshop in Shepherd Market. They was red leather with little heels what would have made me look taller, and that would make me look more grown up. If people thought I was older they’d treat me better.’

  ‘Red leather,’ Essie said thoughtfully. ‘Not very practical for work, Sadie. I doubt if Mrs Dent would approve.’

  ‘But I would look like a princess. I’d only wear them for best, and I’d keep them in a box under me bed so that I could take them out at night and put them on. I bet I could move light as a fairy in them boots, and no one would laugh at me.’

  ‘I don’t doubt it,’ Essie said, smiling. ‘I’m sure you’ll get your red boots once day.’ She drank the rapidly cooling tea and handed the cup to Sadie, who was gazing out of the window with a rapt expression on her small features as if she was in a delightful daydream. ‘Ahem,’ Essie cleared her throat in an attempt to bring Sadie back to the present. ‘I need to speak to her ladyship before I go home. Do you know where I might find her?’

  Sadie blinked and stared at her as if she had just awakened from a nap. ‘I took a tray of tea to the drawing room before I come up here. But you can’t go barging in on her – it ain’t done. You have to go through Mrs Dent.’

  Essie reached for her bonnet and shawl. ‘Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.’

  Essie knocked on the drawing-room door and waited impatiently. She had finished her work and was eager to get away from the stultifying atmosphere of the house in Hill Street, where the servants seemed to rule supreme, leaving Lady Alice vulnerable and alone. When there was no reply Essie opened the door
and stepped inside, but the sight that met her eyes made her come to a halt. For a moment it was not clear if her ladyship was enjoying the advances of the man who held her in his arms, or if she was struggling to get free.

  ‘Oh, excuse me. I’m sorry.’ Essie was about to retreat, but a cry from Lady Alice made her stand her ground. ‘Are you all right, my lady?’

  ‘Give me that document, Henry.’ Lady Alice held out her hand. ‘Give it to me this instant. It has nothing to do with you.’

  He tossed at her. ‘Take it, Alice.’ He turned to Essie. ‘Who the devil are you?’ The man, who was dressed like a gentleman even if he was not behaving like one, advanced on Essie with a grim look on his handsome features. ‘How dare you burst into her ladyship’s drawing room like this? Get out of here.’

  ‘No, wait.’ Lady Alice clutched the piece of parchment in her hands. ‘Sir Henry was just leaving. I need to speak to you, Chapman.’ Her pale cheeks flushed with colour as she fixed him with a steady look. ‘You were mistaken in your assumption, Henry. I am not in the least bit interested in what you have to offer or your threat to expose my cousin.’

  ‘We’ll see about that, Alice.’

  ‘You have my answer, and now I want you to leave.’

  He bowed, but it was a mocking gesture. ‘My lady.’ He strode past Essie, giving her a thunderous look as he left the room, slamming the door behind him.

  Essie rushed forward to support Lady Alice, who had paled suddenly and was swaying on her feet as if about to faint. ‘Are you all right, my lady?’

  ‘I just need a minute.’ Alice sank down on the sofa, fanning herself with her hand. ‘Sir Henry Bearwood is not the sort of man to cross.’

  ‘Men are all the same, if you ask me,’ Essie said boldly. ‘Diggory Tyce is another one. They think they can take liberties and get away with it.’

  ‘Quite so,’ Lady Alice said vaguely. ‘But this is quite different.’ She raised her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes as if in pain.