by Iris Gower
He listened for a time, gaining a certain satisfaction from the young copperman’s grumblings, but soon the effects of the porter began to tell on him and he felt decidedly sleepy. He stretched his arms above his head before resting a hand on Travers’ shoulder.
‘We must do this again and soon,’ he said with a friendliness he was far from feeling. Smoothly, he rose to his feet managing to ignore Will Owens as he made his departure.
Outside in the street, the light was fading fast. Clouds floated overhead but the cobbled streets were dry. Rickie made for the tramway depot and was just in time to see the tail end of the vehicle, brightly lit in the darkness, vanishing from sight.
‘Blast it!’ he said aloud while inwardly he seethed over the injustice that allowed Sterling to have everything including a brand new Ascot while he was forced to stand around street corners waiting for a tram. Well, he knew something that his brother – his half brother, he corrected himself – did not, and it hung around him like a talisman.
One day he would find a way to use the knowledge against Sterling, he thought angrily. This copperworker Will Owens might prove useful in that respect, there was no knowing what titbits of information he might come up with. In any case, Owens was another nail in Sterling’s coffin and that in itself was enough to give Rickie a feeling of satisfaction.
Chapter Fifteen
As Mali made the tea for Mr Waddington she wondered how it was she could feel so miserable one moment and the next be gloriously excited because she had met Sterling in the street and he had asked – or rather told – her to meet him later that night. She swirled the tea round in the pot, allowing it to steep before pouring it hot and fragrant into the bone china cup.
Everything in her life seemed to have changed since that day at the fair and Mali’s feelings had plunged between hope and despair. Even Katie had managed to make matters worse by being offhand because she’d been left alone at the recreation ground.
‘It was all right for you.’ Her tone had revealed hurt feelings rather than anger. ‘You were gadding about the beach in the company of the great copper boss but I was on my own wanting to see Will and yet afraid lest if I did see him he’d ignore me.’
Mali had tried to explain. ‘It was so lovely, Katie, I was so happy, running on the beach as free as a bird. It was only when that old chapel woman froze me with her eyes that I realised how it must look to other people.’
‘Well, serves you right.’ Katie’s tone had been softly reproving. ‘You’re falling in love, you poor soft babby.’
‘Of course I’m not!’ Mali had denied it hotly. ‘It was only a bit of fun, that’s all it was.’ But Katie had only shaken her head sadly.
If that was not enough, she had Davie onto her about it, too. His green eyes had been fiery.
‘A daughter of mine making a public spectacle of herself,’ he said hotly. ‘Like a flossy you was, girl, sitting up there with all them toffs. I’ll tell Mr Richardson a thing or two when I see him, you may be sure of that.’
He had too, from the little Sterling had said that morning, and Mali burned with shame, wondering what had passed between the two men. She still warred within herself over whether she should meet Sterling or not and yet, deep down inside she knew she would go to the cemetery, she could not help herself.
Mr Waddington was rummaging among an assortment of papers on his desk, his grey hair tangled as though he had been running his hand through it, and he smiled in relief when he saw Mali.
‘Ah, a cup of tea, and never was it more welcome. Just have a look by there and see if you can find me a bill for fuel will you? My eyes aren’t what they were nor my old brain either for I feel sure I’m being cheated by the coal merchants.’
He moved away from the desk and drank his tea gratefully and Mali, hesitant at first, began searching through the muddle of papers. She quickly found the missing bill and began to make calculations on the corner of the page, unaware that Mr Waddington was watching her carefully. She looked up at him at last.
‘Have you any other bills from Lewis Lewis & Sons?’ she asked, forgetting her diffidence in her absorption in her task. ‘This one is added up wrongly and you are being asked to pay fifty shillings more than you owe.’
Mr Waddington put down his cup. ‘Just a minute, dear, I shall get them all out and you can go through them, that is if you’re willing, of course.’
Mali’s eyes were shining. ‘This is just the sort of work I enjoy, Mr Waddington,’ she said. ‘My mam was the one for figures, though, she could run rings around me, jump over my head she would but for all that I love to add and subtract and write numbers down on the page.’
‘Well, there’s a great deal of that for you to do here,’ he said ruefully. ‘Since my daughter was taken by the lung fever there’s been no one to help me and I would not bring in some clever miss from outside.’ He shrugged. ‘But I see I’ve allowed it all to get into a muddle and I’d be most grateful to you if you could sort it out for me.’
It was only when Big Mary came searching for Mali that she realised how long she had been missing from the packing room.
‘Duw.’ Big Mary’s face was a picture of surprise as she saw Mali seated at the desk alongside Mr Waddington. ‘What’s happening then, I thought you’d run off home Mali Llewelyn.’
Mr Waddington rose to his feet. ‘Blame me, my dear,’ he said affably. ‘And you must find yourself another checker for Miss Llewelyn is now my own little helper. She is a find in a million, she can actually count and figure far more quickly than I ever could.’
Big Mary’s mouth dropped open. ‘Mali Llewelyn, office helper is it?’ she said and a slow, pleased smile spread over her face. ‘I always knew there was more in her than met the eye. Good for you Mali but you ask Mr Waddington for a bit more money, mind, office helpers get more than checkers.’
Mr Waddington laughed. ‘Done, it’s a bargain and very pleased I am with it too. Now back to work, Mali, I know it’s going to take you some time to sort out the mess I’ve got myself into but you can do it, I have every confidence in you.’
The time seemed to pass on wings and Mali felt by the end of the afternoon that she had made good progress and was well on the way to sorting out some at least of the paperwork. Her back was stiff from bending and her eyes ached and all she could see before her was pages full of figures. But already she had found at least ten discrepancies. It seemed that some of the local merchants had not been above taking advantage of Mr Waddington.
‘Well, Mali, I see you are going to save me money,’ he said, ‘and, contrary to what the good folk of the town believe, I’m not a rich man.’ He drew on his coat and his bright silk scarf. ‘Now off home with you and don’t bother to come in until nine tomorrow, that’s one advantage of promotion and well deserved it is too.’ He looked down at her. ‘No aprons tomorrow but a neat dark skirt and coat will suffice.’
Outside in the yard, Mali waited for Katie and shivered as she looked up at the grey cloudy sky. It was going to be freezing down at the cemetery, such a difference to the wonderful sunny happy day she had spent with Sterling at the fair and yet there was a great bubbling joy inside her when she remembered the way he had approached her in the street and asked her to meet him.
She would tell him of her promotion, she mused, and he would understand, more than anyone, the satisfaction she had gained from working on the books for Mr Waddington.
‘Oh, so there’s my hoity toity friend waiting for me.’ Katie grinned from ear to ear. ‘Risen up to office girl sure enough and not long ago the same friend was a blackfaced boiler stoker.’
Katie caught Mali’s arm and hugged it to her. ‘It’s fine so it is and I’m that happy for you though there are others not so pleased.’
‘Hey, stuck up pig, not speaking to us now, is it?’ Sally Benson came running along the yard, her face screwed up with anger, and Mali wondered what she had ever done to the girl to warrant such enmity.
‘How come you get to work in the office, hey?’
she pushed at Mali’s shoulder, her finger sharp and jabbing, and Mali felt anger begin to uncoil inside her.
‘Because I’m smarter than you for a start,’ she said, keeping her voice level. ‘And perhaps I haven’t got such a loud voice either, sound like a cockle woman you do not a laundry worker.’
Sally Benson fell back in surprise, her mouth dropping open. In the sudden silence, Katie dragged at Mali’s arm, drawing her away from the laundry gates.
‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph I thought she was going to swipe you one then.’ Katie’s harsh whisper dispelled the mists of anger that were clouding Mali’s mind.
‘Yes,’ she said in surprise, ‘I thought it would come to blows myself, not very dignified for an office girl’s first day, is it?’ she laughed a little nervously and Katie looked at her with a pained expression on her face.
‘Dignified is the least of your worries, my girl,’ she said. ‘For sure Sally Benson is the strongest girl in the Canal Street Laundry, ’cept for Big Mary of course. If Sally got a hold on you, sure you’d be singing and playin’ the harp up in heaven.’
‘I know it,’ Mali said. ‘I wouldn’t like to have a fist fight with Sally but there’s nothing stopping me giving her a bit of lip back is there? She can’t get away with everything after all.’
‘Well you just keep your nose out of that Sally’s way or you’ll be getting it busted for sure and no man is going to look at you then, never mind Mr Richardson.’ She looked slyly at Mali. ‘Sure an’ can’t I tell you’re plannin’ on seein’ him again, it’s in your eyes plain to see.’
‘Am I a fool, Katie?’ Mali asked slowly. ‘It’s just that I want to be with him so much that it hurts.’
‘Sure an’ don’t I know the feeling only too well?’ Katie said softly. ‘William took me home on the day of the fair, kissed me as if he loved me so he did an’ yet there’s been no word at all from him since, he’s a puzzle is that one, sure I don’t know what to expect next.’
Mali sighed heavily. ‘I don’t know anything about men, Katie, but I do want to be with Sterling Richardson more than I’ve ever wanted anything.’ She looked away across the dull waters of the canal. ‘I know I can’t be his wife, I’m not his sort, he will marry some fine lady. But I think I would take anything he offered me.’
Katie shook her arm. ‘Don’t talk like that and don’t look at me with those accusing eyes either,’ she said hotly. ‘It’s not the same thing with me and Will, he’s my own sort but Mr Richardson, why he would set you up fine, give you everything you wanted until he grew tired of you, then you would be out on the streets an old worn out flossy, selling yourself for a few pennies. That’s not the life for you, Mali.’
‘I expect you’re right,’ Mali said miserably, ‘but I’ve got to see him, just this once more.’ She stared along Copperman’s Row and wondered if Dad would be home. He had been on early shift and should have been finished an hour since but there was no smoke rising from the chimney.
‘Will I see you later, Katie?’ Mali asked. ‘I’d like to talk to you after I’ve seen him.’
Katie squeezed her arm. ‘Sure an’ I’ll be there, just knock my door and we’ll get together any time you say.’
The house was cold and empty and there was no sign of Davie. Mali went to the dead fire and set a light to it and soon the flames were curling upwards, sending a warm glow throughout the kitchen, but somehow she felt very alone.
She pulled the curtains across the windows and lit the gas lamp, and shivered as she stared round her at the emptiness. If only her Mam was here to confide in, Mali thought as she moved towards the yard with the huge black kettle ready for filling in her hand.
The water drummed against the bottom of the kettle, splashing up against Mali’s blouse, but she didn’t notice. What would her mother have said about Sterling Richardson? She would speak to her just as Katie had done, Mali decided, warn her no doubt of the dangers of such an association. No good could come of it, for men like Sterling Richardson did not marry the Mali Llewelyns of this world, they simply used them and then discarded them. But he was not like that, her mind cried out desperately.
She made herself a meal of fried bacon and eggs and had just sat down at the table when the door opened.
‘There’s a smell to warm a man’s guts.’ Davie came into the room and Mali’s smile of welcome faded as she saw that behind him was Rosa, her dingy hat falling over one eye, and it was clear that the pair of them had been drinking. Suddenly Mali’s appetite vanished. She rose to her feet and faced her father but he held up his hands, a stern look on his face.
‘No quarrels, now,’ he said flatly. ‘Rosa is coming to supper and that’s that and I won’t hear nothing said against her.’ He moved to the back door and stood for a moment, his hand on the knob.
‘I’m going to wash up, get some of this grime off me, the copper stings like a hundred wasps. Boil up the kettle, Mali, and Rosa will bring the hot water out the back for me, won’t you lovie?’ He smiled fatuously and Rosa blew him a kiss.
‘’Course I will, Davie my fine boyo, an’ I’ll scrub yer back for you.’ She laughed uproariously. ‘And yer front too if you lets me.’
Mali pushed her plate away, her stomach churning with anger as her father went outside. Rosa stood swaying slightly, a silly grin on her face.
‘And don’t you look down your nose at me, my girl,’ she said, her words slurring into each other. ‘’Cos we all knows what you gets up to when you goes to the recreation ground with your betters. I seed you down on the beach, lying in the sand with ’im, that Mr Richardson, up to no good you was but I haven’t told on you to your dad, he thinks you were at the fairground all the time.’
Mali opened her mouth to protest but closed it again. What was the use? Whatever she said now, Rosa would be determined to believe the worst.
‘Here, the kettle’s boiling, you’d better take Dad the water.’ She lifted the huge kettle from the flames. ‘I’m going out.’ She drew on her coat and Rosa stood staring at her curiously.
‘Going to meet your man, is it? Have a bit of lovin’ on the side, well who can blame you? Have fun then and give him a big smacker for me.’ Her laughter followed Mali as she hurried away from Copperman’s Row.
The cemetery looked eerie and unfamiliar in the darkness and Mali stood on the path beneath the gas lamp staring round her fearfully. To her left, high up against the wall that guarded the grounds from the loose boulders running down the hillside, was her mother’s grave. Below her in the well-kept lawns with marble headstones rising like jagged teeth was buried Arthur Richardson, Sterling’s father.
‘Mali.’ His voice came soft from the darkness and she turned quickly, her heart beating so swiftly she could hardly draw breath. He was standing before her then, the shadows falling across his face and his hair glinting like a halo.
She was tonguetied, not knowing what to say, but speak she must or she would throw herself into his arms like a wanton. ‘I’m going to my mother’s grave.’ There was a hint of defiance in her tone, as though warning him that she was not here for his sake alone.
She turned and moved slowly up the hill, aware that he was following her in silence.
‘I’ve been promoted.’ She said brightly and yet the triumph she expected to feel was absent. ‘Office girl to Mr Waddington, that’s my job now.’
‘I’m sure you deserve it, Mali,’ Sterling said softly.
‘Not bad is it?’ Mali attempted to smile. ‘From blackfaced boiler stoker to office worker in a few short weeks.’
‘You are a remarkable girl, in many ways,’ he said and his tone sounded abrupt. Hurt, Mali turned from him, tossing back her long hair.
‘Sorry if my talking upsets you,’ she said huffily.
‘Sweet foolish Mali.’ He caught her arm and turned her to face him. ‘I shouldn’t have asked you to come here tonight.’ His hand dropped away from her slowly.
He turned and walked on ahead, coming to a stop under the trees that sh
immered and swayed, making a soft sound like many people whispering.
Mali stared down at the soft grassy earth, wondering what Mam would say to her if she were alive now. Sterling seemed to sense something of her thoughts.
He drew her even closer. ‘You’re shivering.’ He almost whispered the words. Slowly, his mouth claimed hers and she was drowning in sensations that threatened to overwhelm her.
It was she who drew away. Her entire being felt alive, awakened to responses that were unfamiliar and yet achingly desirable. Her nerve ends tingled and her heart beats sounded loudly in her ears. Her breathing was ragged and her body cried out for fulfilment.
This then was what love was like, this torment, this clamouring between what was desired and what was right.
His hand touched her breast and Mali closed her eyes against the exquisite pain of knowing she must end the sweetness of their passion before it was too late.
‘No!’ She moved right away from him, clasping her hands together to stop them from trembling.
He spoke distantly as though he had gone far away from her. ‘I’ll take you home.’
Mali felt tears burn her eyes; she wished for a moment that she could return to the girl she had been but that was impossible. She was a woman now, with a woman’s needs.
Without touching him she spoke. ‘I love you, Sterling.’ The words had to be said and what response she had expected she did not know but it hurt her deeply when he merely stepped away from her and looked up into the hills as though she did not exist.
‘Come along, we’d better go,’ he said and he might have been talking to a stranger for all the emotion that was in his voice. Mali stared at him, trying to gain some crumb of comfort, but they were walking beneath the trees now and it was too dark to see his face.
‘Just as far as the Mexico Fountain will do,’ she said stiffly and he remained silent as he strode along a little in front of her now.
They crossed the bridge over the river and a shadowy moon threw patterns onto the water. Mali looked down into its depths and wondered how she was going to live the rest of her life knowing she could never be with the man she loved.