Copper Kingdom

by Iris Gower

  She smiled at her father reassuringly before entering the hall and calling to Bertha to bring her outdoor clothes.

  ‘Where are you off to, Miss Bea?’ The young maid held out Bea’s good woollen coat and helped her to do up the buttons.

  ‘Just down to the beach for some air, perhaps you’d like to come with me?’

  Bea had always been grateful for Bertha’s help and support when she needed it so badly. She’d contemplated telling Bertha the entire truth but the fear of Sterling learning the secret of his birth always held her back.

  ‘Here, Miss Bea, put on your hat and then I’ll tie a scarf around your head. We must keep you warm, no good getting a chill is there now?’

  Bea came back to the present and smiled down at the young maid. ‘I’m tougher than you think, Bertha. Come along, let’s get out of this house, it’s beginning to give me claustrophobia.’

  It was cold on the beach, the wind whipped the sand into small dust storms and Bea wondered at the wisdom of her decision to take a walk in such inclement weather. All the same, the rolling pewter sea gave her a sense of peace and she stared outwards, absorbing the wash of the waves, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to calm her racing thoughts.

  It was a bitter pill she was being asked to swallow, accepting Victoria as her stepmother. Once her father and Victoria were married, the house would not be Bea’s domain any longer. No doubt changes would be made in the decor for a new broom always brushed clean. But worse, Victoria would always be present, there would be no escape from her unless Bea virtually became a recluse in her bedroom.

  She took a deep breath of the salt, tangy air and thought of Dean. He did truly love her, and though she would never feel for him the way she did for Sterling, at least he would be good and kind to her. They had a great deal in common, she told herself, he was a fine man underneath the blustery front he assumed.

  ‘What would you do, Bertha?’ Bea spoke her thoughts out loud. ‘Would you marry one man while you were in love with another?’ She glanced at the maid who was struggling to keep her hat on her brown curls.

  ‘I’d forget that Mr Richardson for a start,’ Bertha said explosively, ‘no good that man, treated you cruel he did and if I was to see him I’d tell him so to his face.’ She picked up a stick from the sand and snapped it between her fingers vengefully.

  Bea pressed her lips together to prevent herself from leaping to Sterling’s defence. Of course, Bertha thought Sterling had simply left her to her fate, she had no idea of what the real truth was and never would have.

  Bertha’s excited voice broke into Bea’s unhappy thoughts. ‘Look, there’s Mr Dean now, he’s coming to find you.’ She took off her hat and waved it wildly. ‘He’s seen us, he’s coming this way, how romantic. See how big and handsome he is, marry him why don’t you, Miss Bea, he loves you and he’s rich too.’

  Bea smiled. ‘Don’t be mercenary, Bertha.’ But she watched Dean carefully as he drew closer. His hair was blowing over his brow for he had given up the unequal struggle to keep his broad-rimmed hat upon his head.

  ‘Come here, you silly goose.’ He wrapped his arms around Bea, holding her close to his warmth. ‘You shouldn’t have been allowed to come down here, not in this cold wind, come along, I’m taking you home.’

  Bea smiled up at him as he wound the edges of his topcoat around her thin frame as though to protect her from the soft drizzle that had just begun to fall.

  ‘Very well, we’ll go home.’ She allowed him to take her back along the beach and across the slip to the roadway. He held her hand, leading her up the hill towards the house. So suddenly that she gasped, a great pain seemed to clamp around her heart and she staggered a little.

  ‘If I can just rest a little,’ she gasped. ‘I’m sorry, it’s so silly of me.’

  Dean’s big arms scooped her up as she fell against him and then Bertha was beside them both, crying out in her fear and distress.

  ‘What’s wrong with her, Bertha?’ Dean asked sternly. ‘Come on, tell me the truth about her illness.’

  Bertha took a great gulping sob. ‘She was having his babba, there now that’s the truth!’ she cried. ‘Had it taken away from her by the midwife. Treated her bad, Mr Richardson did, and I hate him for it.’

  Dean tried to calm himself, first things first. ‘Come on, let’s get her home,’ he said flatly.

  Just as they reached the house, Bea’s eyes flickered open. Bertha was already in the hallway shouting on the top of her voice.

  ‘Mr Cardigan, come quick, Miss Bea’s been taken queer.’

  ‘I’m all right,’ Bea protested. ‘I just need a rest, that’s all, I was foolish to go out on a day like this. Put me down, Dean, I really do feel better.’

  ‘Maybe you do honey, but I think you should go straight to bed and have a hot toddy. Try to sleep, you’re as white as a sheet.’ He set her down but he was still holding onto her slim shoulders, concern written all over his face. Bea smiled at him reassuringly.

  ‘Thank you for caring about me, Dean,’ she said in a whisper, just as her father and Victoria Richardson came hurrying out of the drawing room.

  ‘What is wrong Bea, you look dreadful, my dear.’ Victoria put her arm around Bea’s waist. ‘Come along, let me help you to your room. James, you must send for the doctor, this girl is sick, you’ve been neglecting her.’

  Bea allowed herself to be led up the stairs but on the landing, she stopped and looked back at Dean.

  ‘Please come up to see me when I’m safely in bed,’ she said and it cut her to the quick to see how his face lit up.

  ‘Bertha, bring your mistress’s nightclothes.’ Victoria seemed to be taking charge and Beatrice was too tired to argue. She lay under the warmth of the quilts and sighed with relief for her very bones seemed to be aching.

  Obediently, she sipped the hot toddy that was placed on a tray before her and after a while, she really did begin to feel better.

  ‘Please don’t let me keep you,’ she said as Victoria plumped up the pillows for the hundredth time. ‘I’m sorry to have made such a fuss, I feel as right as rain again now.’

  ‘I’m not going until the doctor has seen you,’ Victoria said forcefully. ‘Now you just lie there quietly and leave everything to me.’

  In little over an hour Dr Thomas stopped his horse and buggy in the driveway and it was Bertha who let him in. She bobbed him a curtsey and took his coat and looked up into his face intently.

  ‘I think there’s something about Miss Bea you should know,’ she said quietly and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear.

  Dr Thomas was smooth and efficient and completed his examination very quickly. He sat down on the bed, taking Bea’s hand in his own.

  ‘You are a sick girl,’ he said gently. ‘Bertha has, quite rightly, told me about your visit to Mrs Benson.’ He shook his head.

  ‘You did a foolish thing Bea, you know that don’t you?’ He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘I wondered why you had not come to see me again and it was remiss of me not to call on you.’ He rose to his feet. ‘It’s not my place to pass judgment, Bea, but let me just say this, you are a very lucky girl to have survived the sort of operation you chose to undergo.’

  Bea could not meet his eyes, her fingers plucked nervously at the edge of the bed cover and after a moment’s silence the doctor continued to speak.

  ‘Your blood is poor, very poor, and you will need feeding on plenty of lamb’s liver and all kinds of undercooked meats to build up your strength again. Worse Bea, you will never now be a mother.’

  He left her then and went downstairs to where his old friend James was waiting. Beside him stood Dean Sutton and the anxious look on his face told its own story.

  ‘I’m afraid Bea will remain in delicate health all her life,’ the doctor said slowly. ‘She can never bear children for an infection has run riot through her system, doing God knows what damage. I’m sorry.’

  Bea was sitting up in bed when some time later Dean, a smile on
his face, entered the room. She held out a trembling hand to him and he took it gently as though he was afraid she might break.

  Bea tried to speak but Dean shook his head. ‘Don’t say anything, I know it all and it makes no difference to me, I still want you to be my wife.’

  Bea’s breath caught in her throat, in spite of everything he still loved her. Somehow the knowledge helped to ease the dreadful ache within her. And as she went into his arms, she could have sworn that Dean Sutton, the big tough American, had tears in his eyes.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  The Sunday bells were tolling out through the stillness of the morning. The streets of Sweyn’s Eye were empty for the weather was cold and wintry, sharp with the bite of early frost, and bare branches pointed bony fingers at the overcast sky.

  Mali sat within the warmth of the kitchen drying her hair. The fire was cheerful and meat sizzled in the oven. Everywhere there was an air of order and peace and to an onlooker it might seem that everything was well. But Mali was heavy-eyed for she had not slept at all in the long dark hours of the night.

  Wakeful, she had taken out her fears and examined them minutely. She argued with herself, presenting reasons and excuses for the changes that were happening within her, but at last she faced the dreadful possibility that she might be with child.

  She rubbed harder at the long dark strands of her hair, pushing away the unwanted thoughts, turning her mind instead to the problem of Rosa. Each evening the girl spent hours transforming herself from an ordinary woman into a flossy. She painted her face and drenched herself in cheap perfume, leaving the house in Copperman’s Row with a defiant toss of her head.

  Yet Mali had formed an almost grudging respect for Rosa for she always brought something home with her for Davie, a basket of goodies, a bright scarf, anything that might bring him out of his apathy.

  The back door was suddenly pushed open and Mali looked up quickly to see Katie’s cheerful face smiling at her.

  ‘I’ve just been putting washing on the line,’ she said, shivering, ‘sure, as if I don’t see enough dirty linen down at the laundry to last me a lifetime.’

  Mali nodded in the direction of the kettle. ‘Make us some tea, Katie love, while I dry this mane of mine, I swear it gets thicker each day.’

  Katie moved towards the fire. ‘Your hair is lovely and the way you put it up on the back of your head suits you well. You look so much the lady on times that I’m afeared to talk to you lest you’re not the same Mali who’s always been my friend.’

  Mali laughed shortly. ‘Have I changed that much?’ Her tone was rueful as she watched Katie pour the tea, glancing at her over the cups, her face thoughtful.

  ‘Well, you’re thinner for sure and your eyes are that sad but it’s only to be expected after what’s happened to your dad. Is he getting any better now?’ She returned to her seat, warming her fingers on the cup, holding it to her lips and drinking gratefully.

  Mali shook her head. ‘No, he still does not seem to recognise me. Just stares he does as though he’s seeing things that to the rest of us are invisible.’ Her voice broke and at once Katie put her arm around Mali’s shoulder.

  ‘There and sure aren’t you entitled to have a good cry for all the things you’ve been through these past months, it’s not a year since your mam died, didn’t have time to get over that, did you, and now this has to happen.’

  Katie bit her lip and her hair hung over her face, partly concealing her eyes. ‘Do you know how your dad was injured? There’s some sayin’ it’s all my Will’s fault and I can’t believe that.’

  Mali sighed heavily. ‘There’s one thing’s sure it’s not your fault, Katie, so don’t you go worrying about it. I don’t suppose we’ll ever know the truth of it.’ But her heart was full of anger for she had been told that Will Owens had intended to injure Davie, albeit not so badly and that he had tipped his ladle quite deliberately. She wound her hair up in a towel and drank some of her tea, sipping it slowly, enjoying the warmth against her throat.

  ‘He scarcely bothers with me now.’ Katie’s voice was low. ‘Seems to be great pals with some toffs, so he does. Only comes to me when he wants something and me too soft to turn him away. Why can’t I be strong and finish it once and for all, Mali? I know that he’s nothing but a waster and yet I love him in spite of that. It’s got so bad, he’d rather be with them gents than with me.’

  ‘What gents?’ Mali asked, though she was not the least bit interested in what Will Owens chose to do, it was just that Katie seemed so forlorn and needed to talk about him. Mali understood the feeling only too well, she had often longed to pour out her anguish over Sterling but some inborn reticence had always prevented her from confiding fully in anyone.

  ‘Oh, he’s been seen down the Cape Horner with the younger Mr Richardson and some other men, all of them dressed to kill and drinking like fish. Wonder what’s eating him up I do sometimes, he’s that moody and yet when he takes me in his arms I believe all his lies about loving me.’ She smiled sadly. ‘What fools we girls must be to listen to such fairy stories.’

  Mali lifted the teapot and refilled both cups. ‘How’s Sean?’ she asked, deliberately changing the subject, and Katie’s face was suddenly wreathed in smiles.

  ‘He’s gettin’ that big you’d hardly know him. Got teeth he has now and uses them on everything and everybody, a fine boy he’ll be for sure when he grows up.’

  She fell silent then and Mali realised how long it was since she’d been inside the Murphy household. Her life had changed so drastically in the last months, and when she looked at herself in the glass, she hardly recognised the old Mali Llewelyn at all.

  ‘Are you off to chapel today?’ Katie asked and it was as if both girls needed to fill the silence that had become a little strained. Mali shook her head.

  ‘No, chapel is not for me, not these days, Katie, I have so much work to catch up on and Sunday is the only day I have to myself.’ She looked round her. ‘Rosa treats this place like a dosshouse and I’m the one who has to clean it up after her. I’ve tried talking to her but it’s no use, it goes in one ear and out the other.’

  Katie looked aggrieved. ‘Tell the flossy to get out then,’ she said with a flash of anger. ‘She’s having free board and lodge here and she’s not so daft is she? Give her her marching orders for sure she deserves them, for isn’t everyone in the row talking about the men she has bringing her home at nights?’

  ‘I know she’s not very careful about her reputation,’ Mali agreed, ‘but Rosa has lived the life of a flossy since she was twelve years old; I feel a bit sorry for her myself.’ She saw Katie’s eyebrows shoot upward and could not help but laugh at her friend’s outraged expression.

  ‘All right, there’s no need to tell me again how soft I am but for now, at least, Rosa stays and the neighbours will just have to lock up their husbands if there’s any danger of Rosa getting hold of them.’ She leaned forward and lifted the teapot.

  ‘Here let me fill your cup again, you still look half frozen. Why don’t you sit nearer the fire?’

  ‘Sure I’m fine,’ Katie said. ‘But it’s you I’m worried about, you need some colour in those cheeks of yours, you don’t get enough rest. Now let me do a bit of work for you, what if I peel some spuds?’

  ‘Don’t worry, everything is in order,’ Mali said, shaking her head. ‘And don’t go bossing me, Katie Murphy, I’m not one of your little brothers, mind.’

  Katie laughed. ‘An’ don’t I know that, sure I saw you wid me own eyes punching Sally Benson to the floor, so I won’t bother to quarrel with you myself.’ She put down her cup. ‘I’d best be gettin’ back home now though I’m grieved to be leavin’ you all alone, the trouble is Dad’ll be hollerin’ all down the row for me if I don’t move myself. Look, Mali, what if I come wid you to the infirmary tomorrow night, if you want company that is.’

  Mali smiled warmly. ‘I’d like that very much Katie, and don’t fret about me being alone, Rosa will be home for her
dinner I expect, once she’s spent a bit of time outside Maggie Dick’s or the Mexico Fountain – drumming up trade I dare say. Rather her than me on a cold day like today.’

  Katie laughed. ‘Sure an’ you’re a wicked devil, Mali Llewelyn, and to look at you anyone would think that butter wouldn’t melt in your mouth.’

  Katie moved towards the door. ‘Right then, see you in work tomorrow and then I’ll come wid you in the night to visit your dad. Sure you’ll be all right now? You know you’d be more than welcome to have dinner with us.’

  Mali shook her head. ‘Thank you all the same Katie, but I’ve still a lot of work to do here. Anyway,’ she added smiling, ‘it’s much quieter than your house.’

  Katie nodded her head vigorously. ‘Sure an’ isn’t that the truth. See you tomorrow.’

  It was silent in the kitchen now, even the church bells had stopped ringing. Mali opened the door and stood staring along the empty row. She wondered how she was going to cope when the time came for Davie to return home. It would be almost impossible to work at the laundry and to look after him but perhaps he would improve once he was out of the infirmary, she thought hopefully.

  A little later, Mali was carving the joint of beef with great difficulty for it had always been Davie’s job, when Rosa came in through the door, holding her hat on her head, her ragged fur collar hanging untidily over her shoulders.

  ‘Damn me it’s a terrible day, the wind is enough to blow the knickers off you. There’s a lovely smell, makes the mouth water it does and I’m starving, didn’t have no breakfast today.’ She sat at the table, still wearing her coat, and Mali could smell gin on her breath.

  ‘Davie’s much better,’ Rosa said, nodding firmly so that the bright plumes on her hat waved to and fro as though they had a life of their own. ‘Spoke my name, so he did, he knew me, you see, said my name quite plain. He’s going to be better soon, my Davie is, then I won’t have to go round the street no more.’

  Mali leaned forward eagerly. ‘Are you sure, Rosa, he really recognised you?’ Her heart lifted with hope as Rosa nodded her head emphatically.