When Day is Done

by When Day is Done (retail) (epub

  Billy decided not to sign on for another trip but to take his chance at dock work for a few months, to ease the blow for his mother. Mrs Molesworth returned to work after the funeral. ‘Youse have all been very good doing me work for me, but I don’t like putting on good nature. I’m better off working anyhow, and our Billy’s there at night for me,’ she said.

  Kate and Josie and Lottie were loving and supportive with Mrs Molesworth, but she never paraded her grief in the way that Miss Lennon did. ‘I’ve no patience with her,’ said Kate to Mrs Molesworth. ‘She seems to enjoy her grief. Always saying that she and her mother were all in all to each other. It’s embarrassing for everyone. Very different to you!’

  ‘Yes, but I done me best for Charlie, so I’m not blaming meself for nothing, only leaving him to go to work and I had to do that to keep us. Maybe she’s thinking she never done what she should of for her mother, or they’d fell out before she died,’ Mrs Molesworth said shrewdly. ‘That’s when it’s hardest for anyone to get over a death, ‘cos they’re always wishing they could make it right, like, and it’s too late.’

  How well she understands human nature, Kate thought, and whenever she recalled these words she was able to feel more sympathy for Miss Lennon, and to value afresh the wise guidance she had always received from Mrs Molesworth.

  Chapter Ten

  The regular visits to see Beattie and Rose were resumed, and on the second visit after her return from France Rose said gaily to Kate, ‘Now, Kate, I’m going to keep my promise and listen instead of talking all the time. Tell me all your news.’ Kate, however, found that her impulse to confide in Rose about Henry had gone. So she talked about the death of Mr Molesworth, Josie’s skirmishes with Davy’s mother, and the new guests.

  ‘But what about you, Kate?’ said Rose. ‘I mean, you’re nearly twenty-one. No sign of a possible husband for you?’

  Kate shrugged. ‘No, but I don’t care, Rose. I like reading about romance but I haven’t got time for the real thing.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. You’d soon find time if you met Mr Right, but how will you ever do that?’ Rose said indignantly. ‘You work far too hard for one thing, and Aunt Mildred should introduce you to people. See that you spend time in suitable company.’

  ‘I don’t want anyone from among her friends from the Mission,’ Kate laughed. ‘And they’re the only people she mixes with. No thanks. I’d rather just read love stories with handsome heroes in them.’ And think about Henry, she thought, but said nothing of that to Rose.

  ‘You could get a bicycle. Join a group,’ Rose said. ‘Everyone is bicycling now. It’s all the rage with my friends.’

  ‘I see groups when I walk in the country,’ Kate said. ‘Most of the ladies clip their skirts to the guard on the machine, but I saw one lady wearing bloomers.’

  ‘Was she old?’ asked Rose.

  ‘Yes, about forty, and such a strange shape.’ Kate laughed, and the conversation moved away from the subject of potential suitors.

  Rose had now completely given up studying and become friendly with a set of frivolous young women, most of them the daughters of Beattie’s friends. They boasted of leading freer, fuller lives than their mothers’ generation, and said that things would change even more when they had the vote, but they made little use of their much-talked-about freedom.

  They were empty-headed, foolish girls, their conversation always about men or clothes, and at first Rose despised them, but they welcomed her warmly into their set and freely admired her beauty and her wit. Charmed and flattered, Rose quickly jettisoned her plans for the future and slipped easily into their thoughtless, hedonistic way of life.

  Kate felt that Rose had changed, without understanding how or why, but she still loved her sister with an unquestioning love.

  Kate had herself made a new friend at this time. The house was running smoothly and as a result she had more free time and often visited the public library. There she became friendly with Nell, one of the young assistants, and they often discussed the books which Kate borrowed.

  From that they progressed to sometimes having tea together in a small café, or, as the evenings grew lighter, walking along the Pier Head. Nell was a quiet, studious girl, and she and Kate never tired of discussing books, finding that they agreed on favourite authors and the ideas they expressed.

  They talked about their lives and their hopes too, but Kate never spoke about Henry. She still kept her memories of him locked away in her heart, and found immense comfort in them.

  A friend of Josie’s had successfully applied to Agnes for the position of general maid in the newly-weds’ house in Rufford Road. Josie often saw the girl, Hetty, on her day off and brought back the information Hetty gave her about Agnes and Henry. ‘Hetty’s made up with the job,’ Josie said. ‘She said she was just a drudge with Mrs Jennings and never got no decent food or anything. But now she gets the same food as Mr and Mrs Barnes and they’re real easy to work for. She says she’s a bit strict but he’s lovely. Cleans his own shoes and brings coal in ‘cos he says it’s a lot of work for one maid.’ Kate felt a stab of jealousy but she glowed with pride to hear Hetty’s good opinion of Henry.

  Hetty must also have relayed news to Agnes and Henry about the people in the guesthouse and told them about the death of Mr Molesworth. A few days after the funeral, a letter arrived for Mrs Molesworth containing a black-edged card engraved ‘With Deepest Sympathy’ and two one-pound notes.

  Mrs Molesworth showed Kate and Josie the enclosed letter, in which Henry had written:

  Dear Mrs Molesworth,

  My wife and I were very sorry to learn of your sad loss and offer our sincere condolences. Kate has spoken to me of your many years of devoted care for your husband, and the memory of this must be a consolation to you at this sad time.

  I am sorry we only knew too late to send a wreath to the funeral, but please accept the enclosed for flowers for the grave.

  Sincerely,

  Agnes and Henry Barnes.

  Kate was unable to speak, but Josie said, ‘That’s lovely. Aren’t they kind to send money for flowers as well?’

  Mrs Molesworth stood clutching the card, her eyes full of tears. ‘Eh, you never know how good people are till trouble strikes,’ she said. ‘Wait till our Billy sees this. He’s always saying I’m just a handrag here.’

  Kate swallowed. ‘That shows how much they respected you, Mrs Molesworth,’ she said huskily.

  ‘I always liked him – and her too,’ said the charwoman. ‘But I never expected nothing like this. I’ll copy it out and send it to our Florrie too, and get flowers for Charlie’s grave.’

  Kate felt that it was a pity that Henry was unable to see how much pleasure and comfort his letter and gift had given to Mrs Molesworth, and to her in a different way.

  Good Friday fell on 10 April and was a sunny day with boisterous winds. The library was closed, and Nell and Kate both attended early service then walked for miles in Sefton Park. ‘Isn’t this exhilarating?’ Nell exclaimed. ‘I feel sorry for anyone cooped up on such a day.’ Kate agreed but felt guilty about Josie and Lottie.

  On Easter Sunday most of the guests, even the woeful Miss Lennon, were out for the day, and Kate was able to give Josie and Lottie the day off. Josie and Davy went on a day trip to the Isle of Man, taking Lottie with them. The wind had dropped and they had a happy day, but when they returned Josie gave Kate a shock.

  ‘We met Hetty and her boyfriend at the Pier Head,’ she said. ‘They were going to Eastham. What do you think?’ She lowered her voice as Lottie was at the other end of the kitchen. ‘Mrs Barnes is expecting. In June, Hetty said. She told her the other day but Hetty said she’d already guessed only she couldn’t say nothing until she was told, like.’

  Kate felt as though she had received a physical blow and sat down abruptly. ‘That’s nice,’ she heard herself say. Josie noticed nothing. She seemed to have forgotten about Kate’s feelings for Henry and rattled on about the day.

  Why has
this possibility never occurred to me? Kate thought. It’s what happens when people get married. I suppose I’m still trying to get used to him being a married man, she thought ruefully, and now I’ll have to think of him as a father too. She tried to concentrate on what Josie was saying.

  ‘Davy’s mother is getting worse,’ Josie said. ‘She’s carrying on that much about me that he says he can’t stand no more and he’s going to get a room. I told him we’d be worse off if he did. He’d still have to give her most of his wages and by the time he’d paid for a room he couldn’t save nothing.’

  ‘So will he stick it out?’ asked Kate.

  ‘Yes. He says his uncle’s on at him to stand up to his mother, but it only makes her worse if he does,’ Josie said with a sigh.

  ‘Is the uncle her brother?’ asked Kate.

  ‘No, he’s Davy’s father’s brother and he hates her. He only gave Davy the job to spite her because she didn’t want Davy to have nothing to do with him, but he’s fond of Davy now. Says he’s like his dad.’

  Kate found that talking about Josie’s troubles gave her time to absorb the news about the coming baby, and she was able to tell herself that she was glad for Henry’s sake. He’ll make a wonderful father, she thought wistfully.

  Hetty had also told Josie that Mr Barnes’s sister Lucy was very ill. ‘It hasn’t been no good for people with TB, the autumn and winter being warm, like,’ said Mrs Molesworth when they told her the next morning. ‘A lot of the girls round our way are bad with it. The Bullens next door but one, they’ve lost every girl with it as they come to sixteen. There’s only the youngest left outa six of them, and she’s thirteen now. It’s a terrible thing.’

  ‘Nobody likes to say it’s TB,’ Josie said. ‘They say they’re delicate or in poor health – even rich people.’

  ‘It’s to be hoped that one doesn’t leave this world as another comes into it,’ said Mrs Molesworth, ‘but it’s very often the way.’

  Kate thought that Mrs Molesworth had been changed by her husband’s death. She seemed to have lost her salty humour and her optimistic outlook on life, and even her well-worn phrase ‘What can’t be cured must be endured’, once her cheerful attitude to pain or disaster, was now uttered gloomily. Kate missed her cheerful company and wise counsel.

  Billy had not been very successful at finding work at the docks, so he went back to sea. The few months of his company had helped his mother over the first shock of her loss, and he promised her that he would only sign on for short trips for a while.

  Kate needed something to cheer her at this time. The news about the coming baby had been a shock and things were not going well at the guesthouse. Mildred’s sick headaches had started again and she was continually finding fault with Kate and querying every penny that was spent.

  Mrs Bradley was becoming a trial too. These days she seemed to be confused. She often rang her bell and when it was answered was unable to remember why she had rung. When Kate tried to consult Mildred, her aunt only snapped, ‘Deal with it. That’s what I’ve kept you for all these years.’

  Mr Fallon was still worried about items in the newspaper and spoke of them to Kate. The news was dominated by the troubles in Ulster, and Mr Fallon told her that cargoes of rifles and ammunition had been landed at Lame and Bangor.

  ‘They’re afraid Carson may take over and rule the province and there’s talk of martial law being imposed by the Government. Not a very safe place to live these days, Kate, but then where is safe?’

  ‘Well, we’re safe enough,’ said Kate. ‘It’s got nothing to do with us.’

  He smiled sadly. ‘As the poet John Donne says, “No man is an Island” and “Any man’s death diminishes me”, but I was thinking less about Ireland than the Balkans. There’s going to be trouble there before long or I’m a Dutchman, and if we’re not careful we’ll be drawn into it.’

  These conversations always left Kate feeling worried, although she felt that Mr Fallon took too gloomy a view of the news. She began to buy the Liverpool Echo each night, feeling that the halfpenny was well spent if she could make her own more cheerful judgement on the news.

  On one of the visits to Rose and Beattie, Kate tried to discuss these matters with her sister, thinking that clever Rose would be interested, but Rose said airily, ‘Don’t worry, Kate. Enjoy life. There are people paid to worry about such things, so let them do it. Anyway, these scares never come to anything.’

  ‘Do you think so?’ Kate said eagerly.

  ‘Oh, yes. I did some of that with Miss Tasker. Morocco in 1905, Bosnia in 1908, Agadir in 1911 – they all came to nothing. Miss Tasker called it sabre-rattling. But why are we talking about these things on such a lovely day? Aunt Beattie’s considering another cruise!’ said Rose gaily.

  Kate looked at her sister with admiration and immediately felt more cheerful. Mama had been right, she thought. The good fairy had given Rose everything, beauty and brains and a lovely disposition. Kate felt blessed that Rose was her sister.

  The next time Mr Fallon spoke about events, Kate said firmly, ‘My sister’s very clever and she says this has all happened before and come to nothing. She called it sabre-rattling.’

  Mr Fallon smiled sadly but only said, ‘I hope your clever sister is right, Kate.’

  In May Josie brought the sad news that Henry’s sister had died at the age of twenty-two. ‘Hetty says Mrs Barnes’s mother and father have come to stay with them to look after Mrs Barnes. She’s very upset and she’s so near her time,’ said Josie.

  ‘She’ll have to think of the new life, not the one that’s gone,’ said Mrs Molesworth. And Henry, thought Kate. He’ll need to be comforted. He loved Lucy.

  On 28 June 1914 a son was born to Agnes and Henry, bringing them great happiness and comforting those who grieved for Lucy. He was a fine healthy boy with fair hair and blue eyes, and they christened him Charles Jonathon after his two grandfathers.

  On the same day, far away in Sarajevo in Serbia, the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by a young Serbian student, Gavrilo Pricip, a member of a secret nationalist movement known as Young Bosnia. None of the happy people who surrounded Charles Jonathon Barnes knew of this event or would have believed that something so far away could affect their lives, but this was the spark that ignited a powder keg and began the Great War 1914–1918.

  Most people in the country were unconcerned about events so far away. ‘Them foreigners are always killing each other,’ Mrs Molesworth said disparagingly. ‘Our Billy says so,’ and Kate turned over the pages of the Liverpool Echo which carried news of the declarations of war by Austria-Hungary on Serbia on 29 July, by Germany on Russia on 1 August and by Germany on France on 3 August.

  They were far more interested in a breach of promise case reported in the Echo and were divided for and against the girl in question. Mrs Molesworth was against the girl chiefly because she wore a blue costume and a large white hat. ‘Like that one from Rupert Hill who used to chase after our Billy,’ she declared, and was annoyed when the girl was awarded £75 damages.

  Mr Fallon was greatly concerned about the war news, and when Germany invaded Belgium on 3 August he told Kate, ‘This is it. Britain guaranteed Belgian neutrality so we’ll have to act now.’ Sure enough, the next day Britain declared war on Germany.

  Even then Kate thought that only the regular Army and the Reservists and Territorials would be fighting, as in previous wars. She was horrified when she realised that civilians were enlisting and that Henry might go. The two young bank clerks from the guesthouse volunteered but were sent home until the Army was ready for them.

  ‘They say it’ll all be over by Christmas,’ one of the clerks said gloomily. ‘We might miss it just because there’s no uniforms or equipment ready for us.’

  ‘Someone should have prepared for this,’ said the other. ‘All those fellows wanting to fight for King and Country, and they just took our names and sent us away.’

  ‘I wonder will Mr Barnes go?�
� Kate could not resist saying to Mrs Molesworth.

  ‘If he’s got any sense he won’t,’ she said robustly. ‘He should think about his wife and child. There’s soldiers trained for this sort of thing.’

  Josie and Davy had been out to Seaforth Barracks, where recruits for Kitchener’s Army and a large crowd outside were addressed by Lord Derby. Davy had been caught up in the patriotic hysteria fanned by the newspapers and recruitment posters, and he was anxious to enlist.

  ‘Lord Derby said he didn’t need to tell the recruits their duty as they had already responded to their country’s call,’ Josie said. ‘He said fellows who were too old or unfit should look after the wives and children left behind. He said as long as he had a penny in the world he’d do as much for their dependants as they’d do themselves.’

  ‘Easy said,’ scoffed Mrs Molesworth. ‘We’ll see whether it happens.’

  ‘I was talking to a woman whose son works for Lord Derby and she said he was a warmonger. He’d made all the single men either join up or be sacked.’

  ‘That’s not right,’ Kate said. ‘The men should make their own minds up.’

  ‘She said their jobs’ll be kept for them. I’m a bit sorry we went. I think it’s made Davy even more determined to enlist. I don’t know what to think. I don’t want him to go but I want to be proud of him,’ said Josie.

  ‘That lad wants to go to get away from his mother,’ Mrs Molesworth said later to Kate. ‘There’s a few joining up to get away from the life they’ve got here.’

  ‘But most people are joining for patriotic reasons,’ Kate protested. She was right. It was an exciting and different time, and many of those previously despised were gratified to know that they were now wanted and needed by their country.

  Reality came with the Battle of Mons and the first Battle of Ypres in October and November. Many Liverpool men were involved, and long lists of casualties appeared in the Liverpool Echo. By this time Davy had tried to enlist but been rejected as unfit. His uncle shared Mrs Molesworth’s view on his reasons for enlisting and told him he must get away from his mother before she ruined his life as she had done his father’s.