‘Ready?’ Agnes said, as we lined up by the entrance. We all nodded and murmured our agreement. ‘Then let’s go and show Mr Asquith exactly what we think of his bloody general election.’
Chapter 33
Esther
We could hear the trouble before we saw it. Feel it before we heard it. It was like a rumble, rolling over Parliament Square as we approached. Minnie clutched my arm.
‘What’s that?’ she said.
We’d been marching determinedly from Caxton Hall, but now our pace slowed as we all listened.
‘Shouting,’ I said.
But it was more than just shouting. We could hear bellows, that was true, but there were also cries and screams. We all looked at each other nervously.
Agnes tilted her head, all senses on alert as she listened. ‘It sounds like trouble.’
‘Some sort of riot?’ Minnie bit her lip in worry, but there was a gleam in her eye, too. I knew how she felt. I was scared, of course, but I could feel the adrenaline flooding into me and my heart pumping faster.
‘Should we carry on?’ one of our group asked. She was very young – I guessed maybe around sixteen – and jumping at every roar or screech that we heard. ‘I think we should go back.’
‘Absolutely not,’ Minnie said, drawing herself up to her full height. Which wasn’t much but still managed to look impressive. ‘We came here to do a job and we’re not going until it’s done.’
‘But …’ the girl began and then stopped speaking as Agnes took her shoulders.
‘What’s your name?’ she asked.
The girl took a shuddery breath. ‘Hannah.’
‘Hannah, you go if you want to,’ Agnes said. ‘But we are here to support Mrs Pankhurst, Mrs Garrett Anderson and the rest. They’re up there now, facing down whatever’s waiting for them. And we should be there to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.’
‘Miss Heligan is almost eighty and she’s there,’ Minnie added. I stayed quiet because though I completely agreed with Agnes, and while there was no way I was even considering turning back, I did feel that perhaps Agnes should head home while she still could.
‘I’m scared,’ Hannah whispered.
Agnes nodded. ‘We’re all scared,’ she said. ‘But this is what makes it worthwhile. And it’s nothing we’ve not seen before, right girls?’
She looked at Minnie and me and we both grinned.
‘We’re battle-worn,’ Minnie said. ‘Got the scars to prove it.’
‘Fine,’ Hannah said.
I looped my arm through hers. ‘Come on then.’
But we’d not taken five steps when a suffragette appeared in front of us, hurrying away from Parliament Square.
As she got closer, we could see she was bleeding from her nose and her dress was torn, almost to the waist. She was blotchy and tear-stained and dripping blood on to the pavement.
‘It’s worse than I ever saw,’ said the bleeding woman.
I let go of Hannah and caught the woman, who stumbled as she passed us.
‘Stop,’ I said. ‘Sit down. Catch your breath.’
Hannah and I bundled her on to a nearby step and she slumped against the railings. Agnes pulled out a handkerchief and gently mopped the blood from her nose and we all gathered round, staring at her.
‘Step back,’ Minnie shouted. ‘Give her some air.’ She looked down at the woman. ‘What’s happening? Who did this to you? Should we get a policeman?’
The woman looked fearfully down the street towards Parliament Square and shuddered. ‘No,’ she said. She let out a sob and tried to swallow it down. ‘The police did this.’
Next to me, Hannah gasped. ‘Are you sure?’ she said.
But Minnie and I exchanged a glance. We knew from our own bitter experience that the police couldn’t always be relied on but we’d never seen such blatant evidence of their cruelty.
Agnes took charge – as always. ‘Hannah,’ she said. ‘Until we know what’s happening, you should go back to Caxton Hall. Take the others with you and stop anyone else who’s coming along for now. I think there were only one or two groups left. Minnie, Esther and I will stay with … what’s your name?’
The bloodied suffragette looked up. ‘Nelly,’ she said.
‘We’ll stay with Nelly, make sure she is all right, and find out what’s going on.’
Looking relieved, Hannah rounded up the rest of our little group and they all turned back in the direction we’d come, towards Caxton Hall.
Carefully, Agnes lowered herself down on the step next to Nelly. ‘Now, tell us exactly what happened.’
Nelly looked alarmed at Agnes’s bossiness but she started to talk, faltering at first, then more confidently. ‘I’ve been to loads of rallies and that,’ she said. ‘But I’ve not seen anything like this. It feels different this time.’
‘How so?’
‘I was in one of the first groups, just behind Mrs Pankhurst and the others. So when we arrived in the square we were expecting a bit of trouble. We knew there would be police and it wasn’t like we thought they’d just wave us in …’
She paused.
‘But there were so many police. Loads of them. Far more than you’d normally see round here.’
‘Really?’ Minnie said. ‘Do you think they were expecting us?’
‘Definitely,’ Nelly said. She leaned forward. ‘Someone said they weren’t the usual coppers that patrol round here. It can’t have been, ’cause there were far too many. And, I reckon there were police in the crowds too. Not in uniform. Because I recognised a few faces.’
‘Why would they do that?’ Agnes asked, frowning. ‘Why have police in the crowd, too? Are they arresting lots of our girls?’
Nelly shook her head. ‘That’s the thing. I didn’t see them arresting anyone. The police were just grabbing women and chucking them into the crowd and letting them do what they wanted to them.’
We all stared at her, horrified.
‘I got punched by someone, and one of them pulled my skirts right up.’
Her strength wavered, just a bit, and her voice trembled.
‘They’re not all police, in the crowd. There’s day-trippers and other people. The man who punched me looked like he was on his way to work. But his eyes were black – you know how they get?’
Agnes looked grave. ‘How many were police?’
‘Dunno. I just know there were a lot of them. Same girl who told me about the ones in the crowd said there were police from all over.’
I stiffened. ‘Where? Where is all over?’
Nelly shrugged. ‘Up East, I think. Whitechapel. But someone else said there were some from south of the river, too. And someone else said north. So who knows.’
I felt icy cold suddenly. Joseph was working today – I knew that. What if he was among the police that had been drafted in from Whitechapel? I could hardly deny being a part of the WSPU now, given I was wearing a Votes for Women sash and carrying a placard.
‘This is a disgrace,’ Agnes said. ‘How dare they! How dare they do this. We have been let down and all we want to do is express how we feel.’
‘I’m furious,’ said Nelly. ‘The whole thing’s a mess. It’s like one huge fight.’ She stood up. ‘Shall we go?’
Agnes nodded firmly. ‘Shoulder to shoulder.’
I looked down past them towards Parliament Square. The shouts were still echoing round the buildings. Was Joseph there somewhere?
‘I don’t think we should go,’ I said desperately. ‘I think we should go back to Caxton Hall.’
‘You have got to be joking,’ Minnie said. She looked furious. ‘You want to run away? What’s wrong with you?’
‘Not run away. Just, take a moment.’ I pulled her arm and we stepped away from Agnes and Nelly.
‘I don’t think Agnes should get involved in this. She’s pregnant, Min.’
Minnie screwed her nose up. ‘I suppose.’
She watched me carefully. ‘Where’s your Joseph based?’
> I swallowed. ‘He’s not working today,’ I lied. ‘Doesn’t matter.’
‘Right.’
‘He’s not working, honest.’
‘Hmm,’ Minnie said. ‘So you’re telling me that you, brave Esther Watkins, devotee of the WSPU cause, former Holloway inmate, who just a few months ago fought off a handy copper, are suggesting we run away from this protest because …?’
‘Because of Agnes.’
‘And not because you’re scared you might spot your fella in the crowd?’
‘No,’ I said, but my protests sounded weak, even to my own ears.
‘Anyway we’re too late,’ Minnie said. ‘Look.’
I turned to see Agnes, arm in arm with Nelly, walking towards Parliament Square.
‘Bugger,’ I breathed. ‘Looks like we’re doing it.’
‘Sure?’
I looked at Agnes, seven months pregnant and still willing to add her voice to the others, and Nelly, bloodied and tear-stained and going back for more, and felt ashamed of my cowardice.
I nodded. ‘I’m sure,’ I said.
Minnie reached up and pulled my hat down over my eyes.
‘He won’t see you, even if he is there,’ she said. ‘All they see is the sashes and the banners.’
I straightened my hat again and lifted my chin. ‘I’m not ashamed,’ I said. ‘This is who I am. If Joseph sees me, then I’ll deal with it.’
Minnie picked up our placards and handed me one, then we clasped our hands together.
‘Wait for us,’ I shouted after Agnes and Nelly. ‘We’re coming.’
Chapter 34
Esther
It was chaos in Parliament Square. There were people everywhere; women shouting, crying, screaming.
‘Where are we heading?’ I said, trying to see through the crowds to the Houses of Parliament.
‘St Stephen’s.’ Nelly gestured with her placard. ‘They shut the gates and women were climbing them.’
She sounded proud and I wasn’t surprised. The resilience of the women I called my friends never stopped impressing me.
‘Did they get through?’
‘Police grabbed them first.’
Minnie stood on her tiptoes to see better. ‘They’re still going,’ she said in delight. ‘I can see people trying to get over.’
Agnes was watching the crowds in front of us. ‘I think if we can go round the back here, we can skirt the edge of the grass,’ she said. ‘I can see a route where there are fewer people.’
I looked where she was pointing and nodded in agreement. But I was still worried about the crush of bodies, because brave as she was, Agnes had a baby to think about.
‘Agnes, you go in the middle of us,’ I said. ‘We’ll shield you.’
She nodded, grateful. ‘Thank you.’
We arranged ourselves with me in front of Agnes, and Minnie and Nelly either side, and with our heads up and our shoulders back, I led the way round to the right of where we stood towards the huge black gates of Parliament.
We walked confidently, but cautiously, because around us were scenes of sheer horror. I saw one woman dragged along the ground by two policemen. Her legs were kicking but they were much stronger than she. They left her in a heap on the grass, like an old piece of rubbish, and she lay there for a moment.
‘Should we help her?’ I said to Minnie, but as I spoke, the woman stood up – shakily – and started towards the gates once more.
‘Let’s just keep going,’ Minnie said. She looked pale in the wintry sunshine and I knew the fear I could see in her eyes was reflected in my own. ‘We just need to get to the gate.’
But as we started to walk again, a large policeman barred our way. He didn’t speak but he grabbed the placards we were holding. Mine had a rough edge that cut into my hand as he yanked it and I cried out in pain. The policeman threw the placards on the ground and snapped them, standing on one end and pulling up the handles. As he snapped mine, the jagged edge cut his hand too and he cried out in pain – and anger – as I’d done.
Another policeman stopped to see what was happening. ‘Did they do that?’ he said.
The first man nodded. ‘Slashed me.’
‘Oh rubbish, you caught your hand on our placard,’ I said. ‘I did the same thing.’
The first policeman didn’t speak; instead he just pulled my arm.
‘Search her,’ he said, pushing me towards the other man. ‘She must have a knife.’
‘I don’t have a knife, don’t be ridiculous.’
He started to pat me down, though it was less patting and more grabbing. His hands seemed to be all over me, clutching at my breasts. I squirmed away and he shouted at me to stay still, so I did. I wanted to cry as his thick fingers probed under my skirts but I kept my head up, trying not to flinch as he pushed his hand in between my legs. My cheeks flushed with humiliation, and I tried not to think about what he was doing.
‘She’s got nothing,’ he called, slowly removing his hand.
I stared him right in the eyes, meeting his gaze with defiance, though my inner thighs felt bruised from his assault.
‘As I told you.’
He shoved me back towards the group. ‘Go home,’ he said in a mocking tone. ‘Ladies.’
We stayed where we were, still and watchful, as he and the first policeman continued on their way, laughing with each other, and then I took a deep breath.
‘Are you all right?’ Minnie asked, her brow furrowed.
I nodded. ‘Let’s keep going.’
We stepped over the broken remains of our placards and carried on towards the gates. As we drew nearer, it seemed things were getting more out of hand. Women were being pulled from the gates, but instead of being arrested as you’d expect, they were being thrown back to the crowds that had gathered, just as Nelly had said.
‘See?’
‘I do see,’ Agnes said. ‘I do.’
‘Agnes,’ I said urgently. ‘I know you are bold but I really think it’s time for you to go back. Take yourself to safety.’
Minnie nodded.
‘She’s right, Agnes. This is no place for a pregnant woman.’
Agnes looked up at the women being grabbed from the gates and slowly she nodded too.
‘I think you’re speaking sense,’ she said. ‘I’ll go back to Caxton Hall and wait for you there.’
I put my hand on Nelly’s shoulder. ‘Would you go with her?’ I asked. ‘I think you need a sit-down too and probably someone should have a look at your injuries.’
Nelly’s face was turning purple on one side, her eye was almost swollen shut and she was swaying slightly.
‘I suppose,’ she said. ‘Come on, Agnes.’
She offered her arm to Agnes, but as she did, a man in a smart suit and woollen overcoat walked by and without warning, kicked out at Nelly. He took her legs from under her and she crashed to the ground, taking him with her, which he’d obviously not intended to happen. He looked shocked to be sprawled on the pavement and he glared at Nelly.
‘Officer!’ he shouted. ‘This woman attacked me.’
At once, we were surrounded by three or four policemen, all bellowing at us. I was filled with fury – and frustration – as I tried to explain what had happened. But they weren’t listening. One grabbed Minnie by the shoulders as she was trying to help Nelly up, and held her arms behind her back, rendering her helpless. Another gave poor Nelly a whack with his truncheon simply for raising her head, and she slumped back on the ground, looking frighteningly limp. The man who’d tripped her was back on his feet, and he gave her another strike with his foot for good measure.
‘Stop!’ I screamed.
Agnes, who was closer to Nelly than I was, turned on the nearest policeman in anger.
‘What are you doing?’ she shouted into his face, standing on her toes so she could better match his height. ‘How dare you? She’s just a girl and she’s done nothing wrong.’
And that’s when it happened. The policeman, not wanting Agnes
so close to him, gave her a huge shove. She stepped backwards but tripped over the kerb and landed on the road on her side.
‘Agnes,’ I screamed. ‘Help her. She’s pregnant.’
But the policeman with the truncheon was angry, and as Agnes started to get up, he whacked her on the head, once, twice, and she fell back down.
I tried to get past him but his back was so broad and the crowd so suffocating, I couldn’t get to Agnes. Instead I pulled at his arm, wanting him to stop hitting her.
‘She’s pregnant,’ I shouted. ‘She’s pregnant, you idiot.’
He looked round at me, and I recognised him – again. Once more I was in a struggle with Joseph’s friend, Alf. He didn’t know me; that was obvious. He just tried to shake me off his arm.
‘Alf,’ I said, hoping to get through to him, to make him stop. ‘It’s me, Esther. We met in the park?’
He didn’t hear – or didn’t listen – as he kicked Agnes in the small of her back and sent her sprawling on the pavement once more – right on to her round belly. She made a horrible sound, a wail of sheer despair, and I felt a rush of blinding fury rise up inside me. What had Alf done?
Making an animal-like roar, I used all my strength to pull Alf’s arm back and he dropped his truncheon.
Quick as a flash, I bent and picked it up. Its handle was warm, and the weight of the weapon soothed me. I looped the leather strap round my wrist, held on tight and raised the truncheon above my head, then I brought it down with all my might, on to Alf’s face as he looked round at me.
There was a crunch as the truncheon met his nose and I watched in satisfaction as blood splattered across his face.
‘Esther,’ Minnie shouted, but it sounded as though she was a long, long way away as I raised the truncheon again and once more brought it down on to Alf’s head. He swore at me, trying to shield himself from my blows.
The Secret Letter Page 19