‘Quite so,’ Mr Cummings said. ‘Then, if there’s nothing more, sir?’ He was clearly wanting to get on with his business and not waste time with these two, despite the fact that one was a paying customer — or would be, eventually.
‘Good-day to you, sir,’ John said at once, shaking the man’s hand. Carrie gave the man a nod, still too stunned to say anything else. They walked out into the sunlight, and she gave a little skip of pure pleasure.
‘Why didn’t you tell me what you planned?’ she squealed, hugging his arm.
‘And spoil my surprise? Never! I didn’t even mean to tell you now. I wanted you to wait until you saw the boat in the water, but in the end I couldn’t resist showing you the plans.’
‘I’m so glad you did. Oh John, it’s the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for me.’
He laughed, sliding his arm around her waist and squeezing her tight.
‘If it takes so little to please my lady, then I think I can safely promise you a lifetime of far greater pleasures, my darling,’ he said teasingly.
They had walked as far as Welsh Back, where the Wednesday market was in full swing and crowded with people. They were in the midst of them almost before they knew it.
‘I’m supposed to buy some fruit for Ma,’ Carrie remembered. ‘I’d best not go home without it.’
Her heart suddenly leapt as the person standing behind the fruit stall glared at them. She hadn’t seen Elsie for several months now, though she had heard rumours that a dark-haired boy was often seen leaving her cottage in the early hours of the morning.
‘If you want fruit, you can ask some other stall-holder, for I’ll not serve you,’ Elsie said rudely.
‘Don’t be stupid, Elsie,’ Carrie muttered. ‘You can’t refuse to serve a customer.’
‘I can do what I bloody well like, and the likes of you ain’t going to stop me!’ Elsie yelled.
‘There’s no need for that, girl,’ John said in annoyance. Elsie rounded on him at once.
‘And I don’t want no lip from you, neither. I mighta fancied you once, but I don’t no more. You buggers are all the same when it comes to leaving a girl in the lurch, and if Carrie don’t know it by now, then more’s the pity.’
‘What do you mean?’ Carrie demanded. ‘Nobody left you in the lurch, and if you’d wanted my friendship, you knew where to come.’
‘Oh ah! But you Stuckeys have gone up in the world now, ain’t you?’ Elsie sneered. ‘Your Ma wouldn’t have wanted the likes of me hanging around, looking all pious and disapproving at me.’
She paused for breath, and some of the interested onlookers were beginning to tut-tut at this outburst, while others were crowing with amusement.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Elsie, and I’m not going to stop and listen to your nonsense. Come on, John, we’ll get the fruit elsewhere.’
Elsie whipped around the front of the stall as fast as lightning, knocking over a basket of oranges, and sending them rolling everywhere. She banged her hand against her belly in a fury.
‘This is what I’m on about, my fine lady,’ she shouted. ‘Not that you’d care if I’m up the spout, would you? You and your fine young man. Maybe he’d like to take the blame for it, seeing as nobody else is owning up to it?’
‘That’s enough, girl,’ John snapped, incensed now as several eavesdroppers began muttering. Elsie glanced around at them, seizing the moment.
‘That’s right, folks. Deserted in me hour of need, I was, and who’s to say that this ‘ere gent ain’t to blame for it? I gave ’im my favour, so I did, and then he went off and left me!’
‘Elsie, for pity’s sake, stop it!’ Carrie screeched. ‘You’ll have folk believing you in a minute.’
The rumpus was beginning to get out of hand. Other baskets of fruit were being tossed to the ground, and several ragged urchins took the opportunity of scrabbling for apples and oranges. In minutes a loud-pitched whistle rang out as a constable came running to see what it was all about.
‘It’s this young tart,’ someone shouted. ‘Accusing this ‘ere gent of puttin’ her in the family way, by all accounts.’
‘It’s all a mistake,’ Carrie gasped, as the policeman fought his way through the crowd towards her and John. ‘Elsie, for God’s sake, tell them it’s all a mistake!’
Elsie’s face had gone the colour of chalk. The sight of the constable and the realisation of bringing the law into the affray had the effect of reducing her to jelly.
‘I ain’t saying no more,’ she stuttered.
‘Take him in custody, Constable,’ a guttural voice shouted. ‘The poor maid’s done in, by the looks of her, and the gent should be made to pay for his sins.’
‘It ain’t a hanging offence, sir,’ the constable snapped, ‘and girls like these ain’t exactly saints neither.’
Elsie found her voice at that. ‘What do you mean? I never encouraged ’im, if that’s what you think!’
‘Are you saying he raped you, miss?’
As the constable’s voice took on a sharper tone, Carrie felt as if she was living through a nightmare. Why in God’s name didn’t Elsie put a stop to all this here and now? John was trying to protest that he’d had no part in this, but the crowd was shouting him down, clearly enjoying the unexpected bit of excitement and wanting blood.
To her horror, they caught the word, and even though Elsie hadn’t answered, new anger rippled around the crowd.
‘We’re getting out of here,’ John said fiercely in her ear. ‘She can sort this mess out by herself.’
Even as he spoke, the constable’s hand shot out and grabbed John’s shoulder. Without a second thought, John turned and gave him a double punch that sent him to his knees. One knuckle caught him squarely under the chin, and the other winded him in the gut. The women in the crowd screamed, and pandemonium broke out. Several rough male hands held John fast until police reinforcements arrived, and before Carrie could really comprehend what was happening, John was being hauled off to the cells in the Bridewell.
The crowds slowly dispersed once all the excitement was over, and Carrie stood motionless for a moment, watching in disbelief as Elsie began picking up fruit and righting the baskets on the stall. Customers were obviously deciding to give the fruit stall a wide berth now, and no wonder.
Then Carrie moved into action, and she rushed forward, shaking Elsie by the hair until she howled with rage.
‘How could you do this? What in God’s name are you playing at? You know John’s not responsible for your condition, Elsie. You know it, and I know it.’
Elsie yanked herself away, rubbing at her sore scalp, but Carrie was almost overcome by emotion now. This was her friend, and she had betrayed Carrie in the worst possible way.
Her face crumpled. ‘How could you do this to us, Elsie? Are you so very jealous of John and me?’
Elsie tossed her head, and her eyes flashed. ‘I don’t give a damn about John and you,’ she mimicked. ‘All I cared about was — was —’
‘My God, was it that Welsh fellow? That Dewi something or other?’ Carrie said suddenly.
‘Of course it was Dewi! He said he loved me, and I ain’t been with nobody else, and now he’s disappeared off the face of the earth. I ain’t seen him in two months, and nobody knows what’s happened to ’im,’ Elsie said, all in a rush.
‘Oh, Elsie,’ Carrie said sadly.
‘Is that all you can say? Oh, Elsie?’
Carrie went round the back of the stall and put her arms around her.
‘You should have come to Ma. She’d have helped you.’
‘Oh ah? What would she have done? Offered me the needle to be rid of it or summat?’
‘Of course not. But she’d have understood. You’re to come home with me today — as soon as we’ve got all this sorted out.’
‘All what?’ Elsie said uneasily.
‘You’ve got to go to the Bridewell with me and tell the truth. John’s been accused of something dreadful, Elsie. R
ape is a very serious offence.’
‘I can’t! They’ll sling me in the cells instead.’
‘Of course they won’t. But if you don’t want to lose my friendship for ever, you’ll come with me right now, and tell them.’
She couldn’t even be angry with her any more. Elsie looked such a pathetic figure now, and so far removed from the brash, flouncy girl of old. But she was severely anxious on John’s behalf, and the sooner they got it all cleared up, the better. Then they’d go home to Jacob’s Wells Road. Ma would know what to do.
‘You’d better go and get this sorted out, bach,’ one of the Welsh boyos said quietly. ‘Tell you what. I’ll make enquiries over in Cardiff during the week, and see what I can find out about Dewi before next week, is it?’
‘Do you promise, Ivor?’ Elsie begged, so pathetic it made Carrie wince. ‘You never listened to me before.’
‘Aye well, perhaps it’s time somebody did, cariad,’ he said uncomfortably. ‘You leave it to me, girl.’
* * *
The two girls made their way to the Bridewell in fear and trembling. Neither had been in a police station before, and had an unspoken wish to keep as far away from men in blue uniforms as possible. They went up diffidently to the front desk.
‘Yes? What do you two want?’ the sergeant said uncompromisingly.
‘My fiancé was brought in a short time ago,’ Carrie spoke up as confidently as she could ‘There was a complete misunderstanding, and he shouldn’t be here at all.’
‘That’s what they all say, miss. What’s the name?’
‘Travis. John Travis.’
‘Travis, eh? You mean the ruffian who struck one of my constables? Any member of the public who commits such a felony is certainly entitled to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure,’ he said pompously.
‘But you don’t understand! He didn’t mean to strike anyone. It was done on impulse because he was being accused of something he hadn’t done, and my friend here will vouch for that. You must listen — please!’
The man shook his head. ‘Can’t be done. The charge is common assault, and unless he’s got a good lawyer to deal with the matter, he’ll stay in the cells until the case comes up in court — or until he rots.’
Carrie felt her face blanch. ‘But we’re getting married in less than a month. You can’t keep him here!’
The sergeant’s eyes narrowed. It was clear he didn’t expect such argument from two young girls who looked pretty dishevelled themselves by now.
‘I can do whatever I choose, miss. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got work to do.’
‘We ain’t leaving here until somebody listens to me,’ Elsie said flatly. ‘It’s my fault John Travis is in the cells, and at least I can set one thing straight. He never raped me, nor even touched me, and this lump in my belly ain’t no more due to him than the man in the moon.’
She might not have the most eloquent way of speaking, Carrie thought faintly, but she had the desired effect.
‘Would you swear to that on oath?’ the sergeant snapped.
‘’Course I would, if I had to,’ Elsie snapped back. ‘The feller belongs to my friend here, not to me, and I’ve got me own boy. I never said John Travis raped me anyway. It was the crowd who got it all wrong, and then your constable come along and grabbed John, and he turned without thinking and caught him one.’
The sergeant leaned on the desk. ‘That’s where you’re wrong, young woman. If he’d just caught him one, as you put it, it might have been a different matter. But he struck him twice, and that constitutes a pre-meditated attack.’
‘Nothing of this was pre-meditated,’ Carrie almost wept at the man’s implacable face. ‘It was all an unfortunate incident.’
‘You tell that to my constable, who’s needing attention from a physician,’ he said sourly.
Out of the corner of her eye, Carrie saw a man she recognised emerge from a side door. She turned to him with relief.
‘Doctor Flowers, thank goodness,’ she gasped.
‘Carrie, what on earth are you doing here?’ he said in astonishment. At the concern in his voice, she burst into tears, and was guided to a bench alongside, while Elsie stood in silent guilt at having caused all this furore. Carrie burst out the whole sad story in little gasping sentences. He patted her hand.
‘Sergeant Sullivan has his duty to do, and there’s nothing to be done here tonight. The constable’s not badly hurt, and may be persuaded not to press charges, since you’ve explained it all. It’ll need to be properly recorded and written down though. Has that been done yet?’
Carrie looked blank. ‘No. We just told the story.’
Doctor Flowers went to the desk and they heard him speak tersely. The two girls sat together on the bench, their hands held tightly together. The doctor then went with them into a little office, where another constable wrote down all that they had to say.
‘I’d like to see Mr Travis for a moment,’ the doctor said next.
‘He ain’t leaving here tonight, Doctor,’ Sergeant Sullivan said.
‘I didn’t ask if he was leaving. I said I’d like to see him. I have a right to see if he needs any treatment,’ the doctor said. He told the girls to wait until he came back.
‘What good do you think he can do?’ Elsie muttered.
‘I don’t know, but thank God somebody’s trying to do something.’
It seemed a long while until he came back, but he offered to give the girls a ride home by way of Greenwood Street. It seemed a very long way round, and Carrie said they could just as well walk.
‘As you will, but I’m going to Greenwood Street to alert Mr Thomas Venn, Mr Travis’s lawyer, and to request that he calls on the old uncle at Bedminster Hill this evening to let him know what’s happening. With luck, Venn will get this whole thing sorted out in the morning.’
‘Thank you, Doctor,’ Carrie said, with a flood of relief. ‘I don’t know why you’re doing all this for me, but thank you all the same.’
‘It’s because of my respect for your mother, girl, and also because I believe your talk of a misunderstanding. I don’t like to see injustice. And I’m no legal man, but I don’t reckon any real harm’s been done, except to the constable’s pride. I don’t expect he’ll relish appearing in court on such a flimsy case, since Venn would just wipe the floor with him. My guess is that he’ll agree to drop the whole thing.’
They went out into the daylight, feeling drained and ragged. To Carrie, it hardly seemed possible that people were still hurrying about the city, going about their business in the ordinary way, when theirs had been such a traumatic afternoon. They thanked the doctor again, and after a few brief words to Elsie to go and see him as soon as she felt the need, they parted company from him.
It was the first time the two girls had been properly alone for months, and they were both awkward and tongue-tied, and very aware of the great gulf that had been put between them. Yet it was a gulf that could be breached, and one that both wanted breached. Their friendship had lasted too long to be lost for ever.
‘Carrie, you know damn well I never meant things to happen like they did,’ Elsie muttered as they made their way back through the city. ‘I never meant to accuse your John, only you know how my tongue runs away with me sometimes.’
‘You should try harder not to let it,’ Carrie retorted. ‘You hurt people, Elsie. You always have.’
‘I know,’ she said contritely. ‘Me granpa used to say the same thing. I’ve been better lately, honest I have, leastways, until Dewi went missing. I really love him, see, Carrie. I know you think I’m flighty and don’t know what love means, and I never did, ‘til I met Dewi. He said he loved me too, and now I just don’t know what to think.’
‘So he don’t know about the babby then?’ It shocked her to even think about it, but it was a living, breathing child in Elsie’s belly, and there was no getting away from the fact, even though it hardly showed as yet.
Elsie shook her head. ‘I was going
to tell him the last time he came over on the trow, but he didn’t turn up. None of the other Welshies live near him, see, so they don’t know what’s happened, neither.’
‘Do you think he’d have married you, Elsie?’ Lord knew what would happen to her if he didn’t.
‘I dunno. It’s what I want, Carrie. I do love him, see?’ She couldn’t seem to think any farther than that, and Carrie made up her mind.
‘You’re coming back home with me tonight. I’ll have to tell Ma what’s happened, and —’
‘I can’t!’ Elsie said in a fright. ‘They’ll blame me for having your John put in jail!’
‘No they won’t, not if we say what a stupid fuss the crowd made and got the wrong end of the stick. That’s what really happened anyway, isn’t it? If the constable hadn’t asked if you were raped, the crowd wouldn’t have got it all wrong, would they? And John wouldn’t have hit the constable, and landed in the cells.’
She listened to herself, making all the excuses for this fair-weather friend, when her dearest John was languishing in the cells at the Bridewell. But the truth was, Elsie looked so desperate now, that she feared for her safety if she was once left alone. The river near the cottage was deep, and full of hidden currents that could sweep a body into the undertow and out into the Channel before anyone was missed. And who would miss Elsie Miller, anyway? She had no-one.
And if anyone was understanding, it would surely be Ma … but the nearer home she got, the more uneasy Carrie felt. Elsie had sinned in so many ways, and her Pa wasn’t much of a one for forgiveness. And Wilf would be sure to imply that it was no less than he’d always expected from Elsie Miller.
Carrie’s stomach was beginning to feel tight long before they reached the house, and Elsie had fallen silent. They opened the front door, and went inside, calling out Ma’s name. She came into the parlour from the steamy scullery, where the aroma of fresh baking wafted towards them and made their mouths water.
‘Why Elsie, this is a nice surprise,’ Ma said, at which Elsie promptly burst into noisy tears.
* * *
The telling didn’t take long, because Elsie was suddenly blubbing it all out on May Stuckey’s comforting shoulder while Carrie stood helplessly by.
Hidden Currents Page 38