by Helen Spring
THE CHAINMAKERS
by
Helen Spring
Prelude
PART ONE - SANDLEY HEATH
An Offer
High Cedars
Two Worlds
Escape
PART TWO - FRANCE
Brittany
Robert
Paris
Clancy
PART THREE - AMERICA
Beginnings
Winning and Losing
Paolo
Best Friends
Prohibition
Kidnapped
Backlash
PART FOUR - SANDLEY HEATH
Illusions
Will
Victoria
PRELUDE
Aboard the 'Ocean Star' - 1924
Three pairs of eyes swivelled in unison to watch the departure. As the slim elegant figure reached the doorway to the starboard deck a uniformed officer leapt to hold open the door, and Mrs. Neville sniffed.
'I've never known anyone get such attention, grovelling I call it!'
'Steady on old girl,' her husband remonstrated mildly, trying in vain to get his cigarette lighter to work. 'She probably tips well.'
'I should think so too!' Betty Neville was not about to be kind. If she can afford a stateroom to herself she can afford decent tips, what do you think Colonel?'
She pushed herself back in her chair, surveying Colonel Haines with what she hoped was a languishing look. The Colonel looked slightly astonished, and Aubrey Neville, having at last managed to light his wife's cigarette, smiled broadly.
'Yes, come on Colonel, what do you really think of our dinner companion?'
The Colonel hummed and hawed a little, and mumbled something about 'not discussing a lady you know...'
Betty Neville gave her 'silvery and tinkling' laugh, a cultivated attempt at a Mary Pickford sound, that is if you could ascribe a sound to a silent film star. She puffed at her long gold cigarette lighter and gave the Colonel another of her looks.
'Oh no Colonel, you aren't getting away as easily as all that! I'm not saying anything bad about Mrs. Sullivan, only that it's a little... well... ill-mannered I suppose, to leave the dinner table even before dessert is served! Two nights in a row she's done it! Anyone would think she didn't like our company!'
'I'm sure not, my dear Mrs Neville...' Privately, the Colonel reflected it was a bit rich to call someone else ill-mannered, as you lit up between courses.
'Betty.' Her tone was soothing. 'Betty please, ... dear Colonel Haines...'
The Colonel was not about to give away his own first name.
'Quite so... Betty... quite so. Well, since you insist, I find Mrs Sullivan quite charming, quiet I agree, but quite charming...'
'Good looking, certainly,' Aubrey Neville chimed in eagerly.
His wife ignored him. 'Handsome is as handsome does I always say. How can you call her charming when she hardly speaks?'
'Being seated with us at dinner doesn't mean she has to tell us her life story,' Aubrey remonstrated. 'You're only annoyed because you can't find out the gossip about her.'
Betty Neville was about to make a sharp retort but changed her mind. 'What do you mean?' she asked quickly, 'What gossip?'
Aubrey laughed. 'None that I know of, I don't even know who she is.'
As Betty began to fume, the Colonel decided to pour oil on troubled waters.
'Well I do know Mrs Sullivan is wealthy...' he ventured.
'But why is she travelling alone? Is she a widow?' Betty interrupted.
'Oh no, her husband is probably staying in New York to look after the business... Sullivans you know, the restaurant chain...'
Betty's mouth dropped open in horror. 'She's not that Mrs Sullivan? The one in all the papers? Are you sure?' Her horror gave way to annoyance. 'And they put her at our table! I shall complain to the Captain...'
'Don't get so excited dear, what could you complain about? That she doesn't want to talk to us...?'
'Aubrey how can you?' Betty exploded. 'Why the woman is ... is... almost a gangster!'
'Nonsense old girl,' Aubrey soothed. 'Just because her son happened to get mixed up in something... and if I remember correctly, he was the victim anyway.'
'Victim? You need talk about victims!' Betty was outraged. 'It is we who are the victims, having her at our table...'
'Well, dear lady, I think that may be my fault,' the Colonel interposed gently. 'You see, we single travellers are a bit of a nuisance... they have to make up four at table, and so she was probably put here to balance me out.' He stopped, and gave Betty Neville his most winning smile. 'If you complain I might be moved as well, and I am enjoying your company so much. Please be at ease dear lady... er Betty. I'm sure no-one else on board realises who she is, and as you so rightly say, she is hardly a problem, she speaks to no-one.'
Betty was slightly mollified. 'Well of course I wouldn't want to lose your company Colonel,' she sniffed. 'But I'm cross with you just the same. Did you know all along she was that Mrs Sullivan?'
'I recognised her,' the Colonel admitted. 'I was dining in one of the Sullivan restaurants in New York a year or so ago, and she was pointed out to me.'
'Once seen never forgotten, eh?' Aubrey joked.
'She certainly takes the eye,' Colonel Haines agreed. 'And from what I hear she has brains too.'
'But surely her husband runs the business?' Aubrey put in a little petulantly.
'Yes of course, although I believe it was Mrs Sullivan who started it all.' Colonel Haines looked around cheerfully, anxious to change the subject before Betty Neville got angry again. 'Where on earth is our waiter?' he grumbled happily. 'I want my pudding...'
~
As she wandered along the deck Anna Sullivan smiled to herself. She knew she had put the cat among the pigeons by leaving the dinner table so abruptly, but she was unable to stand any more of Betty Neville's idle chatter. Her husband was almost as bad, and Anna felt no pangs of guilt about them, but she had not intended to be rude to poor Colonel Haines. Anna recalled how the startled old gentleman had struggled to his feet as she left the table, and resolved to apologise when she next saw him. Reaching the sun deck, she looked around for a deck chair, and immediately the deck steward appeared.
'In just a moment Mrs Sullivan', he said cheerfully. He fetched a chair and opened it up, 'Will this do? Would you like a rug?'
'Thank you. Yes, a rug is a good idea.' Anna smiled and settled herself in the deck chair. The service was good aboard the "Ocean Star", and she was beginning to enjoy the trip. It had been difficult for the first couple of days, her mind had been in such turmoil... but now the ship was well away from New York and she had woken on two consecutive mornings to face nothing but the vast Atlantic ocean, her problems seemed cut down to size, and she was beginning to relax.
'There we are madam,' the cheerful steward tucked the rug around her. 'Can I get you anything else?'
'No, nothing thank you.'
Anna smiled at the man and settled back comfortably. It was almost eight o'clock and yet she could still feel the warmth of the sun on her face. It had been a wonderful day and she had made the most of it. It was not usual to have such good weather crossing the Atlantic, even in mid-summer. Last time...
She could not really remember what the weather had been last time, it was so long ago, and her memory was hazy. Almost twenty years, she calculated, since she had travelled third class from Liverpool to New York, and there had not been a moment when she was not cold, uncomfortable and sick. What a young fool she had been then, and how unhappy. How strange that a chance meeting when she was ten years old was to have such a marked effect on her life...
PART ONE
SANDLEY HEATH
AN OFFER
1904
'A sweet little lass - such as Sir John Millais would have liked to paint - dancing on a pair of bellows for 3pence a day to supply 'blast' to the chainmaker at the forge, and to put 3pence a day into the pocket of her employer. As she danced, her golden hair flew out, and the fiery sparks which showered upon her head reminded me of fireflies seen at night near Florence, dancing over a field of ripe wheat...' Robert Sherard 'The Chainmakers of Cradley Heath' 1896
Anna Gibson was almost eighteen when she saw Robert Nicholson for the second time. She felt no pang of recognition, the handsome fair haired young man chatting to old Ma Higgins bore no resemblance to the spindly youth of his teens. However, Anna couldn't help but glance at him again, and as a result she mis-hit the iron link she was closing. A frown flitted across her brow as she concentrated repeated hammer blows on the red hot link in a shower of fiery sparks, and then, satisfied the link was successfully forged into the chain, she turned to pull on the bellows. As she made to pluck the next glowing iron rod from the fire she heard Ma Higgins call ''Ang on ma wench, this gentleman wants a waerd.'
Anna stood apprehensively as they made their way towards her through the chainshop, watched by the other women, who stopped their hammering and chattering to stare at the unexpected sight of a young man, clean and well dressed at that, picking his way through the debris. As they reached her Anna's face hardened with suspicion.
''E only wants a waerd...' Ma Higgins wheezed, 'But doe be tew long, them cart traces is urgent.'
Good morning Miss Gibson,' the young man began, 'I hope you don't mind my asking for you.'
'What's it about?' Her voice was softer and more refined than he had expected in this hellhole. He smiled encouragingly but she quickly added 'I aye done nothin'.'
'Of course you haven't Miss Gibson, I assure you there is no trouble of any kind.' He smiled again before continuing lightly, 'You don't remember me do you?'
Anna eyed him narrowly. 'No. Should I?'
'Probably not, but perhaps you remember my father, Andrew Nicholson...' He waited for a glimmer of recognition, but seeing none he continued, 'Father sketched you several times when you were about ten years old...'
'Oh yes!' A look of delight passed over her face, and Robert Nicholson realised for the first time that perhaps his plan would work. When she smiled her features were quite delightful underneath all that grime. He inspected her face closely as she added excitedly, ''Course I remember... and he did the paintings afterwards... and one of them was in the exhibition at Dudley Art Gallery and we all went to see it... we had a real day out...' She stopped suddenly, as if aware she was talking too much. Then in a faltering tone she said 'You'm Robert... his boy?'
'Yes, that's right. I'm afraid my father died last year Miss Gibson...'
'Oh.' She looked nonplussed for a moment, and then said with genuine concern, 'I'm real sorry Mr. Nicholson...'
'Thank you, and the name is Robert. I believe your name is Anna?'
'Yes.' A slight suspicion reasserted itself and a questioning look came over her face.
'Well Anna, you probably wonder why I have looked you up after all this time. The truth is I came across father's sketches the other day and thought how good they were... as well as being charming in their own right, there is a certain honesty, the same clarity of vision I admire so much in Chardin...' Realising he had lost her completely Robert added quickly, 'Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to do some paintings of you now you are grown... a continuum... the child, and the woman she became... a triptych perhaps...'
He had lost her again, but she asked quickly ‘You want to sketch me? You’m a painter too, like your Dad?’
He laughed, and Anna thought he looked quite wonderful, better looking than any man she ever saw in her life, even Clancy...
‘Father wasn’t really a painter Anna, he was a businessman.’
‘Oh yes,’ she agreed quickly, ‘I know he owned factories and all that...’
‘Even so, he was very interested in art, and was quite well thought of for an amateur,’ Robert continued cheerfully. ‘I take after him, at least as far as artistic temperament is concerned. Business is a different matter, I have no head for business at all, and no interest in it either if truth be told.’
His easy smile made lack of business sense seem like a virtue, and he added in a confiding tone, ‘I’m going to be a real artist Anna, not an amateur. I intend to make art my life’s work.’
‘Oh, I see.’ Anna replied. She didn’t see at all. How could painting pictures be considered work?
‘Well, now I’ve explained, will you sit for me?’ Robert asked.
‘Oh sir I’d love to, but I’m working now as you can see and can’t spare the time. I work from eight to six...’
‘And how much does that pay?’ Robert interrupted.
‘Well, this is number one size,’ Anna explained. ‘If I can make a hundredweight and a half, like I did last week, I’ll get about eight shillings.’ She smiled at him openly and then added ‘But I have to pay for my gledes out of that...’
‘And you don’t work at weekends?’
‘No.’ Anna did not mention that Saturday was the family day for the copper, and she spent it washing and ironing, cleaning and blackleading the firegrate.
‘I’ll pay you ten shillings to sit for me at weekends,’ Robert stated firmly. ‘You can travel to my home at Edgbaston on the Saturday morning, sit for three hours in the afternoon, stay overnight, sit another three hours on Sunday morning and travel back on Sunday afternoon.’
Anna, stunned by the suddenness of the offer, could not reply. In her mind two words resounded again and again. Ten shillings... ten shillings... ten whole shillings! Just for sitting around doing nothing. She gazed at Robert, but still was unable to speak.
‘Everything would be completely respectable of course,’ he hastened to assure her, mistaking her silence for distrust of his motives. ‘My mother will see you are allocated a room in the servants quarters. We have more rooms than servants.’ He smiled, attempting to allay her fears.
Anna swallowed. What would her father say? And how would her mother manage without her at the weekend? In a flash she had the answer. Pay old Mother Smithson to do the washing and ironing, she would be glad of the chance to do it for a shilling and the blackleading too... and there would still be nine shillings over...
‘I’d pay for your travelling costs of course,’ Robert was saying. ‘There’s probably a Saturday cart coming to Edgbaston, but if there isn’t you can get on the canal boat and be in Birmingham in two hours, and I could send our trap to pick you up there.’
He looked at Anna expectantly, and although she was quivering with excitement at the prospect of earning so much extra money, all that came out of her mouth was, ‘I’ll miss Chapel.’
‘Well, yes, I suppose so, but you would be back on Sunday in time for evensong... if you have evensong in Chapel,’ Robert responded quickly, ‘We are Church of England,’ he added almost apologetically.
‘We have an evening meeting.’ Anna said quietly. ‘Yes, I’d be back in time for that.’ She pulled herself together and gave Robert her rare smile. ‘If my Dad agrees,’ she said, ‘I’ll be glad to do it. How many weekends were you thinking of?’
‘I don’t really know,’ Robert answered, pleased with his success. ‘Several I should think, up until Christmas anyway, that will be about ten weekends perhaps.’ He smiled briefly. ‘I have business in Dudley now, but may I call back this evening to obtain your father’s permission?’
Anna smiled assent and gave him her address. Robert thanked her and made his way out of the chainshop, turning to wave his hand as he went. In a moment Anna was besieged by the other women, demanding to know what was going on. Ribald comments flew around the chainshop about Robert’s good looks, and when she had explained his errand there was a great deal of screeching laughter and expressions of disbelief, and not a little envy. After Ma Higgins had scolded them back to wo
rk the women continued to yell at each other above their hammering, and there was much laughter and speculation about models having to take off their clothes for dirty minded artists to paint them.
‘There’ll be none of that!’ Anna remonstrated, blushing furiously in spite of herself. ‘If he starts any of that alarkey I’ll come home. Anyway,’ she added, ‘I’m sure he won’t ask any such thing. His Dad never asked me to take my clothes off...’
This was met with further gales of mirth, and old Betty Potts, making spikes at the forge in the corner, wiped the tears from her eyes on her sacking apron and cackled, ‘What a ninny yo’ am Anna Gibson, yo’ was ten years old then!’
This was met with more screeches of laughter, and shouts of ‘It’s a bit different now ma babby!’ and ‘You’m in for a shock!’ until Ma Higgins came in and reminded them that if they didn’t want to work for her there were plenty of others that did. The sparks flew as they settled back to their hammering, and after Ma Higgins had left the chainshop Betty Potts wheezed ‘Miserable old glede. ‘Er’s the waerst fogger I ever knowed...’
‘No ‘er aye,’ shouted a young woman who had recently joined the team. ‘Yo’ should waerk for old Stubbin’s...’er’s the waerst bar none...’
‘Arr... ‘ several voices agreed quickly. It was a dread that haunted them, that they could lose their work and be forced to make chain for Ma Stubbings. Her wages were lower for every size of chain, so you had to work longer and harder to make ends meet. The laughter had died, and the only further comment came from old Betty, who shouted above the din that perhaps Anna’s Dad would not let her go... after all, staying overnight in a strange house...