Tangled Threads

by Margaret Dickinson

  Jimmy opened his mouth but before he could speak, a loud voice spoke close behind Eveleen making her jump. ‘What the bleedin’ hell are you doing in here, girl? Get yourself out of here. Right now.’

  Eveleen turned to find herself facing the irate face of a stocky, balding man.

  ‘Sorry, Mr Porter,’ Jimmy was saying at once. ‘It’s me sister. Spot of family bother. Off you go, Evie. I’ll see you later.’

  ‘And don’t let me catch you in here ever again. Women aren’t allowed in here.’ He looked her up and down with a leering glance. ‘Takes their minds off their work, see.’

  ‘Sorry, Mr Porter,’ she mumbled and hurried away, her face burning, as, behind her, she could hear catcalls and whistles from the men working the machinery.

  It was certainly a very different place to her uncle’s workshops.

  Thirty-Three

  Jimmy finished his shift at six in the evening, the same time that Eveleen left the warehouse.

  ‘I should be working ’til seven,’ she told him, ‘but I told Miss Brownlow I was feeling unwell. She let me go but I don’t reckon she believed me. ‘Eight until seven are my hours and until twelve on a Saturday.’ She smiled. ‘Bit different to life on a farm, eh? When we had to work the clock round at lambing time or when one of the beasts was calving.’

  ‘Give me that any day, though, even if we did have to work the clock round. These shifts are getting to me, Evie. I don’t know if I’m coming or going.’

  ‘You’ll get used to it,’ was all she said. ‘You’ll have to.’

  They fell into step together.

  ‘So,’ he began, continuing their earlier conversation that had been interrupted. ‘You’re not going to tell her?’

  ‘What’d be the point? It’d only upset her. He’s hardly going to come riding up on a white charger and carry her off into the sunset to live happily ever after. Life’s not like that,’ Eveleen said, her thoughts drifting back once more to Bernby and the fair-haired, blue-eyed man who had promised her heaven.

  Jimmy grinned. ‘She might want to see him. Get to know him again. You never know, they might—’

  ‘He’s married,’ Eveleen said impatiently, surprised by Jimmy’s romantic nonsense. ‘His son was with him when they came into the inspection room today.’

  ‘Oh well, I don’t care what you do. I shan’t tell her.’ He cast Eveleen a sly look. ‘There’s a lot I don’t tell me mam.’

  ‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me,’ Eveleen said, but Jimmy’s grin only widened. Then he went on. ‘They came into our place an’ all this afternoon. Handsome chap, ain’t he, the son? Just your type, Evie. That’d be a turnup, wouldn’t it, if you married the son.’

  ‘Don’t talk daft.’ Eveleen was angry now. ‘His sort don’t interest me.’

  ‘They did once,’ Jimmy said, watching her closely.

  ‘Well, they don’t any more,’ she snapped back and marched up the steps and into the home. I’ve far more pressing things on my mind, she thought. Getting us out of this place, for one.

  The following morning when she arrived at work, the first thing Eveleen did was to ask Helen if she had heard of anywhere for them to rent.

  The girl shook her head. ‘Sorry, Eveleen, I haven’t.’

  Eveleen managed to smile and say, ‘Thanks for trying.’

  ‘I’ll keep asking,’ the girl promised.

  About halfway through the morning, Fred appeared again at the doorway of the workroom to be greeted by calls and saucy remarks from the women. Eveleen could not stop herself from smiling. They’re almost as bad as the men, she thought.

  But Fred was only grinning good-naturedly and making his way towards her. ‘You’re in luck, lass. The missis has heard of a house in our yard, would you believe? If you like to come home with me after work, she’ll take you to see it. She’s going to get a key from the owner today.’

  Eveleen leapt to her feet and threw her arms around him. ‘That’s wonderful. Oh thank you, thank you.’

  She became aware of the laughter around her and she stepped back, embarrassed by her own behaviour.

  ‘Miss Hardcastle!’ came Miss Brownlow’s voice. ‘I think you forget yourself.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said at once to Fred. ‘But you don’t know what this means to me.’

  The man nodded kindly, quite unperturbed by her impetuosity. ‘That’s all right, love.’ He laughed. ‘I enjoyed it, but don’t tell the missis.’ He winked at her and said, ‘See you outside the gate at knocking-off time, eh?’ Fred worked in the warehouse carrying the heavy bales of cloth up and down the stairs to the different levels for sorting, dying, scalloping and trimming as well as to the very top for final inspection. He was lithe and muscular, no doubt from all the exercise he got each day.

  She nodded, ‘Thanks, Fred. I’ll be there.’

  ‘Hello, mi duck. It’s nice to see you again.’

  ‘Oh Mrs Martin, I’m so pleased to see you again. I wanted to thank you for all you’ve done to help me. You were so kind that day and you’re still helping me now.’

  The woman flapped her hand in embarrassment. ‘Do call me Win and think nothing of it. Glad to help.’ She turned to her husband. ‘Your supper’s in the oven, Fred, I’ll just take this lass down to look at the house, though whether we’ll see much in the dark, I don’t know.’

  ‘Take some candles,’ Fred suggested. ‘Or better still, I’ll light a lamp for you.’

  While they waited, Win said, ‘I don’t even know your name.’

  Eveleen told her and then went on to explain why she needed a house so desperately.

  ‘There are four of us, me mam, me brother and our cousin.’ She bit her lip and said no more about Rebecca. Time enough for Win to find out about that later.

  ‘Well, it won’t be much of a place, love. This whole area’s called Narrow Marsh and this is Foundry Yard. It’s overcrowded and you have to share privies, but if you keep your own place clean, it’s not so bad. Me and Fred have lived here ever since we got married and I wouldn’t move if you gave me a palace. Folks is friendly round here and we all help each other.’

  Eveleen smiled. Win Martin was certainly friendly and if all her neighbours were the same, then Eveleen could put up with harsh conditions.

  ‘Ah, here’s Fred with the lamp. Let’s go and have a look.’

  Only minutes later, they were walking into one of the back-to-back houses.

  ‘There’ll be three floors,’ Win explained as they stepped into the room on the ground floor. ‘There’s the range . . .’

  It was smaller than the one back home in Bernby, but Eveleen said nothing. She looked down at the cold, damp brick floor and thought, The sooner we get a fire going in here the better.

  The furnishings were sparse: a table and three wooden chairs. They had left more than this behind in the farmhouse.

  ‘There’s a cupboard under the stairs for food and that.’ Win opened it to show the empty shelves.

  ‘It’s all been left very clean,’ Eveleen remarked, feeling she should say something as Win led the way up to the next floor.

  ‘There’s only one bedroom,’ she said flinging open the door, ‘but it’s a good size.’

  ‘I thought you said three floors.’

  ‘Oh aye, of course, you could maybe use the room above here as another room for your brother.’

  They climbed the ladder to the attic room under the eaves. It had the long window down one side.

  ‘These houses are often occupied by stockingers,’ Win said. ‘And this is where they’d work. I use our top room for drawing lace. The younger girls help me too with the jennying.’

  ‘Tell me, what is jennying?’

  ‘The twist machines make the dress lace in breadths, each one separated by a draw thread.’

  Eveleen nodded.

  ‘When it comes off the machine all in one piece, it goes to you in the inspection and mending room. There are various other processes – bleaching, dyeing, dressing
an’ all that – and then it’s sent out to homeworkers who separate all the breadths by “drawing”. They wind the lengths of lace on to cards and that’s what’s called jennying.’

  ‘So now I know,’ Eveleen laughed and turned her attention back to their new home.

  Jimmy could sleep to one side of this room, she was thinking, and leave space for her mother and Rebecca to work up here in the day.

  ‘There’s a tap in the yard we all share. It’s all right until it gets cold in the winter and freezes up.’ Win pulled a wry face. ‘The privies are at the end of the yard and they’re all right until it gets too hot in the summer and they pong to high heaven.’

  She cast her eyes to the ceiling, but she was laughing.

  ‘It’s great, Win. Thank you so much.’

  ‘It’s in good order,’ Win said, holding the lamp high. ‘There’s no damp patches on the ceilings or walls. When we moved into our place, you should have seen what Fred had to do to make it weatherproof.’

  ‘It wonderful, really,’ Eveleen said, clasping her hands. ‘And it’s so near to work too. Only just round the corner. How can I ever thank you?’

  The woman looked at her and said gently, ‘The look on your face is thanks enough, mi duck. Leave everything to me. I’ll see the rent man tomorrow and get you a rent book sorted out. Now, come back home with me and have a bite to eat before you set off back to that home. You’ve a fair walk back and it’s starting to rain.’

  By the time she arrived back at the home, Eveleen was soaked to the skin, but she didn’t care. She and Jimmy had work and now she had found them a house with friendly neighbours.

  The relief was enormous and the move, which they were able to do the following Sunday, was far less traumatic that either of their two previous, hasty departures.

  Of course all her worries and responsibilities were not going to disappear overnight, but at least now her family were housed, fed and clothed. There was just enough money coming in from both her and Jimmy to keep them. There would be none to spare for luxuries, but at least they had enough for the moment.

  ‘And you can both earn a little extra here at home lace-making,’ she said to her mother and to Rebecca once they were settled into their new home. ‘Or drawing and jennying.’

  Rebecca said hesitantly, ‘Eveleen, I’m sorry, but I’m not very good at pillow lace.’

  ‘What? Didn’t Gran teach you?’

  Rebecca shook her head. ‘Yes, but I’ve never done much. Father always wanted me to work the stocking-machine at home. He – he said there was more money to be made.’ She hung her head. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Eveleen sighed and murmured, ‘It’s not your fault.’

  This was a double blow. If her mother was refusing to help and Rebecca was not able, how were they ever going to earn that little bit extra that they needed so desperately?

  ‘Mam, will you at least teach Rebecca pillow lace?’

  Mary shook her head. ‘Oh, I can’t think about that just now. Leave me alone, Eveleen.’

  Eveleen turned away. There was no getting through to her mother when she was in this mood. She’d leave it a few days and then see.

  But Mary’s mood did not dispel. She seemed permanently sunk in depression and despair and all she would say again and again was a pitiful, ‘I want to go home, Eveleen.’

  Thirty-Four

  ‘I just hope this isn’t tripe and onions again.’ Jimmy pulled a face as he sat down at the table and looked down with suspicion at the plate Rebecca placed before him.

  ‘No – no, Jimmy. I know you don’t like it. I wouldn’t do that.’ She smiled uncertainly, her eyes never leaving his face.

  Watching, Eveleen sighed inwardly. Rebecca’s adoration of her rogue of a brother was plainly written on her face.

  Jimmy stabbed at the food experimentally. ‘What is it?’

  ‘Pig’s fry. We call it “Poor Man’s Goose”. Silly name really.’ She tried to laugh light-heartedly, but the sound was forced. ‘There’s nothing of a goose in it. It’s pig’s liver, heart and kidney.’

  ‘It’s like Mam makes,’ Eveleen said.

  Jimmy brightened visibly. ‘Is it?’ He twisted round to look at Mary huddled in her chair by the fire. ‘Did you make it Mam?’

  Mary shook her head. ‘I’m too ill, Jimmy. I have a dreadful headache. It’s the smell of this place and having to share the privy with all these awful people.’ She gave a dramatic shudder. ‘I can’t stand it.’

  Eveleen was tempted to defend their neighbours. She liked the inhabitants of the yard; they were friendly and had welcomed the Hardcastle family into their midst. But she bit back the words while Jimmy pulled an unsympathetic face, rolled his eyes, and turned away. He took a mouthful, chewing it round and round, considering.

  ‘Not bad,’ he said. ‘Not bad at all.’ He cast a sideways glance at Mary before adding, ‘Not as good as yours, of course, Mam, but not bad.’

  Rebecca was pink with pleasure and emboldened to ask, ‘After supper, shall we go out for a little walk, Jimmy?’

  Jimmy stared at her as if she had taken leave of her senses. ‘A walk? Where to, for Heaven’s sake?’

  ‘Well,’ the girl stammered, her colour deepening but now through embarrassment. ‘I – I’d just like to get some fresh air, that’s all. I don’t mind where we go.’ The remainder – ‘as long as I’m with you’ – went unsaid.

  ‘Fresh air,’ Jimmy scoffed. ‘Here? You must be mad. All you’ll get is a lungful of smoke or the smell from the sewers.’

  ‘The air at home was fresh and sweet and clean and . . .’ Mary dissolved into tears. ‘You see, Eveleen, Jimmy misses it as much as I do. Don’t you, Jimmy?’

  Eveleen could not let this pass. ‘I seem to remember when we were living in the country, all he could do was talk about going to sea.’

  ‘And I still might,’ Jimmy said and, as Mary’s sobs grew louder, silent tears ran down Rebecca’s face.

  The brother and sister glared at each other, but all Jimmy said was, ‘What’s for pudding?’

  ‘I don’t think Jimmy loves me any more, Eveleen.’

  ‘Oh Rebecca, I’m sure that’s not true. He’s so young. You both are. Only just seventeen. You were both very foolish, you know.’

  ‘But I thought he loved me.’ The girl’s eyes filled with easy tears. ‘He said he loved me and wanted us to get married.’

  ‘That’s what they all say.’ Eveleen could not stop the bitter remark.

  Her eyes brimming, Rebecca said, ‘Did he just want to marry me because of my inheritance? That’s what Father said.’

  ‘Did he indeed?’ Eveleen murmured, her mind calculating swiftly. Her uncle was sitting on a little gold mine. Perhaps if Jimmy and Rebecca had not been so hasty, all that might one day have become theirs. Why hadn’t she thought about that before? She wondered what consideration Jimmy had given to it.

  Rebecca was speaking again, ‘Father said that if anyone ever did want to marry me, it’d only be to get their hands on his business.’

  ‘What a cruel thing to say.’

  ‘It looks like he was right, though, doesn’t it?’

  Eveleen took the girl’s hands. They were cold. She chafed them, trying to warm the girl physically and raise her spirits. ‘Look, I know my brother’s not perfect. He’s thoughtless and irresponsible but he’s not cruel and calculating.’ Hoping she sounded convincing, for she knew it was not quite true, Eveleen added, ‘Besides, he’s not clever enough to have thought all that out.’

  She could see that Rebecca was still not reassured, so she went on, ‘And he would hardly have got you into this state if that had been his reasoning. It wasn’t quite the best way to worm his way into your dad’s good books, was it?’

  Rebecca smiled tremulously and shook her head. ‘It was what he always said though, if anyone showed an interest in me. Any young man, I mean. He said it about Andrew.’

  ‘Well, that’s plain daft,’ Eveleen said at once. ‘Andrew truly loves yo
u. Even I could see that and I’m certainly not the best judge when it comes to men.’

  Rebecca’s eyes were wide. ‘Why?’

  ‘Oh never mind just now. Maybe I’ll tell you one day. But not now. I can’t talk about it now.’

  Rebecca nodded. She didn’t understand, yet she sensed that it was a painful subject for Eveleen.

  ‘Now then,’ Eveleen said briskly, changing the subject. ‘I’ve got a surprise for you. Since I can’t persuade my mother to teach you to make lace I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open. I asked Josh Carpenter if he knew of any way I could get hold of a Griswold. Like the one you had at home?’

  Rebecca nodded.

  ‘And guess what?’ Eveleen went on triumphantly. ‘He’s found me an old one lying in one of the outbuildings at the factory.’

  She smiled as she remembered the pleasure on the big man’s face when he had presented her with the rusting machine. ‘Needs a bit of cleaning up, but if you smile nicely at Fred Martin, I bet he’d do it up for you. Good with machinery, is Fred.’

  Eveleen had been ecstatic in her thanks and had even reached up and planted a kiss on the man’s fat cheek. He put his arm around her waist and squeezed her against his belly.

  ‘You’re a nice lass,’ he said gruffly. ‘Not like most of the girls here. They only know how to poke fun at a feller.’

  Eveleen had felt a moment’s fear. Had her rash gesture of gratitude given him the wrong idea? But in the next moment he had released her, patted her shoulder and said kindly, ‘Run along, mi duck, before I forget myself.’

  Now she told Rebecca, ‘Fred’s cleaning it up. He said it’ll take him a week or so. All the needles are rusty.’

  Rebecca looked the happiest she had looked for weeks. ‘That’s wonderful. Now I’ll be able to earn some money to help out. You’ve been so good to me, Eveleen. I do so want to help.’

  Good to her, Eveleen thought. We’ve been anything but good to her. It’s all our fault that she’s in this predicament and she’s saying we’ve been good to her. But Eveleen kept her thoughts to herself and hugged her cousin.