She was about to react but saw he was smiling, his eyes gentle. He didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable and how was he to know she didn’t want men staring at her? She wanted them to listen to her. For once she wanted her brain to be her most admired asset.
“Are you ready? The ladies have retired to the other room and the men are just finishing their cigars in the restaurant. I am sorry you didn’t feel up to joining us for dinner. It was interesting at times.”
“I didn’t want any of them prejudging me. I know they are your friends, Mr. P, but they don’t half scare me.”
“Lily darling, they aren’t all my friends. With a couple of rare exceptions, the majority are acquaintances that would probably drop me without a moment’s hesitation if they knew half my secrets. Quicker should I lose all my money.”
“I’m sure they like you.” Lily felt obliged to contradict the bleak picture he was painting.
“Not at all. They like my money and what they think it can bring to them. Don’t look so sad, dear girl. I am a lucky man. I have my darling Alicia and now I have wonderful new friends. I was once lonely, but no more. Now come, let’s go try to separate the money from their wallets.”
Lily took one step but was overtaken by a wave of dizziness. “Sorry Mr. P. I’m just so nervous.”
“Don’t be, dear girl. Imagine them all naked.”
Lily stared at him and then burst out laughing at the twinkle in his eye.
“See? That’s better. You look even more gorgeous when you are smiling. Come along dear. Let’s knock them dead.”
Lily took his offered arm and walked sedately into the large room. She stumbled slightly when she saw the large crowd seated in front of her, but a quick squeeze on her arm reminded her she wasn’t alone. Her friends were there to support her. They had delayed their return trip to Clover Springs for two more nights to make sure they were there to help.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all so much for coming to my hotel this evening. I hope you all enjoyed your refreshments.”
Mr. Prentice waited for the clapping to recede. He bowed slightly and then, giving Lily a large smile, propelled her slightly in front of him. “I would like to present my young friend and protégée, Miss Lily Green. Please give her your full attention.”
Mr. Prentice clapped for Lily and the room soon followed suit. She stood at the podium Mr. Prentice had ordered for her so she could put her notes somewhere. She had memorized her speech but just in case, she wanted to be prepared.
She stared out at the sea of faces, the light bouncing and flickering off the diamonds and other jewels the ladies wore around their necks, wrists, on their fingers and in their hair. A single one of their tiaras could feed twenty families for a year. Lily gave herself a mental kick. She had to focus. She opened her mouth to speak but found it dry. She looked around the room again as her stomach roiled. She couldn’t do this…
Mr. Prentice stepped forward, a look of concern on his face. She couldn’t let him down. She decided to pick one face in the audience and address her speech to him. Her eyes roved the faces until it came to one man.
“Good evening, Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you Mr. Prentice for your introduction. As Mr. Prentice said, my name is Lily Green and it is my hope that by the end of tonight you fine ladies and gentlemen will help me achieve my dream.”
The people clapped politely, allowing her time to sip from her glass of water. In her mind’s eye, she pictured Stella and Mattie, two girls whose lives should have been totally different.
“I dream of a different New York to the one we are currently living in. These past two weeks have shown how harshly the poor, the sick and the weak are dealt with. Greater than four hundred plus deaths were attributed to the blizzard, and very few of those people lived in Brownstones. Most lived nowhere. They moved from street to street with nothing more than the clothes on their back. The children walked barefoot through the snow. They took shelter where they could find it.” Lily stopped talking to take a sip of water and found herself rudely interrupted.
“In saloons and other doss houses around the city,” the man said cynically. “If they spent their money feeding their families rather than drinking it, they would be better off.”
Lily stared at the man who had interrupted her speech. His clothes were made of the finest cloth, his person decorated with subtle but telling signs of wealth. His gold cufflinks, his gold watch, not to mention the jewels dripping off the lady at his side. He was the type of man who had never gone to bed hungry. Who didn’t know what it was like to try to decide whether you should use your last penny to buy some heat or some food? Before Lily could respond, someone else asked a question.
“Why type of help is available to the poor? Surely they aren’t just left to fend for themselves. It is not our job to look after them—the government does that.”
Chapter 41
Charlie Doherty watched the reactions play across Lily’s face. She hid it well, but he was getting to know her better. He saw she was fighting hard not to lose her cool.
“Exactly. There are a number of missions where an unemployed man can get a sandwich and a cup of coffee. In return he is requested to listen to a short sermon,” said the pompous looking man who had first interrupted Lily.
“On what?” Charlie found himself asking, bringing all eyes to him. He was wearing his best clothes but he saw the look of disdain on the man’s face. It was echoed on those around him. Charlie didn’t care; he wanted to know the answer.
“The dangers of drinking alcohol,” the man said before clearly dismissing Charlie by turning his back to him.
“What? Even the teatotallars? That will do them a lot of good,” Charlie’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
That got a reaction. The pompous man jumped to his feet. “Sir, there is no call for sarcasm. A lot of the people living on the streets of New York would have proper housing if they didn’t spend every waking moment in a saloon. They spend every penny on alcohol.”
“Even the women and children?” Charlie replied coolly, not moving from where he was standing. He hadn’t been to the meal so didn’t know this man’s name. His intention had just been to attend Lily’s speech so he could look and listen to her. He could do that all day. But now this man was giving her problems and by golly but he wasn’t going to stand by and let some toff bully his woman. His woman. He immediately brushed that thought aside. He had to keep his mind on the rich idiot.
“Well, I must say if that’s your attitude then perhaps we best all go home,” the man took a step, looking around him as he did so. He obviously expected other people to follow him but nobody moved. Charlie couldn’t help thinking this was probably more entertainment than they normally got.
“What my friend means, is that it is not the fault of the children if their parent drinks.” Lily tried her best to bring the conversation back to the point of her talk.
“So you favor charitable support directed at saving the children, do you Miss. Green?”
Charlie glanced at Lily. She’d told him some orphanages had sold the children in their care to less than scrupulous adults, so he hoped she would be prepared for the question.
“No, I don’t like the idea of taking children away from their parents,” Lily argued back, her hands clenched in one another at her waist. “All children deserve to grow up with a ma and pa, both would be preferable but at least one.”
“I can’t see how anyone could believe that,” the pompous man replied. Charlie really wanted to punch him on the nose.
The man continued, “Have you seen the state of these children? Most of them haven’t been washed in forever, they have no clothes to speak of and they go barefoot.”
Charlie caught the look on Lily’s face. Don’t let him goad you Lily, don’t, he said silently, but it was too late.
“But of course the children prefer to walk around the streets of New York in their bare feet and half naked. They love how they’re treated too. They like being cold and h
ungry.”
“Don’t be absurd.” The man sat down.
“I am not the one being ridiculous…”
“Ladies and Gentlemen please. If we can get back to the point of our gathering,” Mr. Prentice flashed a look of encouragement at Lily. Charlie hoped it would work. “Miss Green was sharing some ideas she had with us.”
“Thank you Mr. Prentice.”
Charlie gave Lily an encouraging smile and a wink. She didn’t smile back. Why would she? He had behaved worse to her than that rich old fool in the audience.
Chapter 42
“Many of you will have heard of Mr. PM Wilson and his attempts to help the poor during the blizzard. In case you haven’t heard, he provided free coal to the families of the west side. There were no strings attached. He didn’t expect them to listen to sermons on the evils of drink or anything else. He simply saw there was a need for charity and provided the relief he thought best. If you could only have seen the poor gathered at his door. The line of people, men, children, women with babes in their arms. All had a bucket and all got a small amount of coal to help stave off the cold and perhaps cook their first warm meal in days.”
Charlie glanced around the room as Lily talked. He saw some sympathetic faces and also some who looked guilty. Unfortunately, the majority of the people looked totally disinterested. They were so far removed from the reality of the poor, they couldn’t or wouldn’t understand why Lily was working so hard to save them.
“We are very grateful to Mr. Wilson. Thanks to his charity, many were able to have a warm meal in a cozy home. But giving people coal or food isn’t a long-term solution. We need to change their lives and to do that we need to provide a safe place for them to live, employment opportunities for the adults and school for the children. We need to enable them to buy decent food and heating at an affordable price.”
“What you are asking for is unachievable. If you start giving the poor free clothes, food and heat, why would they want to work? They are even more likely to stay in bed all day or spend their lives in the local saloon. These immigrants don’t want to work. They came to the USA to live off our charity,” an older lady said, her tone disparaging. She stood up, pulling her fox fur around her neck. “I agreed to dinner, not to listen to this claptrap.”
Charlie groaned. One look at Lily’s face told him she was ready to explode.
He was about to step forward, although he had no idea what he could do, when he saw Alicia Higgins move to Lily’s side. He hadn’t met her in person but Nora had pointed her out when he visited the hotel the other day. He’d found it fascinating an heiress was living on a homestead in Colorado, but apparently she was happy.
Mrs. Higgins was dressed just as nicely as the lady in her furs and wore a staggering amount of diamonds, including a rather expensive looking tiara in her hair. He waited as she began to speak. Something told him the crowd was in for a roasting.
“Thank you for your thoughts Mrs. Steffelson. That is your correct name isn’t it? Before your husband’s family changed it to the more American ‘Stevenson’. If I recall correctly, your husband’s father made his money on the railroads after he came to the USA as an immigrant together with his parents. He was about six years old.”
Charlie bit his cheek so he couldn’t smile as Mrs. Stevenson turned bright red. She looked as if she were torn between swooning and screaming.
Alicia continued in her mild, gentlewoman’s tone. “I do not mean to make a spectacle of Mrs. Stevenson. There are many people in this room whose origins are, shall we put it politely, less than impeccable. If we were all to sit down and trace back our family histories, I very much doubt we would find a true American among us. We are all immigrants of some kind. There are immigrants the whole world over. Queen Victoria, an English woman, is married to a German prince. Are their children German or English? Does it matter? Some would say no because they are royalty,” Alicia paused for effect but before anyone could interrupt her, she continued.
“Lily Green would say no because they are people just like those living in poverty on our streets. Any one of us could have found ourselves in different circumstances were it not for the actions of our parents, grandparents or even great grandparents. Can we really justify standing here in our beautiful gowns, wearing expensive jewels, eating fabulous meals and drinking excellent wine and doing nothing for those who have nothing save the clothes they stand up in?”
Hushed silence followed Alicia’s speech.
“I believe we all have a duty to do what we can to help the plight of those less fortunate than ourselves. Not by handing a couple of pennies to someone on the street, but by dealing with the root cause of the problems. A lack of education, affordable shelter of an acceptable standard, proper medical care and most of all, suitable protection of the children. For they are our most vulnerable members of society. I will start off the donations by donating this rather hefty item. I appreciate its beauty but my head will be relieved. It is rather heavy you know, no wonder my mama used to complain of headaches,” Alicia said as she removed the dazzling tiara. Some ladies in the room laughed, some smiled indulgently but most stared at her in disbelief. “I am certain Lily can put its value to greater use.”
Charlie saw the glimpse of pain in Alicia’s face as she looked to another man. He guessed it was her husband who stepped forward to put his arm around her waist. She sagged against him, the emotional cost of her speech evident for all to see. Giving away her mother’s tiara wasn’t something she had done lightly.
Chapter 43
Mr. Prentice stepped forward, clapping. A few others joined in and then the whole room erupted.
Lily stared in awe at Alicia. She was so thankful to her friend for coming to her aid like she had. She didn’t know what to say.
“Darling Lily, I didn’t mean to take over. Forgive me?”
“Forgive you? I want to hug you. You were amazing.”
“I don’t know about that, and I doubt poor Mrs. Stevenson will ever acknowledge me again, but who cares? I am going home soon, back where I belong.”
Lily’s heart dropped but she didn’t say anything. She would love to go back to Clover Springs and live among her friends but that wasn’t possible. She had a new life to follow now. A new purpose. She glanced up to see Charlie Doherty hovering on the sidelines. She smiled at him shyly. She wasn’t sure what to make of the man. He had behaved so horribly in the gardens when they had talked, yet he had strongly supported her at this meeting.
“Miss Green, I think you should take advantage of the mood and ask for donations,” Charlie said.
Lily’s hand rushed to her neck. She was embarrassed she’d almost let the opportunity slip away.
“Thank you, Mr. Doherty. I shall do just that.”
Lily went back to the podium and clapped her hands hoping to stop the chatting and general noise in the hall. But nothing happened. The people didn’t seem to notice her. They were too caught up in their own conversations. Then someone banged on a table. Most of the room jumped at the noise. Charlie Doherty winked at her.
She couldn’t help but smile back. He was incorrigible.
“Ladies and gentlemen your attentions please. Thank you for your patience with us this evening. If you could just take your seats, we will explain our plan to you. As we do that, a couple of the men will pass around a basket for any donations you may wish to contribute. Any amount is acceptable as Alicia has so generously demonstrated.”
“What she means is we take nothing less than a hundred dollar bill,” a voice rang out. It sounded a bit like Michael Byrne. Lily caught the look of rage on Charlie’s face but she didn’t have time to worry about that now.
The basket was passed from person to person as the men emptied their money clips. Lily watched the women closely. A significant number took off rings or bracelets to add to the collection. Not one donated their tiara.
“We plan on opening a sanctuary to offer shelter, food, clean water and other services to those most in nee
d. Mr. Prentice has kindly donated a large premises. It needs some redecoration and refurbishment, but the boys from New York’s finest have offered their services thanks to Pascal Griffin’s organization.”
Pascal turned a rather deep shade of red in response to the clapping Lily’s remarks generated.
“We have engaged a number of young ladies who will help us scrub down the place thoroughly. We have also approached several well known stores who have agreed, some more tentatively than others,” Lily stopped talking to allow the laughter to die down, “to supply clothes and other essentials. Our aim is to have a fully staffed medical center at the sanctuary, a little private hospital if you like, where the poor can access the best medical treatments available.”
“Think I will join the client list for this sanctuary if you’re going to be doing the nursing.”
Lily didn’t recognize the man who commented. She blanched at the comment. Would she always have to fight this attitude?
Chapter 44
Charlie’s hands fisted as he took a step toward the man in question, but Robbie got there first and helped the now protesting individual to his feet and escorted him to the door. Lily smiled weakly at the audience.
“How do you plan to fund the ongoing costs of your new venture, Miss Green?” an educated voice asked from the back of the room. Charlie tried to see who had asked the question but he didn’t recognize the man. He wasn’t one of Mr. Prentice’s dinner party guests, judging by his clothes. They were fancier than those worn in Hell’s Kitchen for sure, but not quite fancy enough for a gala dinner.
Lily smiled at the man. Charlie wanted to think her smile conveyed her thanks for his asking the important question. He knew he was wrong to be jealous she had smiled at another man. Initial donations were great but it was ongoing sponsorship that was vital to the success of the venture.
New York Hope Page 12