Tiger Bay Blues

by Catrin Collier

  She slipped off her blouse, buttoned her dress over her chemise and pulled off her shorts under cover of the skirt. She was untying her tap shoes when she saw the make-up artist working on one of the first half-dozen girls who’d been called in.

  The girl was white with black curly hair and the makeup girl was blacking her face. Judy sat back and waited, watching the artist turn the girl into a black minstrel figure. Half an hour later Miss Hedley called her into the corridor.

  ‘Mr Lyme and Mr Purgis want you to know that they think you’re very talented, Miss Hamilton.’

  ‘But?’ Judy knew there had to be a ‘but’ when a sentence began that way.

  ‘It’s nothing personal, and no reflection on your suitability for the chorus, but we’ll be travelling for twenty-six weeks, staying in digs, bed and breakfasts, and small hotels. You being what you are,’ Miss Hedley coughed in embarrassment, ‘could make it difficult for us all. Some landladies won’t take coloured people. On behalf of myself and the company, I’m sorry. Good luck with your career.’

  ‘Thank you for being honest.’

  Too ashamed to reply, Miss Hedley returned to the dressing room. Judy picked up the bag she’d left by the door and walked down the stairs. The sky was blue, the sun shone, and all she could think about was the unfairness of life. Where aptitude and hard work counted for nothing and the best she could hope for was a job as a skivvy. But not living in. For the first time she understood why Mrs Protheroe hadn’t offered her that option. A coloured daily maid was one thing. It was quite another to have one sleeping under the same roof as an employer.

  ‘Good evening, Mrs Evans, ladies.’ Peter greeted Sali, Maggie, Beth and Susie when he and Edyth joined them in the family’s drawing room at half past nine.

  ‘Peter, how nice of you to bring Edyth home again.’ Sali set aside the matinee jacket she was knitting for Mary and Harry’s new baby. ‘Maggie, switch off the radio, please.’

  Maggie made a face but she did reach out and turn the knob. The click silenced a chorus from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance.

  ‘Won’t you sit down, Peter? Supper will be ready soon,’ Sali invited.

  ‘Peter wants to talk to Dad, Mam.’ Edyth unpinned her hat.

  ‘He’s in his study.’

  ‘Is he busy?’ Edyth ignored her mother’s suspicious frown.

  ‘When have you known him not to be?’ Sali turned to Peter. ‘Like every Member of Parliament, Lloyd always has more constituency business to attend to than anyone man can fit into a working lifetime.’

  ‘I’ll knock on his door.’ Edyth walked down the hall to Lloyd’s study at the back of the house. She emerged a few minutes later, called to Peter and showed him in before returning to the drawing room.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Maggie asked Edyth,

  ‘Private business between Peter and Dad.’ Edyth tried to check her irritation with her sister.

  ‘Maggie says the curate is sweet on you, Edie.’ Susie dropped the book she had been reading.

  Edyth picked up a magazine that was littering the sofa and returned it to the rack. ‘We are friends.’ She knew her mother was watching her but she couldn’t look her in the eye.

  ‘Help Mari lay the table, darlings, and warn her Peter is staying for supper, so we’ll need a few extra dishes on the table. Tell her to put out the cold ham as well as the beef and pork pie.’

  ‘And the lemon cake I made for tomorrow’s tea,’ Edyth added.

  ‘You want to show him how well you can cook?’ Maggie mocked when she passed Edyth’s chair. She spoke quietly, but not quietly enough.

  ‘I heard that, Maggie, and I gave you something to do,’ Sali reproved.

  ‘Yes, Mam.’ Rebuked, Maggie followed her sisters.

  ‘Well?’ Sali asked Edyth after Maggie closed the door.

  ‘Peter’s asking Dad if he can call on me.’

  ‘“Call on you”?’ Sali had difficulty concealing her amusement. ‘That’s a quaint phrase. Especially when I consider the amount of time you two have been spending together lately.’

  ‘He said a vicar can’t be too careful when it comes to avoiding gossip. He wants to court me with a view to getting engaged,’ Edyth divulged uneasily. It was a relief to repeat what Peter had said.

  ‘Engaged! Edyth, darling, you know you won’t be allowed to go to college if you’re engaged.’

  ‘We both know that, Mam. It’s just that he wants to court me with a view to getting engaged …’ Edyth fell silent when she realised how foolish that sounded. Wasn’t every courtship the process of getting to know someone you were attracted to before taking the relationship one step further?

  ‘It seems to me that Peter Slater is living in another age, darling. You know your father and I believe that all young people should have a good time. Courting someone should be about fun and enjoyment. A courtship “with a view to getting engaged” sounds so serious. Tell me,’ she caught Edyth’s hands in her own. ‘do you love Peter?’

  ‘I think I fell in love with him the first time I saw him at Bella’s wedding,’ Edyth replied truthfully.

  ‘You think?’ Sali repeated. ‘Thinking you’re in love is not the same as being in love. You are very young …’

  ‘I’m two years older than Bella was when she met Toby,’ Edyth pointed out defensively.

  ‘But your father and I still insisted that Bella go out and meet other boys.’

  ‘It didn’t do any good. Bella persuaded you to allow her to get engaged to Toby on her eighteenth birthday.’

  ‘Only because we could see how much in love they both were. And don’t forget, they had known one another for two years by then, not one month.’ Sali stroked her hand. ‘Darling, the last thing I want you to do is to rush into anything that you may regret later.’

  ‘I won’t,’ Edyth said firmly.

  ‘But a courtship does sound as though Peter is more serious about you than you are about him.’

  ‘No, Mam,’ Edyth said soberly. ‘I promise you, I do love him. More than any other man I’ve ever met or could hope to meet.’

  ‘If that really is the case then, even if we wanted to, and I’m not saying we do, your father and I couldn’t stop this courtship “with a view to getting engaged” of yours, could we?’

  Edyth thought of Peter and smiled. ‘No, Mam, much as I love you and Dad, I don’t believe you could.’

  The ten minutes Peter spent closeted with her father were the longest in Edyth’s life. She glanced up nervously when the door opened. Peter walked in first but Lloyd followed close on his heels. He closed the door behind him. ‘You know what’s going on, Sali?’

  ‘Edyth’s just told me.’

  ‘I’ve warned Peter that he and Edyth cannot get engaged while she is in college.’

  ‘I am aware of that, sir.’ Peter hovered close to the door.

  ‘Please, sit down, Peter.’ Sali indicated the chair opposite her own.

  ‘Thank you.’ He perched on the edge of the seat of an easy chair and stared at the hearth. The grate had been filled with a pretty arrangement of dried flowers, but it wasn’t striking enough to warrant the attention he was bestowing on it.

  ‘So, let me understand you – both of you.’ Lloyd remained standing and looked from Peter to Edyth. ‘You are asking my permission to start “courting formally” whatever that means, with a view to an engagement that will not take place until Edyth leaves college in three years’ time?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Peter avoided meeting Lloyd’s eye.

  ‘A formal courtship you intend to inform Reverend Price and your superiors in the Church about?’ Lloyd guessed perceptively.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ Peter squirmed uneasily.

  ‘Few men in this day and age would bother to tell their employers that they are about to start courting a girl,’ Lloyd continued flatly.

  ‘With all due respect, Mr Evans, the Church is no normal employer.’

  Lloyd sighed and Edyth knew he was struggling to
contain his annoyance. ‘I am aware of that, which is why I am so concerned about your relationship with my daughter. Would it be fair of me to say, Peter, that the Church prefers married to unmarried clergy?’

  ‘I am aware of the saying that the Church prefers married vicars because it gives them four working hands for the price of two. But a vicar’s wife is second only to the vicar when it comes to parish business. She is highly regarded and respected –’

  ‘But not in her own right,’ Lloyd interrupted. ‘Only in her husband’s shadow. And she will live her entire life that way. Also, two for the price of one isn’t the only reason why the Church prefers married clergy, is it?’

  ‘No, sir.’ Peter’s cheeks flamed bright red. ‘The Church demands the highest morality from all the clergy.’

  ‘And this, I take it, is where the formal courtship comes in?’

  ‘To be blunt, yes, sir. I try to be open and honest in all my dealings.’

  ‘Have you considered how you’d react if Edyth changes her mind in six months or a year from now?’

  ‘I rather hope she won’t, sir,’ Peter replied.

  ‘You are very quiet, Edyth.’ Lloyd locked his hands behind his back and looked to his daughter. ‘Do you want to continue seeing Peter?’

  ‘Yes, Dad,’ she answered decisively.

  ‘And if I give my consent …’ A bemused expression crossed Lloyd’s face. ‘I’m not entirely sure what I’m giving my consent to, other than a courtship. Will you promise me that you won’t put your college career at risk by getting engaged to Peter before you qualify as a teacher?’

  ‘I promised you that I would go to college if I matriculated, Dad, and I will.’ Her voice didn’t waver, but her resolve was already crumbling. It was simply too cruel to expect her and Peter to live in separate towns for three years while they were getting to know one another.

  ‘You know she gained high honours, Peter,’ Lloyd said proudly.

  ‘Dad …’ Edyth protested, acutely embarrassed whenever either of her parents mentioned her success. Sali was shaking her head at Lloyd and Edyth knew her mother was warning her father not to continue lecturing her.

  ‘All right,’ Lloyd said softly. ‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that it’s futile to try to stop two people from seeing one another if they believe themselves in love. I won’t even try. You do love one another?’ he asked suddenly.

  ‘Yes, Dad,’ Edyth replied swiftly.

  ‘I would never have asked your permission to court Edyth if I didn’t love her, sir,’ Peter answered.

  ‘I won’t pretend to be glad at your association. You know my views on organised religion, Peter?’

  ‘I do, sir.’

  ‘And yet still you want to court – and eventually marry – my daughter?’

  ‘Edyth has been confirmed as a member of the congregation of St Catherine’s.’

  ‘That was none of my doing’ Lloyd hesitated. ‘I had hoped that all my daughters would wait until they had finished their education and gained some experience of the world before embarking on romance. Perhaps it was optimistic of me, but whatever else, I am not at all certain that you are suited to the life of a vicar’s wife, Edyth.’

  Peter appeared to be so brow-beaten by the interview with her father that if it hadn’t been for the presence of her parents Edyth would have kissed him. ‘I love Peter and want to share his life, Dad. And, as his life is the Church, then it will be mine.’ She thought back to the first sermon she had heard Peter preach:

  ‘For whither thou guest, I will go; and where thou lodges, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, thy . God my God.’

  How apt and prophetic those words had turned out to be.

  Lloyd held out his hand to Edyth. ‘Then there’s nothing more to be said, Edie.’

  Edyth took it, left her seat and hugged her father.

  Lloyd offered Peter his hand. ‘You have my permission to visit my daughter in this house as often as you like, and in view of the situation between you, regard it as your own. But only if you give me your word that you will not press her into a formal engagement or give her a ring without discussing the matter with me, while she remains under age.’

  ‘You have my word, sir. Thank you.’ Peter shook Lloyd’s hand.

  ‘Shall we go in to supper?’ Sali suggested.

  Lloyd held the door open. Peter was the first to leave the room. Edyth followed but something prompted her to glance back at her parents, and she intercepted a strange look between them. She had what she wanted, their agreement – if not their blessing – to her courtship. But that was small compensation for their lack of warmth towards Peter.

  She wished that they had welcomed him to the family in the same loving, open-hearted way that they had welcomed Mary and Toby. But then Peter was a clergyman. And given her father’s antipathy towards the Church she could understand his reluctance to see her become a vicar’s wife. Even one as handsome, kind, and forward-thinking as Peter.

  ‘Can you imagine how I felt, Uncle Jed?’ Judy demanded. They were in the upstairs sitting room of the Norwegian Mission. Judy knew her uncle was usually there around six o’clock every evening, whether he’d been fortunate enough to find a day’s work unloading or loading a cargo or not. And she had gone straight there from the audition in the hope of finding some sympathy.

  ‘Yes, I can,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Sitting there, watching them black up a girl so she looked like a pier minstrel in front of me. And then to be told that I had the talent but landladies might not want me staying in their house …’

  ‘Forget it, Judy.’ Jed knew it was easier said than done. He had lost more days work on the docks because of colour prejudice than he had found. And every single rejection had hurt.

  It had pained him to be passed over, to see less skilled and dedicated men be given the jobs he wanted, simply because their skin was a different colour to his. Most of all, it hurt him to know that his beloved children would for ever be regarded as second-class citizens in the country of their birth.

  ‘There’s only one thing to do, Judy.’ Micah Holsten brought a tray of coffee over and set it on the table in front of them.

  ‘What’s that, Mr Holsten?’ she asked.

  ‘Forget it, like your uncle said. And if you can’t, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and sing with us in the upstairs room of the Ship and Pilot this coming Friday.’

  ‘You’ve a booking?’ Judy cried excitedly.

  ‘The Bute Street Blues Band has a booking. Unfortunately not at the same rate of pay as the wedding, but it’s only for a couple of hours. Two bob do you?’ Micah asked.

  ‘Very nicely.’

  ‘The way things are going, Judy, love, before long, the band’s bookings might be the only work any of us have,’ Jed said grimly.

  ‘Goodnight, Peter, I expect we’ll be seeing a lot more of you in future.’ Lloyd followed Peter into the hall and handed him his hat and coat.

  ‘I’ll walk Peter to the gate, Dad.’ Edyth opened the front door.

  ‘Take your jacket, Edyth, It’s been so hot today you could catch a chill,’ Sali called from the dining room where she and Mari were clearing the table.

  ‘It’s still warm, Mam.’ Edyth followed Peter outside and Lloyd closed the door behind them.

  ‘Your father hardly said a word at supper,’ Peter commented when he and Edyth walked down the drive.

  ‘You’ll have to give him time to get used to the idea of me …’ she almost said ‘marrying’ before amending it to, ‘courting a curate.’ They reached the wooden gates that were always left open, except when sheep came down from the mountain. At the first sign of a woolly coat Mari rushed to close them to protect Sail’s precious plants.

  He glanced at the sky. ‘There’s cloud tonight, I hope that doesn’t mean the weather is breaking.’

  ‘Mam was right to tell me to take a jacket. It’s definitely cooler than it has been.’ Suddenly cold after the almost unbe
arable heat of the day, she shivered. It was impossible to decipher the expression on Peter’s face in the darkness. When he moved, he was little more than a silhouette beneath the shadows of the trees that her father had planted along the garden walls.

  ‘How long do you think your father will need to get used to the idea of my courting you?’

  She shivered again, and hoped that he would put his arms around her. When he didn’t, she crossed her arms tightly. ‘As long as it takes him to get to know you.’

  ‘I hope that will be sooner rather than later. The prospect of three years of strained visits to your family when you come home from college in the holidays is rather daunting.’

  Still hoping he would at least hug, if not kiss her, she moved even closer to him. ‘It might have been better if we hadn’t said anything to him or my mother just yet.’

  ‘If we hadn’t, I would have felt that we were sneaking around behind your parents’ backs.’

  ‘Perhaps you’re right. At least this way everything is out in the open.’ Edyth recalled what Bella had said about the clandestine visits she’d made to Toby when they were engaged, and trembled from more than the chill in the air.

  ‘Possibly too much in the open, as far as your sisters are concerned. Did you hear Maggie tonight? “Isn’t Edyth spending a lot of time in the church and youth club helping you out, Reverend Slater?”’

  ‘That’s just Maggie,’ Edyth dismissed. ‘She can’t bear anyone else in the family to be the centre of attention. First it was Belle with her wedding, now it’s me and my matriculation. She’ll grow out of her mood when she matriculates herself next year. She’s bound to get honours. She’s brighter than the rest of us put together.’

  ‘That’s magnanimous of you considering the way she behaves towards you.’

  ‘You’ve noticed?’

  ‘I couldn’t help it.’

  ‘I’m not always very nice to her,’ she confessed.

  ‘You’re not?’ he asked, in surprise.

  ‘My sisters and I are always squabbling, which is why my father insisted the builder put in a third floor so we could each have our own bedroom. We’ve fought one another since cradle days. Bella and I were probably the worst. We’ve said and done the most awful things to one another but we didn’t really mean them. We’re absolutely the best of friends now. And when there’s a real problem that affects the family we stop bickering and work together to solve it.’